Non-Hospital Nursing

[Emergent]

I thought I was giving up on nursing,  but now I have 2 easy nursing gigs. I'm doing a little home infusion.  I am also doing a part-time occupational health nurse gig at a construction site for a data center. That consists mainly of watching Youtube videos and getting free food from the general contractor snack room.

I'm definitely semi-retired now, and making decent money with not a lot of stress. I also pretty much don't have to wear masks, no one expects it at the construction site of course. And my home infusion clients really don't care either. I'm also not having to deal with a bunch of estrogen driven drama. That is a huge plus!

I'd like to hear from others who have escaped the hospital setting.

[Peachpit]

I recently had the option of going back into the hospital setting (after several years away from that environment) to a dayshift weekend position requiring 1 weekday shift a month in addition to every weekend  and "encouraged to consider more" shifts at hospital 40 minutes from my home versus a very low stress, M-F gig at a private duty home care agency that is 15 minutes from my house that requires no nights/weekends/holidays/12 + hr shifts/call or direct patient care. I can go home for lunch and have flexibility throughout the day if needed.

 I chose M-F position. It would be nice to have days off during the week certainly but if those days were spent worn out from being overworked, being on call, pressured to pick up extra shifts or stressing about the next shift.. I've been there, done that..many times and I'm not interested in walking that path again even if it means a little less money. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

On 4/26/2022 at 1:12 PM, Peachpit said:

I recently had the option of going back into the hospital setting (after several years away from that environment) to a dayshift weekend position requiring 1 weekday shift a month in addition to every weekend  and "encouraged to consider more" shifts at hospital 40 minutes from my home versus a very low stress, M-F gig at a private duty home care agency that is 15 minutes from my house that requires no nights/weekends/holidays/12 + hr shifts/call or direct patient care. I can go home for lunch and have flexibility throughout the day if needed.

Yep, this was one of the several reasons I left LTC after 25 years. Tired of the mandatory OT, tired of the "can you pick up a shift?" and the way too frequent requests from other nurses to switch a shift which rarely was reciprocated when it came time for me to need to ask for a shift change.  It took me years but I finally stopped agreeing to that unless it for some reason benefited me. 

Now I have no mandated overtime, no afternoons or nights, no pressure to pick up shifts though there are usually a few available if I want to. No Sundays, no on-call. Though I don't go home for lunch, still...Way less scheduling drama!

[B52, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN]

My office is in a hospital, but I do outpatient case management, M-F, 7:30-4. I work from home on Fridays. I'm much happier than I was when I was on the floor or in the psych E.D., doing 12-hour shifts. Oddly, in my current workplace, the little drama that occurs is testosterone-driven.

[MamaKat916, BSN]

I am a fairly new nurse, but this is my second career. I started on a Med Surg floor after I graduated and left after 7 months. I saw they were never going to let me take vacation, we were constantly going to be short staffed, and the stress was already wrecking me. I wasn’t even a year in! So I bailed out and searched for greener pastures. I am now very happily working as an RN in a school. There is WAY more nursing care that students need day to day than I ever thought! I facilitate telehealth visits on campus, I do blood glucose and insulin, I suction trachs and do g-tube feeds, I straight cath a student every day, so medication administration, and I see students in the health office for everything from headaches to broken bones. I LOVE this job and if I had known this work was available, I would have gone straight to this. I’m never going back to the hospital again. It’s awful there and I see why burnout is so high. 

[Journey_On, BSN, RN]

I have a non-hospital nursing position in the hospitality industry and do a little occupational health at the same place. I also have a per diem position at the hospital. It's the best of both worlds - I have a good work-life balance and get to keep up my skills at the bedside.

[BluesNJax]

One of the things I love about nursing is the wide range of things that make up nursing. After working my time in hospitals and clinics, I now work at in-home care with medically fragile children. One fun patient that I work with at his home and school. The down side is that it doesn't pay as well as hospital work, the upside is lower stress, fun at work, and increased job satisfaction. Seriously, I am off my blood pressure meds, I sleep better and I have lost 15 pounds over the last year. Works for me!

[Davey Do]

4 hours ago, BluesNJax said:

One of the things I love about nursing is the wide range of things that make up nursing.

Here, here!

I doff my proverbial hat to you, BluesNJax, for your positive post!