Community Chat

[Gooday]

I am 62 years of age and came from an era with a lot of cross training or multitasking was required when working for doctors/surgeons.  That's just the way it was.

I started out at an early age working as a medical transcriber for a huge V.A. Hospital in Illinois.  This was LONG before the days of computers and fax machines.  Went to school to become a licensed Medical Assistant as I needed to support myself and could not quit my V.A. job.

Left the V.A. to work as a transcriber for a hospital cardiology group and a few years later went to work for an orthopedic surgeon.  Retired after 17 years with him.  The best boss in the world.  I was his right hand.  I did everything under the sun, personal banking, reception work,scheduling surgeries, setting up pre-admission testing, CT scans, MRI's, etc. taking H&P's, filing insurance claims but most importantly, dealing with patients on every level.  I also was the doctor's liason with the various hospital departments, MRI centers and specifically the patients.  We did have an R.N. who was the office manager but she took care of the banking and drawing up injections.

Those days are long gone and now everyone has a specific task.  Even nurses are bogged down by data entry/paperwork and it's exhausting for them.

I loved my job and given the opportunity to go back in time, I would have applied myself and become a physician.

[Goodie2shoes]

Thanks for all of the great responses. There are a lot of special people out there.  Nursing is a hard job with many sacrifices. I used to work a rotating day/night shift position at the Hospital when my children were small. One evening  while trying to sleep for the upcoming night shift, I got up to go to the bathroom half asleep and noticed something on my hallway wall. Once my vision cleared I realized it was crayon scribbles. My 3 year old daughter had entertained herself by drawing on the walls. Everyone else had fallen asleep so she just decided she needed to draw.  I also remember driving home one morning from a night shift when I apparently dozed off, don't know how I didn't have an accident but woke up feeling like I had missed seeing a section of the road side scenery I usually passed.  I worked med surg,psych and Ortho for several years then transfered to the newborn nursery where I worked until I took a job for an insurance company as a referral nurse. I have now been a workers comp case manager for about 19 years with an insurance company, I cover several states, case loads are high but I work from home which I like. I do plan to retire in the next few months as I mentioned in my initial post. My daughter was considering going back to school to get her RN but I just don't think she is cut out for that kind of hard work. Once she looked into it, she decided the same. Nurses and anyone in the medical field deserve the highest pay in my opinion.  It's more difficult now than when I worked in the Hospital setting. 

[Reba055]

I was an X-ray tech back in the stone ages, lol. Worked in several departments including the ER. After that I worked in private practices as a nurse/tech but I left and ended up in an executive level position with a company totally unrelated to healthcare. 

I've always been fascinated by the medical field and learned much over the years through my experiences.  

[lovethgedress]

I have a bachelor's degree in Medical Technology and have worked in a microbiology laboratory my entire career of almost 32 years.  I've worked on the bench as we call it for most of my career so I have also worked my share of weekend and holidays.  Never bothered me much as it gave me the opportunity to have some days off during the week. The last 3 years I have been manager of the department.  

I will say that I am blessed to work with people who will do what it takes to get results out for our patients.  We work together as a team and have a good working relationship with many other departments/clinicians in the hospital.  The field is a good fit for my  personality, although being a manager is still a little out of my comfort zone.  My only regrets are the wage that is paid.  Kids can graduate from college with other degrees and within a few years be making what would be our top of scale.  Considering the critical nature of our work it saddens me that the pay is so poor.

[sfnative]

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@151949 wrote:

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@gmkb wrote:

I am so sorry to see the majority of the nurses responding said they would not recommend or do this again.  This does not  bode well for nursing's future.  Nurses are such an important aspect of healthcare; physicians rely heavily on the care and good judgement of the nursing staff.  I would hope that those coming up would investigate changes that will create a work environment conducive to keeping nurses.

I would like like to see a return to more hospital trained schools of nursing.  In my opinion  floor nursing is more satisfying to hospital trained nurses.  I don't think the expectation for job satisfaction is as high 

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@gmkb wrote:

I am so sorry to see the majority of the nurses responding said they would not recommend or do this again.  This does not  bode well for nursing's future.  Nurses are such an important aspect of healthcare; physicians rely heavily on the care and good judgement of the nursing staff.  I would hope that those coming up would investigate changes that will create a work environment conducive to keeping nurses.

I would like like to see a return to more hospital trained schools of nursing.  In my opinion  floor nursing is more satisfying to hospital trained nurses.  I don't think the expectation for job satisfaction is as high 

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I am a hospital trained nurse and ,no doubt, nursing schools produce a much better nurse with much more practical experience than a BSN program. Hospital trained nurses have clinical experience every day ,all or part of the day and actually have charge nurse experience on the off shifts before they graduate.Because I worked at a university hospital I worked with a lot of students and grads from the program there and the majority certainly wanted NOTHING to do with bedside patient care. They were just looking to use a BSN as a step toward something else.

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@151949

@gmkb

I'm a product of a nursing school and believe that an accumulation of empirical knowledge through study, followed by application is wise, in most venues.  My nursing school was no push-over experience, I can tell you.

When I worked floors, I could out-master a hospital trained nurse in areas of diagnosis and challenges with microbes, in order to effectively communicate with patients'.

physicians.

As with others, this took a toll on my body, so left for management positions in physical therapy and diagnosis and treatment centers.  My last lengthy stint was as Head, Surgical-Training (12 surgical disciplines with Residency programs).  It included learning how to perform microvascular surgery, so that I could teach it (!!!).  I gasped at this last challenge, but made it happen.  Also, re-wrote the 120 page course syllabus.

As I've told many who've asked me, don't count on nursing as your best friend, as there are many, many opportunities in healthcare.  Remember:  unlike other industries, people will continue to require healthcare services for their entire lives, so this business is not going away.

[Furgirl]

Another microbiologist here, in large hospital in Austin. I love my job! I specialize in mycology. I've been working in this profession since 1982 with a BSA in medical technology. 

[ECBG]

Yes.  Several years ago some who said they were RN's guided me to some fantastic lotion because I was broken out from water/dryness  every time I cooked a large meal.  My derm. said "severe dermtitisThey guided me to Curel in the box.  Sadly, it's only available by the carton from Amazon.

[LTT1]

@Furgirl

I have a BS in Medical Technology, also.  I found out it is also considered a BS in Biology by my university.  Hey!!!

[Suziepeach]

Retired Radiology Technologist/Certified Mammographer

[scotnovel]

I was a Registered Nurse, working for over 10 years in the operating room, in staff development and training, and as an Asst Director of Nursing.   Then I went back to school, majored in accounting, became a CPA working in public accounting and then for a major corporation in profitability analysis and financial planning.  I am now retired.