any office nurses here?

[goldie66]

I'm interested in getting into nursing and working in a doctor's office while i get a master's to be a nurse practitioner. does anyone have office nursing experience? what is it like? pros & cons? do you enjoy it? any insights?

thanks!

[CCL"Babe", BSN, RN]

I did it very briefly about nine months. I hated it. I was the nurse manager for a very large family practice office. Every doctor thought they were the boss. One said to me that a monkey could do the job of his nursing staff. They just wanted someone to usher patients around, get vitals and give injections. It was very clear that they did not want any input by nursing.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

Mine was a better experience. 3+ yrs as clinical nurse supervisor for a university medical center owned practice.

Medical school, college of nursing up to the doctorate level, one of the pioneers in shared governance. Magnet status etc. Professionals treating professionals with respect.

We saw 200-300pts per day in 3 nursing stations so I was always on the move. Our 4 RN spent a lot of time on the phones with patients, but did injections, patient teachng, occasional IVs. LPN & MA did the rest.

I liked what I was doing, but wouldn't like being glued to a chair most of the day.

Every office will vary as to the nurses role.

Hope that helps.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I worked in a Community Health Center for almost 3 1/2 years and loved it. We served a mostly nonwhite, mostly uninsured, often non-English-speaking population and I LOVED nearly every second. I did pt intake (VS, chief complaint, workup for a PE), triage, diabetes ed, family planning ed, wound care, vaccines, assisted c minor surgeries, peds eye/ear exams, drew labs, started IVs. Occasionally we would go to a migrant farmworker camp & do the same things but out in the fields. The only reason I quit was to spend more time at home with my son -- so I switched to a hosp job working weekends. The following pros/cons are mine only; yours or someone else's might be different.

Pros:

- no nights/weekends/holidays, usually

- the other nurses and I learned how to work together REALLY well and we got along with each other superbly outside work

- learning SO much about people who are so different than me

- learning a lot from some really good MD/NP/PAs

- we started out a really small, very family-oriented place. It wasn't like that when I left though.

- Usu you don't have to work in inclement weather

Cons:

- Workload is extra busy if someone calls out

- There is such a things as your coworkers knowing you TOO well, sometimes

- Only a 2-day weekend!!

Best of luck.