00:01
Let's talk non-hospital
positions.
00:04
As a nursing student,
let's be honest,
most students don't see
these positions as desirable.
00:10
But in all my years,
I will tell you the hospital really
isn't a great fit for everyone.
00:15
Honestly, the flexibility is less than
the hospital or the inpatient setting,
the hours are longer,
the stress sometimes is higher,
and nursing is evolving a lot.
00:27
Luckily, there are
options for you out there.
00:29
And the outpatient world has so many
perks and potential opportunities
that most of the time
these are overlooked,
especially when you're a nursing
student and sometimes even a nurse.
00:40
Here's a few outpatient
jobs to consider a nursing.
00:44
If you aren't thinking the
hospital life is for you,
there are a ton of
outpatient nursing jobs
but I've picked some
common ones to discuss.
00:53
Probably the most common is working as
a clinic or outpatient office nurse.
00:58
Clinic nurses work in offices
and perform a ton of education
and different types
of assessment.
01:05
And they may triage
patients as well.
01:08
Here, you'll be doing a lot of
chatting with patients over the phone,
seeing if maybe they need to
come in to be seen in the office,
answering lots of questions and educating
them on different aspects of their care.
01:21
You may even take care of
some in office injections,
procedures like wound care,
and you may be helping to
interpret labs or other results
depending on the state you live
in and your scope of practice.
01:33
Now this is a great option.
01:35
If you're looking for something maybe a
little lower stress than the hospital.
01:39
You like routine, and you don't want
that night shift or the holiday life
or maybe even weekends.
01:45
The other advantage here is you
can work in family medicine,
OB clinic, psychiatric
clinics, cardiac clinics.
01:53
And if you like a specialty area
without the acute care setting
of this type of nursing,
this can be a great fit.
02:01
Now similar to a clinic nurse,
you can also work at any outpatient
procedure or residential centers.
02:08
This will include things like
outpatient surgery centers,
psychiatric centers,
outpatient rehab programs,
and long term care facilities.
02:16
Now the job responsibilities
in these settings
will vary widely as
well the schedules.
02:23
Now let's take a moment to
discuss long term care facilities.
02:28
I feel like this term or this
setting has a really bad stigma,
like it's less important
or less cool as a nurse.
02:35
But I'll tell you,
I completely disagree with this statement.
02:39
This level of care is
often really rewarding,
and also needs nursing to use really
sharp observation and assessment skills.
02:48
Because many times they need to see if
that resident needs a higher level of care,
or to be admitted
to the hospital.
02:55
The nurses are the ones
that usually catch this.
02:58
Now, maintaining health and wellness
for any patient is really a big job.
03:03
Not to mention, you're going to
really get to know your clients.
03:08
And a lot of the times
in the inpatient setting,
your job never really allows
you to get the same report.
03:14
So you are the caregiver
and can tell the providers
the most important and minute
details about your patient
that can really make
all the difference.
03:23
Let's talk about LTACs, otherwise known
as long term acute care facilities.
03:29
In my state,
LPNs can work these types of areas.
03:33
Now this is kind of a
special level of care,
because the patient usually has acute
care needs such as like IV therapy,
nutrition support
through a feeding tube,
and sometimes even
breathing support.
03:46
Now these patients are
too safe to go home,
but they need that
continued advanced treatment
that's got to be
monitored by a nurse.
03:55
Now the hospital can usually
only keep patients for so long
until they no longer meet what we say is in
medical necessity for inpatient treatment.
04:06
But again,
they need that higher level of care
and higher level than home
or long term care by itself.
04:14
So the thing to consider here
is these patients are sick,
usually still dealing
with that acute problem
that laying the room
in the hospital,
but they need additional
care thereafter.
04:26
Now this is a high level
of care of LPNs to consider
if the hospital's
really not their thing,
but still like to use
our technical skills
and training to take care
of those acute conditions.
04:38
Now let's talk about
school nursing.
04:40
This is another great
option to consider.
04:43
Now you are working under
the supervision of an RN.
04:46
And one of my dearest
friends is a school nurse
and she is one of the brightest
and most creative people I know.
04:53
Many nurses underestimate
the acuity of patients
and problems you deal
with as a school nurse.
05:00
Yeah, I know,
sometimes you're gonna give ice packs,
you're gonna call parents because
their kid fell on the playground.
05:07
But they also deal with children with
really serious health conditions,
such as diabetes,
seizure disorders,
and working with things
such as feeding tubes.
05:19
Oh, and dealing with a
pandemic by themselves
for a whole entire
school district.
05:25
Many times,
it's just a few nurses,
maybe even one for the
whole entire school.
05:31
And that's a lot of kids.
05:33
Nurses also do a really important
thing in the schools of education
in regards to sexual
safety, nutrition,
suicide prevention,
and really just so much more.
05:44
Now, here you have a good amount
of autonomy with this role.
05:48
Now, this can be kind of
intimidating to a new nurse.
05:51
So this is something you
may be want to be aware of.
05:54
Many times this
is a great option.
05:56
If you also have children,
they go to school where you work.
05:59
Home health, this one is huge.
06:02
Many LPNs work in
this type of care.
06:05
I would dare to say when
talking about level of pay.
06:08
I know experienced LPN
who work in home health,
who make way more than their
RN friends in the hospital.
06:16
This is when you are
traveling to people's homes
and providing them
with in home services.
06:22
Now, this can range from people having a
nurse visit to ensure the patient's safe
and optimize their environment
to maybe reduce falls,
or just make sure they're
overall doing okay.
06:34
Maybe doing dressing changes,
administering medications,
and coordinating for additional
resources if the patient needs it.
06:42
Now, my personal experience.
06:44
I've had an LPN coming to
my home to help our family
and their knowledge of wound
care and overall knowledge base.
06:51
Many time supersedes those who
work in an inpatient environment.
06:56
Although it's not the
same as home health,
hospice and palliative care
are two other outpatient jobs
where you are visiting
patients in their home
and providing measures to
improve quality of life.
07:09
Now, this schedule,
if you're thinking about that
is really awesome for people who need
a bit of flexibility in their day.
07:17
You really get to choose their schedule
and work with your patient on this.
07:21
So the other part of this level of
care, you really know your clients.
07:25
Sometimes this is
over several weeks,
you're updating and even educating
family members on treatments
being given to the patients and working
with the RN to take care of these folks.
07:38
So we've talked about several
options in regards to LPNs.
07:42
But one more important thing to
know is that LPNs with experience,
they can even take
administrative positions
at long term facilities in my
state, for example.
07:52
Each facility has certain
requirements for this of course,
but this may be
an option as well.
07:58
So remember, as an LPN,
you can become a valuable asset
in any one of the
settings you choose.