Office Nurses

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So im making the very hard decision on whether or not to leave the hospital for a family pratice office job. Right now i work on a very busy post-open heart floor and I feel i need some sort of change (I work nights right now and really want a day job). I guess i just need to some office nurses opinions on how it is to work in an office.Any help will be greatly appreciated.

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I can tell you my experience, I worked night shift 12 hrs on OB, L&D, Nursery and PP for little over 10 years, I got very burned out... and I wanted a day job so I went to a dialysis clinic. That was enjoyable, (meaning the patients were very nice and you got to know them), but it was a physically very hard job (on your feet 11 hours going as fast as you could). Then my cardiologist said that is going to kill you... (i was having a few health bumps).. so I left and I have been at a Neurosurgeon/Pain Mngt office for the past 5 and half years.. I really love it...... much easier on your body, physically it is much easier, but sometimes my brain gets very tired of thinking all day, patient after patient.

We see about 70-80 patients a day, so thats why it is a little brain tiring.. but I have every holiday and weekend!!! I enjoy seeing Friday come.. before Friday didn't mean anything because I worked weekends, etc.......... So I was in the hospital this week seeing a family member and I did not miss it!!!!!

Anyway that is my 2 cents worth...

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Thank you very much for telling me your experiences.

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Specializes in IM/Critical Care/Cardiology.

I personally wore a pedometer and averaged 5miles a day. I liked Internal Med much better than FP. Kept my skill level up better and I had great docs that liked to teach.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I work in a hospital clinic, and it is true, clinic nursing is a bit easier than med-surg. I have weekends and holidays off, and decent hours. I have worked in the clinic since becoming a nurse last year. I do plan to work per diem on med-surg and in the ER within a few weeks to gain skills and experience, but they will have to chase me out of ambulatory care with pit bulls on the backs of my heels. I intend to always make clinic nursing my main job.

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Office nursing can be very boring. Offices usually use MAs because they are cheaper than RNs, and the level of work is on an MA level. When I did ambulatory care (in a family practice clinic) all I did was put patients in rooms, maybe check VS, called in a lot of prescriptions, answered triage calls, got a lot of charts and test results together for the MD, other office stuff. Does not use higher mental functions or even nursing skills or judgement; at least in the hospital I could delude myself that I had some kind of autonomy or important skill set. Plus the pay was lower than hospital work, so it wasn't worth it to me. Ugh.

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I have worked in family practice for over 5 yrs now, and I love it. There is always something new and different to learn. There is a great variety of pts and complaints. Some are mundane, some are life threatening, but we keep on our toes.

I really enjoy the one on one I get with each pt. I feel like I really make a difference in their lives. I wouldn't go back to any other type of nursing.

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Specializes in IM/Critical Care/Cardiology.

Hi Selke,

Sounds like a boring clinic! I worked in a stress lab in-pt in a clinic as an LPN with an IV certification, ACLS certificate, EKG and monitoring skills, etc.etc. I know the OB-GYN Dept hired almost all RN'S as many procedures were done in there dept. I guess what I'm saying is that one clinic job does not beget all clinic jobs. I worked amongst many MA's and loved teaching them and I as often asked to help out with critical walk in patients.(Why do pt's do that? Oh well). We also had residients pass through and good teaching docs. When I've applied at clinics I tend to watch the interaction between staff esp. nurses and that has given me in-site wether they might actually be enjoying their jobs. My research experience started in a clinical setting and I made $17.00/hr plus OT. Just my 2 cents worth! I do understand the technology and skill level is much higher if applied in a hospital setting, I guess it comes down to a matter of choice.

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Specializes in ER, Occupational Health, Cardiology.

I LOVE my office job as the Telephone Triage Nurse for 19 cardiologists. The only thing I don't like is having to work 5 days instead of 3, but hey-you can't have everything! With nights and weekends and ALL holidays off, it is very hard to beat.

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personal choice

in a private clinic you get to know the patients because that come in for regular visits..the md depends on your assessment esp when filling out that initial visit

good luck in which ever you chose

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I don't find that working in a clinic is boring...far from it. To be honest, this was better for me to start working in a clinic as a new nurse, because I love to read charts and correlate with what I learned in class. And, you just can't beat having weekends and holidays off. While I do work on the weekends at agencies from time to time, I do it when I want to, not because I have to rotate weekends.

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Specializes in IM/Critical Care/Cardiology.

Idon't believe clinic nursing is boring either! I think I was responding to a thread posted by a different user who expressed the mundane office work. Sorry.

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