CheesyPeach

Well...at least we work in an industry that isn't doomed when the economy takes a downturn....another big plant is closing here in South GA (Cooper Tire). Merck closed about 1-2 years ago. Hundreds of people permanently out of high paying factory jobs....Many of whom do not have any immediate options. At least in the medical field, there are options (however undesirable they may seem with night/weekend hours, etc) should your current job disappear. I am thankful for that at least.

South Georgia....not a metropolitan area I recently applied at the big hospital here and turned down the job. I am a 2 + year RN, they offered me 19.24/hr. shift diffs were prorated starting at 5 pm at 2.50/hr then 5.00/hr after 7pm. extra 3.00/hr for weekends. I have applied at non hospital based company and was offered 21/hr 9-5 shift. I turned that down as well. I currently work in Public health where I am salaried. It comes out to 20.82 /hr but I figured out if I took all of my personal and sick time, along with my state holidays, I am off like 44 days during the year, so if you factored that in..I make more than that. Cost of living is fairly cheap here, and I used to live in WI. I have lived here 12 years and have seen a dusting of snow twice. I think you can do better though from reading other posts. I am stuck due to my husband's employer being here, and techinically he is the breadwinner....for now :chuckle LOL

I applied for the Georgia Service cancelable loan. Basically it is a first come first serve basis. Ask your financial aid counselor at your school. You get 3500 each school year and you can do it for 2 years. For each 3500 amount you must work as a RN anywhere in Georgia for 1 year and provide proof of employment every 3 months-which they send you the paperwork for your boss to fill out. It was so easy. Once you have worked your time, you are considered paid in full. It boosts your credit rating too. It is a loan, so if you do not graduate or if you do not work in Georgia, you have to pay it back plus interest. Ask your school about it.

adolescent or not, we do not have a right to violate HIPAA in such matters of birth control and STD. We have clients as young as 12 who are having sex asking for birth control. We do not have the right to contact the parents if they state so. Here is a link that addresses that-there is a federal prgram called TITLE X. http://www.reproductiverights.org/pub_fac_titlex2.html If there was not some form of safe haven of confidentiality for these adolescents, then chances are they might not get treated and spread the disease or risk possible infertility issues in the future.

I know we don't tell parents anything unless the patient agrees to it. Now as far as reporting it to other authorities we do send a statistical record to some authority (but I do not personally, we have a district person who handles stuff like that. ) But NO we do not tell parents, not for anything that has to do with family planning or STD. We can't even aknowledge someone is even at the health department due to HIPAA

I am a public health nurse specialist in a rural county. It is true that we do many vaccines and PPDs along with screening and treating STDs. We also function as main caregivers in Women's health, performing physicals and pap smears. We issue birth control pills and give depo injections and even help facilitate IUD placement and tubal ligations. We do abnormal pap follow up to ensure that clients get the care the need by facilitating communication with physicians. We also screen and pay for mammograms for women over 40 who do not have insurance. We screen 6th grade girls for scoliosis. We have an adult health program that provides affordable bp meds and we draw labs, issue the meds and monitor general health under the direction of individual physicians. we do WIC and child health, are certified lactation consultants, and are responsible for monitoring all communicable diseases/outbreaks in our area. Any TB cases in the county are followed and treated through us -which includes contact investigations. We are certified car seat safety technicians. We do health fairs and talk to teen groups or anyone who requests on many different areas of health. We are also a first line of action in natural disasters or terrorist attacks. We open shelters for storm refugees, tornado victims, etc. In essence we are a mixture of primary care and community care. IT is quite a fulfulling job, even with the lower pay. Just my

I work public health...no weekends, 13 holidays per year off and about 20 hours per month in sick and personal time. I had one year ICU experience before landing the job. There was a significant pay cut at first, but I have gotten a huge raise and am now at about what I would be making at the hospital. I don't think I was the first pick for the job either because I had the least experience of all the applicants, but it worked out. All I can say is to apply, the answer is always no until you try. Just my .

I worked for one year in ICU out of nursing school. Though it was exciting, I had to get away from that daily stress and horrible night shift work and 12 hour shifts.I only have my ADN. The job advertised a BSN preferred but I got the job anyway. It pays less than the hospital, but I do not regret it one bit. You can apply by going to your state website too. Good luck

Congratulations!!! I just started a month ago....and am overwhelmed!!! In a good way though....There is so much to learn but everyone is patient and really the only stress is being able to manage the computer and billing codes, etc. That will come second hand eventually. Giving little kids shots is about the only thing I don't like, but you would be crazy if you said you enjoyed that part LOL Good luck. You will be learning a lot!!!

