Clinic Nursing

I'm back! At least for an update. I'm not sure if I'll continue posting so I'm sorry to all of you who keep checking in on me....i see you....from my web counter...I do appreciate it.

I quit the Hospital the beginning of August. The hours although not long were just not accommodating for a single mom. I hated getting someone to take Ari to school for me. I hated panicking every time there was a holiday where I was expected to work. I hated the long commute...45 mins to an hour in the am and then the hour to hour 1/2 home.

I left because I accepted the most excellent position working for an Endocrinologist. At first I thought it might be too boring for me but It's sooo busy. It's just me and another Nurse working for this one Doctor. The Doctor is awesome with her patients and is really nice and encouraging so far. But she's very particular with her charting and how things are done. It's almost like learning the routines of an Obsessive compulsive. I know she has her reasons for doing things this way or that but it's sooo overwhelming to learn.

Here's my Hospital vs Clinic comparison for all you new RNs looking for a job.

Hospital:

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  Longer Hours/ fewer days a week


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  Holidays...most you have to work or at least rotate


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  Weekends...typically at least 1 weekend/month but you usually get paid extra


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  Far better pay, when you consider differentials and bonuses


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  Using most traditional Nursing skills...the ones we all checked off in RN school


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  Dealing with patients not in their right mind who may throw something at you


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  Not having to deal with referrals, financial stuff, and insurance companies


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  Working at a pace you manage with probably nobody to check to see you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. (it's all honor code at the hospital)


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  Treating Doctors more like equals and even teaching the baby Docs a thing or two


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  Patients can have life threatening situations at any time


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  You can't leave unless you have a nurse to take your patients. It would be illegally abandoning them.

Clinic

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  Shorter, more human hours but 5 days/week


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  Most if not all holidays off and usually paid for


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  All weekends off!


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  Less pay...unless you stick around awhile and maybe get certified to do fancier things, however... it's easy to work through lunch if you have too much to do and that = overtime


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  Not using a lot of "Traditional" Nursing skills...injections and a few IVs is basically the best chance


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  Dealing with patients who may not be in their right mind who might just yell at you over the phone.....or threaten to "take their money and insurance elsewhere"


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  Having to deal with referrals, financial stuff, and insurance companies...the most annoying part of my new job...hate it.


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  Working at your doctor's pace and schedule....all else you have to fit in between phone calls.


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  The Doctor is boss...what they say...goes. Whether it makes sense or not.


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  Life threatening situations RARELY happen in a clinic....especially mine.


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  You can leave....for appointments, to pick your kid up, etc. My fellow co-worker brought hers in today just to color at her desk while she worked.

It's still chaos...just a different kind of chaos.

So....... with Ari starting 1st grade (waaa...she's getting too big!) this week, it's been really great to drop her at school and know....if anything happened to her, it wouldn't be illegal or a threat to my license to drop everything at work and go get her.

So, with me being in a clinic setting I won't be able to post much about patients...too easy to figure out with a close nit setting like that. But I'll try to pop in and post every once in awhile with updates.