Nursing specialty that requires minimum patient contact and best hours?

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Please list your experience or knowledge of specific nursing specialties that have minimum patient contact (code brown, c-dif, etc), and what specialty provides the best hours? For instance working in a hospital versus a clinic? Thanks.

This will probably rattle some people, but I made it through nursing school without ever wiping a butt. I have been an RN for a little under two years and guess what? Still no poop.

I have been able to start a good career in outpatient procedure settings.....started as a new grad. I get to start IVs, educate patients, sedate and (my favorite) interact with them and try to make them comfortable and relieve some of their anxiety about their procedure. The patients are healthy enough to have their procedures in an outpatient setting. Not to say there aren't emergencies and some scary situations- because there are, but they are not a daily occurrence.

I don't mean to be rude but your dismissive attitude rattles me more than the fact that you made it through nursing school without, to use your own words, "ever wiping a butt." My family member with multiple complex medical problems just underwent an upper endoscopy in an outpatient surgery center - I'd like to think that the nurse who started his IV and gave him sedation meds was an experienced nurse. I sincerely hope the nurses who were actually monitoring him and taking care of him during the procedure, and in the recovery room, had more experience and better attitudes.

Specializes in Medical-Surgical, Telemetry/ICU Stepdown.

My hospital has clinical informatics opening available. Clinical informatics nurses work with the software engineers and computer coders and as far as I know they don't have a lot of patient contact.

They are not open to new grads though, you probably have to have several years of bedside experience and a good record at the hospital to apply, or similar experience from a different company.

As an intermediate solution, I recommend an outpatient clinic where you have to meet the patients and maybe assess them and write down some past medical history, but that's about it. This requires patient contact, but it's not as stressful as working with people who are admitted to a hospital floor and depend on you to provide total care.

Also...consider a master's degree in nursing administration. There are good opportunities there for the cubicle types who like sitting and typing all day.

I don't mean to be rude but your dismissive attitude rattles me more than the fact that you made it through nursing school without, to use your own words, "ever wiping a butt." My family member with multiple complex medical problems just underwent an upper endoscopy in an outpatient surgery center - I'd like to think that the nurse who started his IV and gave him sedation meds was an experienced nurse. I sincerely hope the nurses who were actually monitoring him and taking care of him during the procedure had more experience and better attitudes.

I don't think she was being dismissive at all. Just because her view of nursing doesn't comport with your own doesn't make her inexperienced or incompetent at her job.

I don't think she was being dismissive at all. Just because her view of nursing doesn't comport with your own doesn't make her inexperienced or incompetent at her job.

Less than two years experience does not equal experienced. Competence is borne of experience.

Specializes in Neuro/Stroke/Cardiac (Telemetry).

^^ True, I've done that many a times when I was a CNA (currently in nursing school)...I worked for a 1st level trauma hospital neuro/stroke and some cardiac along with general medicine patients in a 26 inpatient setting where we had about 6-7 isolation rooms most of them bed bound (most times with c-diff) and when RN's would give the patients the code brown antibiotics we would use up all the linens in the rooms...( and i love the RNs who would help me..thank you guys/girls, bless you all for having pity on this CNA..hehe) just like monkeybug mentions...I don't mean to put the nursing student down...but, i chose this route because i wanted to see if i was in it for the long haul...if you're a nursing student and never been in healthcare or had any bedside interaction/hands on or even a notion of what goes on with patient cares please don't think this is a great paying job with just typing into a computer all day...it's way more than you might assume. I respect nurses so much more since i last did CNA a year ago for 2.2years and loved working with my RNs i helped them and they helped me. Sometimes their patient to nurse ratio was ridiculous like (5-6 patients at a time with q2 turns, incontinent, blood transfusions, 5150's, hip fractures, seizure patients...etc.) my hat went off to them because our nights consisted of speeding by each other constantly back and forth sometimes we wouldn't have time for a snack (laughs)....so to the nursing student up there ^^^ just be prepared for the unexpected.haha..it's hard, emotional, challenging, cool and not so cool, definitely a learning curve, humbling, yet self fulfilling and very rewarding. so have a strong gut, and learn to not make any gross facial expressions. After all, these patients will see you as a respectable professional and we don't want to disappoint our patients and superiors if you don't want to scoop the poop...('cause you're going to need to get a stool sample at some point and Doc is only giving you tonight to get it to the lab and guess what? It'll be on your shift) ;) good luck, it's not that bad, i do believe the hard work will pay off...because i've seen my RNs loving their careers and that in turn makes me love mine. Surround yourself around motivating people in the same nursing environment....and if you really think you can't scoop the poop, then think again about becoming a nurse...Nurses have pretty strong guts and i believe are a special kind of breed.

Less than two years experience does not equal experienced. Competence is borne of experience.

I don't really see how excellent butt wiping skills are going to help her in her current job - I say that as someone who does wipe butts and has experience on the floor. Now, one can argue that a person doesn't have the assessment and teaching skills for that kind of job without some acute care experience - but being skilled with a poo rag isn't going to give someone special insight into outpatient surgery.

Now, one can argue that a person doesn't have the assessment and teaching skills for that kind of job without some acute care experience

Good, you grasped the point I am making.

OP, if you don't absolutely LOVE cleaning butts, then you have no business going into nursing school! I mean, the nerve!!!!!

It would be a wonderful world when people could respond to questions asked without the snarkiness or even better yet, ignore the question altogether if your response would be less than polite.

It would be a wonderful world when people could respond to the replies without the holier-than-thou attitude.

You don't have to love it. But going into a job and wanting to avoid the primary part of the profession (patient contact) might suggest one should go into a different line of work.

Someone in a police academy posts to a police officer forum, "Are there positions where I wouldn't have to deal with people who commit crimes? And if possible, I'd like to not carry a gun." How is it "impolite" or "unsupportive" to tell them that may not be the right career for them?

Someone in vet school posts to a veterinary forum, "I really don't want to deal with animals. Or their poo." How is it "impolite" or "unsupportive" to tell them that may not be the right career for them?

Specializes in ICU.
I don't mean to be rude but your dismissive attitude rattles me more than the fact that you made it through nursing school without, to use your own words, "ever wiping a butt." My family member with multiple complex medical problems just underwent an upper endoscopy in an outpatient surgery center - I'd like to think that the nurse who started his IV and gave him sedation meds was an experienced nurse. I sincerely hope the nurses who were actually monitoring him and taking care of him during the procedure, and in the recovery room, had more experience and better attitudes.

There was nothing dismissive about her post at all. She was telling an honest truth and seems to be passionate about her job.

Only experienced nurses are able to start in an outpatient surgery center? I'm sure your loved one with complex medical issues has been on a med surg floor before, right? Perhaps they had a new grad nurse there with not much experience? Is that not allowed? Or is that nurse that much better because she wiped poop.

The holier than thou attitudes on here are upsetting. It's. Nurses eating their young and why so many come on here disgusted with the profession.

I don't really see how excellent butt wiping skills are going to help her in her current job - I say that as someone who does wipe butts and has experience on the floor. Now, one can argue that a person doesn't have the assessment and teaching skills for that kind of job without some acute care experience - but being skilled with a poo rag isn't going to give someone special insight into outpatient surgery.

This.

Good, you grasped the point I am making.

And I could have done so without the condescension, thanks!

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