swillmsrn

Okay, I have read just about everything written here and on other forums about starting a business, so I am ready to jump. Now for my request for help from those who may have gone before me: Where would I begin to research starting a clinic for pre-employment testing (ie. drug testing, tb testing, blood draws, etc.) I am not interested in physicals, just the routine testing that precedes employement. Today, it seems that to get any job you need to have basic testing done. Seems like a place for a nurse to create a business. I can't decide who to turn to for info on regs and policies that must be met, how to go about maintaining chain of evidence on drug screens, etc. I hope someone out there can help me. Thanks.

I am a psychiatric nurse with 15 years experience in the field. Recently, I have begun to believe that I need a change due to burn out or just plain boredom or something. My question that I hope you all can help me with is this, how does a nurse go about getting cross-trained or retrained in a new area? I really would love to learn dialysis, endoscopy, GI lab or cath lab; I do have nursing skills that are rusty, but I do know how to do the tasks. How do you go about getting a nurse manager to consider you over some young, new nurse?

Since starting this thread, I have learned quite a bit, thanks to all of you responders. Now, however, I have another question that still fits in with this thread, I hope. If I were to get my own contract, I am okay with arranging my own residence because the ones I have had with my agency have all been horrid!!! Currently, I have an upstairs apartment with ac that will only cool my home to 80 degrees here in Oklahoma. So, I think I could probably do better myself. But, my real concern would be in getting my money. How exactly does that work and what is the lag time between working and getting paid? I would have to see how long I could float without a weekly check to decide if I want to try this. So, again, thanks for all the useful information and please, keep it coming.

This may not be the correct forum for this, but I am currently a travel nurse and I am finding that the companies "are not my friend" when it comes to getting me the best jobs and the best money. Mostly, what I find is that you are expected to take whatever they offer you and be happy to get it. I am thinking there must be a way to do travel nursing as an independent contractor, but maybe not. Anyone out there done this before? If so, could you tell us about it and explain how to get started? Thanks, swillmsrn

I am currently a traveling nurse working in psych (15 years experience) and would desperately love to change fields, at least for a little while. I am interested in learning dialysis, but meet with the same "need 1 year experience" problem previously discussed in this thread. While the suggestions all were excellent, my situation is slightly different as I am only in an area for 13 wks and it is hard to propose that someone hire me to teach me for such a short time. I keep hoping that I will find a travel position that I just "love" so I can extend because then I will have more time to learn my new skills. So far, I would cry if I had to stay longer at the places I have worked, so extending hasn't been an option yet. So, suggestions anyone? I really would appreciate any help you can give me.