Observational Unit or Outpatient clinic

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Mar 25, 2016

Depends on what your future goals are...

RRRRS808 · Mar 26, 2016

Depends on what your future goals are...

I honestly dont see myself doing bedside nursjng forever. I want to eventually have a set schedule the typical 9-5. But I really want to see how far acute setting can take me.

barcode120x, RN, NP · Mar 26, 2016

Also depends on what areas you have liked while going through nursing school. Being a new grad, I would highly recommend the hospital setting because you can go just anywhere with hospital experience, even if it's only for 6 months to a year before leaving (which is not recommended either lol). If you choose outpatient and later decide you want to do more direct patient care or critical care like the hospital, you might find it harder to get into the hospital job because you are coming from an "easier" setting where your skills may not be up to par. Then again, I've read around here a lot that it's quite tough for a new grad to get into an "easier" nursing position, let alone a regular 8 hour/5 days a week job so maybe the outpatient might be for you.

I personally love working 3 days a week. I will never do regular 8/5 job. It's nice having 4 days off, self scheduling (to some extent) and being able to pick up extra hours without feeling burned out. But that's just me

RRRRS808 · Mar 26, 2016

Also depends on what areas you have liked while going through nursing school. Being a new grad, I would highly recommend the hospital setting because you can go just anywhere with hospital experience, even if it's only for 6 months to a year before leaving (which is not recommended either lol). If you choose outpatient and later decide you want to do more direct patient care or critical care like the hospital, you might find it harder to get into the hospital job because you are coming from an "easier" setting where your skills may not be up to par. Then again, I've read around here a lot that it's quite tough for a new grad to get into an "easier" nursing position, let alone a regular 8 hour/5 days a week job so maybe the outpatient might be for you.
I personally love working 3 days a week. I will never do regular 8/5 job. It's nice having 4 days off, self scheduling (to some extent) and being able to pick up extra hours without feeling burned out. But that's just me

It is def nice to have 4 days off. I think I just gotten use to the outpatient setting working previously as a tech while I was going to nursing school. I like the idea of knowing that I will be home at a certain time and know that I have my weekends free and off on most holidays. Also, being a mom of three kids, I like being there to put them to bed every night and plan outings during the weekends.

During clinicals, i dreaded the long hours and I just didnt see myself working the floors in the long run. During my interview and tour of this outpatient offer, I will still have the hands on experience such as infusing chemo, IV, portacath access, blood draws, assessing, and def learning the chemo world. I get to interact more with my patients in a stable and not so chaotic environment.

ManicRN911 · Mar 26, 2016

I worked in a large inner city hospital on the Observation Unit for almost 5 years... until recently. Our obs floor is run by the Emergency Department. They moved the unit to a different floor to add beds. Now the obs floor is on a Med-Surg/Tele floor. In that process, they had to transfer the nursing staff to be part of the inpatient floor (Obs patients are not considered inpatient. Observation is considered outpatient despite a patient "being admitted" to obs and staying overnight in the hospital). I chose to stay in the Emergency Department, which we all spent many shifts on already when they were understaffed.

Working on the observation floor was a unique experience but it is not for everyone. From what I know, many of these Obs floors can be very different from one another.

Congratulations on having two job offers as a new RN! That is amazing. Making the decision on where you want to work can be terrifying and even more difficult without prior knowledge and experience of what you're walking into. So many different things factor into what is considered a "good" job that goes way beyond pay and schedule. Plus, sometimes the type of work you are doing is not what you expected -no matter how many questions you ask beforehand. For example, when I accepted my job on the Obs unit, I was told that we would occasionally be boarding inpatients when there were no rooms, and occasionally be pulled to the ED. Turns out, occasionally meant "all the time". I loved my job because I had amazing coworkers, which I hate to say, has not been the norm since I started nursing. The job itself was not loved by many. We hired many new grads on our floor that did well but eventually left once they had enough experience. I don't believe they learned so much from Obs itself but their exposure to the ED. One of the NPs I worked with did Infusion before she was an NP and loved it.

It sounds to me like you are leaning towards the outpatient chemo job. Sometimes our gut reaction is the right one. I was nervous about whatever first job I took setting the tone for my career too. But if you are a highly motivated person, you can make the change. You will know if you like this job (whichever one you choose) within your first year. That is still early enough for you to choose another path. Plus gives you a year of experience!

I was always exhausted after clinical days on inpatient floors. I stayed exhausted as a new RN on orientation and could not imagine doing 12 hour shifts vs 8. But now I love doing 3 12s and can't imagine having to work 5 days/week as a nurse. No matter what kind of nursing it is! (I think I could do a 4 day week though).

You can request to shadow a nurse for a day at each unit to see what it's really like.

-Sorry this was so long. Good luck!

RRRRS808 · Mar 27, 2016

I worked in a large inner city hospital on the Observation Unit for almost 5 years... until recently. Our obs floor is run by the Emergency Department. They moved the unit to a different floor to add beds. Now the obs floor is on a Med-Surg/Tele floor. In that process, they had to transfer the nursing staff to be part of the inpatient floor (Obs patients are not considered inpatient. Observation is considered outpatient despite a patient "being admitted" to obs and staying overnight in the hospital). I chose to stay in the Emergency Department, which we all spent many shifts on already when they were understaffed.
Working on the observation floor was a unique experience but it is not for everyone. From what I know, many of these Obs floors can be very different from one another.
Congratulations on having two job offers as a new RN! That is amazing. Making the decision on where you want to work can be terrifying and even more difficult without prior knowledge and experience of what you're walking into. So many different things factor into what is considered a "good" job that goes way beyond pay and schedule. Plus, sometimes the type of work you are doing is not what you expected -no matter how many questions you ask beforehand. For example, when I accepted my job on the Obs unit, I was told that we would occasionally be boarding inpatients when there were no rooms, and occasionally be pulled to the ED. Turns out, occasionally meant "all the time". I loved my job because I had amazing coworkers, which I hate to say, has not been the norm since I started nursing. The job itself was not loved by many. We hired many new grads on our floor that did well but eventually left once they had enough experience. I don't believe they learned so much from Obs itself but their exposure to the ED. One of the NPs I worked with did Infusion before she was an NP and loved it.
It sounds to me like you are leaning towards the outpatient chemo job. Sometimes our gut reaction is the right one. I was nervous about whatever first job I took setting the tone for my career too. But if you are a highly motivated person, you can make the change. You will know if you like this job (whichever one you choose) within your first year. That is still early enough for you to choose another path. Plus gives you a year of experience!
I was always exhausted after clinical days on inpatient floors. I stayed exhausted as a new RN on orientation and could not imagine doing 12 hour shifts vs 8. But now I love doing 3 12s and can't imagine having to work 5 days/week as a nurse. No matter what kind of nursing it is! (I think I could do a 4 day week though).
You can request to shadow a nurse for a day at each unit to see what it's really like.
-Sorry this was so long. Good luck!

Thank you for sharing your journey. You are right that not all jobs is what you expect them to be even if they say this or that. and it is terrifying because this is all new to me and thats what life is all about right. You live and you learn and for me to really know what works best for me is to experience it for myself. As much as working 3x a week is so inviting but the stress and intensity of bedside I def do not see myself in. Decisions to make...