Germanicus3767

I too left nursing 16 years ago after 15 years working in different hospital settings. The combination of unreasonable patient assignments, escalating paperwork, indifferent or, mostly, incompetent managers and daily abuse from patients and families finally drove me out. But instead of leaving the field entirely, I went to NP school and while I can't say that being an NP has been all flowers and sunshine at least I was out of hospital work. There are still negative issues I face on a daily basis as an NP but, in the end, I do have much more control in resolving them than I did as an RN.

I was working in urgent care and my clinic had a number of drug seekers coming in with bogus complaints. Bumping up hydrocodone to a schedule II drug eliminated a lot of them since the clinic was staffed by NPs and we couldn't prescribe over schedule III. The most valuable tool I found was the Georgia Prescription Drug Monitoring Program website. When I logged on to it I could see every prescription for opioids the patient had received and also when and where they got them. In cases where the patient was getting drugs from multiple sources I would print out the patient's opioid history and confront them with it then kick them out without prescribing any more opioids. I don't know how many other states have this program but it sure is helpful in weeding out drug abusers.

I would say go to NP school. Its more money along with more responsibility. I didn't feel I lost any clinical skills working in corrections. If anything working there made me keep them sharp because you never knew what was going to come through the door .

I live in the Atlanta area. Relocation isn't an option but thanks for the tip.

I'm a man, 55 years old. I've been an NP for 14 years and spent the last 8 working in corrections. I have been trying to find a job outside of corrections for a year now and have applied for a number of jobs but I have not received even a callback on any of them. My question is has working in prisons so long made me undesirable as a potential employee. Working in corrections has given me lots of varied clinical experience but I get the feeling that some view corrections as a setting providers go when they can't get a job anywhere else. I have a good work record and good references so I'm puzzled as to why I'm not getting any responses.