I have my ADN and just got hired at our local public health department. I am currently enrolled at a nearby univerisity for the health assessment course that is offered at the BSN level. The job application stated that BSN and 2 years experience was preferred, but I applied anyway. I think being rural county helps....not enough applicants applying for the job. I know if i applied in a larger city dept, my application would never have made it past the secretary I am so thankful. I think that one of the main reasons they prefer BSN is because then they do not have to pay for the ADN nurse to go through the course at their expense (and time)....which I can totally see that rationale. Here in GA, a PH nurse cannot work without that class under their belt. It take a lot of time to fully train a nurse in Public health, if they can get someone with expereince and/or BSN they that takes a lot of burden off of the department.

My full time Mon-Friday job is 4 miles round trip. My PRN (on call one weekend per month) job is 22 miles one way. I used to work full time at my PRN job but the distance it put me between my children during the day was an issue. Hubby works in the bigger city too so someone needed to work closer to home if it could be done. I was just waiting for the right job to come up.

I think a better question is "What Don't they do?" Answer: (silence)

I posted this in another thread but it seems like a good reply for this one. so here is the copy: "I have just started working in the public health dept (less than a month) and although the pay is considerably less (salaried, so no OT or shift differential to beef up checks), I can already tell I made the right decision. I thought the hospital was where I wanted to be, but something did not feel right. The stress of critical care was too much and the long shifts (12.5 hours) was taking it's toll fast. Now I am Mon-Fri 8-5 with 1 hour for lunch. I live very close to work so I go home and unwind in MY environment. When I get fully trained (it is going to take a year or longer) I will be a functioning Public health nurse with the expanded role. We assess, diagnose and treat all sorts of conditions and do complete gynecoligical examinations (which includes breast exams and PAP smears). One minute I am doing a hearing and vision check on a school aged child, the next I am giving an immunization and doing a growth and development check on an infant, and the next treating a man/woman/teen for an STD. We even joint manage diabetics and HTN pts, as well as TB pts with local physicians. It really is a great job and I am thankful I was given the opportunity. We travel to several meetings and classes every month, so we are not holed up in the clinic every day. I have my own exam room/office which I am in the process of decorating with posters and pamphlets that I think are appropriate for my clients. I even pick out stickers for my kids, and I am becoming familiar with the TB/STD programs that eventually will be my responsibility to run for the county. It is a lot on my plate, but it is different than the daily grind of the hospital. I never thought about Public health and only applied because it was close to my house (the hospital was 25 miles away), I was put off by the pay at first, but realized that the starting pay was just that. I am due for a significant increase already in January and then again once i reach the expanded role status. I will actually be making more at the PH office next year than i would at the hospital (if i worked the same hours). To be fair, I am a recent grad ( one year ago) so new grad pay is what I am basing this off of. For those of you who have worked several years, you would be taking a significant cut). There are awesome benefits for state employees though. We get tons of days off and vacation/ sick time as well. It comes out to about 8.5 weeks off per year. For those of you sick of the hopsital, go to your state job site and search for public health nurse openings. It is worth a long look and I am so glad I did."

I have just started working in the public health dept (less than a month) and although the pay is considerably less (salaried, so no OT or shift differential to beef up checks), I can already tell I made the right decision. I thought the hospital was where I wanted to be, but something did not feel right. The stress of critical care was too much and the long shifts (12.5 hours) was taking it's toll fast. Now I am Mon-Fri 8-5 with 1 hour for lunch. I live very close to work so I go home and unwind in MY environment. When I get fully trained (it is going to take a year or longer) I will be a functioning Public health nurse with the expanded role. We assess, diagnose and treat all sorts of conditions and do complete gynecoligical examinations (which includes breast exams and PAP smears). One minute I am doing a hearing and vision check on a school aged child, the next I am giving an immunization and doing a growth and development check on an infant, and the next treating a man/woman/teen for an STD. We even joint manage diabetics and HTN pts, as well as TB pts with local physicians. It really is a great job and I am thankful I was given the opportunity. We travel to several meetings and classes every month, so we are not holed up in the clinic every day. I have my own exam room/office which I am in the process of decorating with posters and pamphlets that I think are appropriate for my clients. I even pick out stickers for my kids, and I am becoming familiar with the TB/STD programs that eventually will be my responsibility to run for the county. It is a lot on my plate, but it is different than the daily grind of the hospital. I never thought about Public health and only applied because it was close to my house (the hospital was 25 miles away), I was put off by the pay at first, but realized that the starting pay was just that. I am due for a significant increase already in January and then again once i reach the expanded role status. I will actually be making more at the PH office next year than i would at the hospital (if i worked the same hours). To be fair, I am a recent grad ( one year ago) so new grad pay is what I am basing this off of. For those of you who have worked several years, you would be taking a significant cut). There are awesome benefits for state employees though. We get tons of days off and vacation/ sick time as well. It comes out to about 8.5 weeks off per year. For those of you sick of the hopsital, go to your state job site and search for public health nurse openings. It is worth a long look and I am so glad I did.

I must admit that I am one of those people that quietly notes poor grammar and unfairly equates it with intelligence level. Sorry.... I can't help it. Please don't assume that I do not like people who use poor grammar, I just wouldn't ask them to do my taxes.