Not sure hospital is right for me. HELP! Curious about jobs outside the hospital

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I just finished my pre-req's and started applying to nursing schools. I am volunteering at a hospital right now (med-surg) and I don't think the hospital environment is for me. I am starting to lose hope that nursing is even right for me. But I don't want to give up nursing yet before I explore all other options. I am now considering working in a fertility clinic, outpatient clinic, maybe even at a plastic surgeon's office. But I want to get the opinions of nurses out there that work outside the hospital. What do you do and do you like your job? What is the pay like also? I know hospital positions pay the best but is the salary decent in clinics? I know I can be a great nurse if I'm in the right setting. I love working with people, giving advice, counseling, etc. I orginially went into nursing to work in the NICU. I've researched that dept extensively and based on what I have found out, I thought it fits me perfectly. Should I not judge my experience of the hospital based on med-surg? But when I graduate school, I know I can't start in NICU right away. I know I will have to get experience on other floors before moving my way to the NICU and I'm not sure if I can handle that.

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It's good that you know yourself and are considering all this now, BEFORE going through the trials of nursing school. Like you, I also want to work in NICU. I graduated from an RN program last summer, but can't get so much as an interview in a hospital. I've had to start out doing private duty nursing in people's homes. It generally starts at $19.50-$23/hr. It can be low stress if you work with pleasant clients/families. For me, I find that it doesn't offer the challenges I'll need to become experienced; I fear that I'm losing my skills and all that hard-earned knowledge. But at least it's a start! My friends work in busy clinics and they make $22/hr. Hope this helps, and best wishes on your journey!

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Specializes in Psych, EMS.

Not all hospital floors are like Med/Surg. The OR and NICU initially come to mind as having very unique challenges and work environments.

I work in a freestanding psychiatric facility. What do I do? I assess patients for mood, affect, suicidality, safety, impulsivity, etc., document, give medication, attend team meetings where we discuss diagnoses and treatment plans, round on patients, attend grand rounds, facilitate groups, manage the milieu, therapeutically interact with pts and mediate concerns between patients...Most days I love it.

Hospitals aren't my thing either. It doesn't mean you or I are not cut out for nursing. Some other specialties you could consider: flight nursing, corrections, addictions, school nursing, hospice, home health, etc..

Best of luck! :nurse:

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Specializes in L&D; GI; Fam Med; Home H; Case mgmt.

I learned early on that the hospital wasn't the environment for me, so I started looking for -anything- outside the hospital I could do. Long story short I now work PRN for an endo unit of a free-standing Gastroenterology practice as a recovery nurse ($20/hr - I live in the south, the pay is lower here) and I also work PRN at 2 family practice offices ($16/hour but I LOVE it). There ARE options other than the hospital. However, just to let you know, our local hospital hired 4 new grads for NICU. They trained them in the feeders & growers room, then transferred them. So it's not impossible to get hired as a new grad in the nursery.

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Getting into the NICU is not impossible, sometimes they do take new grads. You shouldn't base your like or dislike for the hospital on the med/surg. Mostly no one likes med/surg LOL. Go through your clinicals and see what you like. You might like the OB or Peds environment better. If by graduation you don't like hospitals than that's fine, people are fairly happy working in clinics, especially busy clinics that might be run by a hospital. The pay is lower but not awful a lot of the times and you have a lot of responsibility as well since it's usually less nurses.

My friend has been a certified medical assistant for two years and can't stand working in a hospital. She works in a busy primary care doctor's office (about 15-20 patients per day) and she loves the enviornment, she's close with her co-workers and close with the doctor's as well. There are certain things you may not be able to do such as IV's so certain skills will need to be dusted off after awhile if you ever do plan on moving back into the hospital setting.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

My husband learned early in his nursing career that hospital nursing was not his bag. He's been doing home hospice care now for about three years and absolutely LOVES it.

Maybe home health, in general, is something you could look into.

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Specializes in L&D; GI; Fam Med; Home H; Case mgmt.

During nursing school I shadowed a male RN while he did his home hospice rounds. It was AWESOME. I really loved it. He was a great guy too - hey, wonder if it was your husband? What a small world that would be!

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Specializes in L&D; GI; Fam Med; Home H; Case mgmt.

I just remembered that he had been doing that job 1 year - this was 2 years ago. Haha!

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
During nursing school I shadowed a male RN while he did his home hospice rounds. It was AWESOME. I really loved it. He was a great guy too - hey, wonder if it was your husband? What a small world that would be!

Do you live in AZ?

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Specializes in L&D; GI; Fam Med; Home H; Case mgmt.
Do you live in AZ?

No, but I grew up out there! See? It is a small world. :)

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Thanks everyone for your replies! I'm going to continue the volunteer program, especially since the NICU is my next rotation. I'm very excited about that. Some of you mentioned that it is not impossible to get into the NICU as a new grad. Where are you from? I'm in the Los Angeles area and based on the threads here it seems impossible to get a job PERIOD as a new grad. And if I can get into the NICU straight out of school, I would be very lucky!!

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Specializes in NICU.

I moved out here to LA as a new grad from New England and got hired straight into the NICU. Definitely not saying it was a smart way to relocate, but it is possible to find new grad slots in the NICU here.

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