Nurses never in hospitals

[natnurse23]

hello,

i was wondering if there were any nurses

out there who have never worked in the

hospital setting and still consider themselves

experienced? i meet nurses all the time who

say that you have to work in a hospital at some

point to be "experienced". i personally think you don't

have to but i wanted to see what you guys thought

thanks!

[TazziRN, RN]

I have always worked in hospitals but I agree with you. Experience just means time spent doing something.....doesn't matter if it's clinic, office, UR, whatever. If you do something that requires an RN license, you're experienced in that field.

[antidote]

I have always worked in hospitals but I agree with you. Experience just means time spent doing something.....doesn't matter if it's clinic, office, UR, whatever. If you do something that requires an RN license, you're experienced in that field.

Ditto.

Now, there are nurses that can or cannot be experienced within a certain department. For example, there are many nurses that have not even set foot in an ICU. This would mean that they are not experienced in working on the ICU floor. However, they're still experienced nurses.

[biker nurse]

I'm with you any expirence counts!!

[happybunny1970]

It's both funny and sad how nurses view other nurses in this regard... I actually had a nurse tell me "well, you don't know what you're talking about -- you're just a hospital nurse." I just looked at her, speechless, but I really wanted to laugh. This from a person who, though she kept her license current, had not actually worked as a nurse in more than 10 years -- she married a doctor soon after Nursing school and had a couple babies (and guess where she met him?).

I've heard lots of ICU nurses bashing LTC nurses, and vice-versa (hey, he didn't have that pressure ulcer when he left OUR facility!). And we've all witnessed how territorial nurses can be in their own departments. I do know of one nurse who went from high school to college, straight through to her MSN and started teaching nursing school. Does she have a lot of hands-on experience? No, but she's one heck of a teacher!

Me, I constantly police myself and hope that I am successful in not passing judgment or treating others as above or below me and my position -- I need the physicians for their orders, I need the techs for their expertise and experience, and I need to cooperation of nurses and other staff throughout the hospital to get the information and assistance I need to do MY job.

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

I have never worked in a hospital, but have been a nurse for 20 years in LTC. Haven't routinely worked the floor in 10 years, but am in administration w/ focus on assessment/careplan developement along with coordinating patient services. Am I experienced? Heck yeah! I am a pro at my responsibilities and by doing my job well, I make a difference in people's lives and their outcomes in my facility.

Could I go out on the floor tomorrow in LTC and work.. yep (did this within the past week) and will be the first to admit, I'm a little slow and unorganized due to lack of routine, but I can and have done it.

Could I walk into a hospital and do any department there? No with any ease at first.. but this goes both ways. Hospital nurses couldn't do my job with any ease at first either.

I am also a firm believer that it takes all of us "experienced" professional nurses to keep our healthcare system afloat.

[Nur_1996]

I agree with the above posters. I have worked in many settings, over the past 11 years, hospital included, but some of my best learning experiences as a nurse have been in other settings such as working as a camp nurse, or school nurse, were you were the one that had to make quick decsions, and learned on the job.

[ceecel.dee, MSN, RN]

"Experience" is in the eye of the beholder. I think any nursing other than nursing instructor is considered active experience.

[fultzymom]

I have never worked in a hospital, but have been a nurse for 20 years in LTC. Haven't routinely worked the floor in 10 years, but am in administration w/ focus on assessment/careplan developement along with coordinating patient services. Am I experienced? Heck yeah! I am a pro at my responsibilities and by doing my job well, I make a difference in people's lives and their outcomes in my facility.

Could I go out on the floor tomorrow in LTC and work.. yep (did this within the past week) and will be the first to admit, I'm a little slow and unorganized due to lack of routine, but I can and have done it.

Could I walk into a hospital and do any department there? No with any ease at first.. but this goes both ways. Hospital nurses couldn't do my job with any ease at first either.

I am also a firm believer that it takes all of us "experienced" professional nurses to keep our healthcare system afloat.

:yeahthat:

I have not worked for 20 years but I have only worked in LTC. And now I too work in administration, in the MDS office. I also am disorganized when I am back out on the floor if we are short, but it can be done, just slower!

[rita359]

My experience is mostly hospital though I worked nursing home part time for awhile. Knew nurses there who had never done anything but LTC but you can bet they were experienced nurses. Wasn't anything close to ICU but an experienced ICU nurse would have been hard pressed to do all those nurses did in one day. Different kinds of experience does not make one not an RN/LPN with experience.

[Kelly_the_Great]

I think you go through the different stages (novice, beginner, proficient, expert - i'm sure i left 1 or 2 stages out lol) as you change your focus throughout your career.

For instance, you work in in LTC x 20 years, you become expert at that care; then you move to say, public nursing & you're back @ beginner.

To me, that's one of the really cool things about nursing is that you can be involved in lifelong learning. :studyowl:

LOL...I am SO in the "Generativity vs. Stagnation" stage, can y'all tell?