tjn97

I used to work telemetry in a local hospital before I started my office job. And I remember thinking I was "stepping down" in the ranks of nursing. Boy, was I wrong!! I have learned so much since I started 3 years ago, and continue to learn each and every day. With a family practice office, we see a nice variety of diagnoses and problems, which I think makes us very well-rounded nurses. :)

I work in a 6 physician family practice office. The nurses take the messages off the voicemail, not the secretaries. Some people do leave messages about rx's when scheduling an appointment, but that doesn't happen alot. We do get some "doozy" messages, though. "I need my white BP pill" and then don't leave their phone number or pharmacy name. We just love those! :angryfire I dont' what we'd do without the prescription line!

I actually was the recipient of carotid massage 6 years ago. Funny thing was, I was working on a telemetry unit at the time, and started with the fast rhythm! My coworkers put a monitor on me, which showed a heart rate of 200. Needless to say, I bought myself a trip to the ER! They tried carotid massage first without success, so I was given one dose of Adenosine, which did the trick! What a feeling though! I hope menopausal "hot flashes" aren't like that!

In my opinion, it's beneficial to have a knowledge base and some experience before working in a office setting. I work in family practice, and we see many different diagnoses. My work on telemetry and med-surg units has helped me understand symptoms and I can pick up on certain problems more easily. Some offices may only hire nurses with prior experience, so look around. Good luck in your search!! :)

Hi Darla, We live in PA. Yes, it was surprising to see that dx. He hadn't been seen for over 2 years, so definitely not a frequent flyer. Hope he recuperates soon, as he was pretty miserable!

we haven't seen too much allergy problems yet, but still the usual sinusitis and occasional bronchitis. Just had a patient yesterday dx'd with pneumonia, 40'ish and very sick. Doctor almost sent him to the hospital. We seem to give quite a few allergy shots all throughout the year.

We currently have 2 MA's at our family practice office. It was a difficult transition for the first one hired, as all the other nursing staff consisted of RN's and LPN's. She met a lot of resistance from our head nurse, who didn't like the idea of hiring MA's. Now, with 2 hired, the staff has more flexibility and has become very cohesive. Frankly, if the person is trained properly and given adequate supervision, I feel they can be as competent as a RN or LPN.

I worked perdiem at a local hospital a couple years ago, and it worked well for me. I started when I was pregnant with my first child, and it gave me the flexibility of hours after he was born. I picked my hours, mostly 4 hour shifts, and the pay was really nice! Finally realizing it wasn't for me, I left and started working at a family practice office, which I absolutely love :) ! If you need flexibility and don't need the bene's, perdiem is the way to go!