Are You Suited for a Fast-Paced and Steady-Paced Nursing Career?

As a nursing student, you will be faced with the dilemma of choosing the perfect nursing job to kick start your career. As a nursing student, you have quite a number of options to choose from. You can apply to become a nurse in a regular doctor’s office or work in a standalone emergency room.

Although the job description is pretty much the same, the working environments are pretty different and the exposure levels will differ slightly depending on what you opt for. Should you be in the emergency room of a doctor’s office? What are some of the notable differences of working in the two places? Here are 4 main differences that you should be aware of.

Speed of Service

The regular doctor’s office offers a steadier pace of work while the emergency room requires you to be always on your feet. The schedules in the regular doctor’s office are more consistent and you can almost predict what is going to happen. Rarely will you be required to attend to emergency unplanned for cases. The emergency room on the other hand is a fast paced working environment with no dull moment. You can never anticipate what form of injury or medical condition is going to storm right through the door and this is quite thrilling.

Number of Hours

Depending on your doctor’s availability and scheduling, you will only be required to be in the office during the normal weekly working hours. Unless it is a special arrangement, you will not be required to avail yourself during weekends or overtime. You won’t be working during holidays and obviously there are no night shifts.

The emergency room on the other hand, requires you to brace yourself for overtime, night shifts and working during weekends and sometimes during holidays. Sometimes, you will even receive emergency calls and will be required to respond even if you were at home. This might sound tedious but once you have a grip on it, you will realize it is very satiating serving patients and helping them at their point of need.

Paperwork

Working as a nurse in the regular doctor’s office means that you will be dealing with all the paperwork and directly work with the insurance companies. Since you have a lot of time on your hands, the duties of sorting all the patients’ paperwork and records are delegated to you. You will equally be required to address all issues related to insurance. Nurses in the emergency room, on the other hand, handle very little or no paperwork at all. Your primary concern is helping the physician with administering medication and ushering in patients.

Medical Experience

The emergency room provides a better opportunity to work with various types of illnesses and injuries of different intensities. This means that you will need every bit of your medical expertise here in the emergency room. Dealing with that many medical conditions only serves to improve your expertise and medical experience. The doctor’s office, on the other hand, handles mostly the mild medical conditions and less serious injuries. It provides pretty good learning experiences as well because you will be working in such proximity with your doctor and the relationship can be pretty helpful.

All in all, no workplace is better than the other. The choice really depends on your interests and abilities. It is always wise to pick a specialty that challenges you and brings the best out you without becoming overly choosy. This way, you will enjoy a rewarding nursing career. To learn more about a career in nursing today, contact Athena Career Academy.