No nursing position is "easy". All have their own stressors and challenges. So if you're looking for easy nursing jobs, they don't exist.
I have worked in psych, ER (mostly), PCU, and ambulatory. Pre-Op was by FARRRRR the easiest in my opinion. PACU was a little more difficult simply because you have to do a little more patient care work as the patient is recovering from sedation. But both were easier than any other unit I’ve worked
In ambulatory care, a significant part of the role is administrative such as completing pre- authorization requests. Additionally, nurses often perform phone triage and triage incoming patient clinical messages. The acuity of clinical decisions is lower. For example, if a patient is having stroke in outpatient, you’re calling 911. So, you’re not necessarily starting the IVs, prepping for imaging etc.
However, you can still be managing high acuity concerns. For example, if come across a clinical message that is urgent (red flag symptoms)- you will need to get a hold of patient ASAP to advise them to seek emergent medical care.
Depending on the specialty and size of the practice, you can assist with procedures and really develop an expertise in a specific patient population. Another benefit of ambulatory is development of longer term relationships with patients.
The answer to that question is yes to both. The job frame is easier in that the time frame for work is generally Monday thru Friday, no weekends, no holidays and no call. This being different than in the Main OR area of most hospitals. Depending on there the ambulatory nurse is working you are most likely done by 5pm each day. It can be difficult in that a lot of surgeries traditional that would have been done in the main OR because of what they are is changing. More surgeries are being done as ambulatory surgery. Sometimes, some of the patients are more changing because they are not being done under general anesthesia.
Wherever you are in nursing. It is not easy.
I believe this depends upon the practice, organization structure, and management. I find that whatever one enjoys doing, things come easy. What becomes hard, are tasks that you have never learned but need to develop skills for.
As an ambulatory nurse for over 15 years, I have yet to be bored. There is always a challenge. Always something new to learn and do. The patient population is very diverse. Some people walk in with a cardiac dysrhythmia they didn't know they had. Some have a reaction to the anesthesia because they were not honest with us on precall and are taking recreational drugs that react to the anesthetics. There is always something that can happen.
Ambulatory nursing is also very fast paced and physically demanding. If you want easy, maybe a desk or phone position would be better.
Good luck with your search
Depends on what you're doing. Nothing is ever easy in life. I'm sure you'll be challenged from time to time. Just be open to learning new things and getting along with your team/coworkers.
I'll start off with the belief that there is NO easy nursing job, just different nursing jobs. I remember when I first started in Ambulatory many years ago. The thought then was that it would be a nice, easy day job! lol Boy was I wrong.
The difficulties/challenges with the job are merely different. I learned everything there was about running a freestanding ambulatory clinic. There is a lot of business you will have to master. Regulatory bodies to contend with, required testings and competencies, annual requirements for all staff, records of it all and so much more. The lab alone has a ton of these, as well as sterilizers, poc testing, state and federal mandates. Then there are the insurance companies to deal with. The biggest nightmare of all.
The patient care is quite different than in acute care. If you're lucky you will develop relationships with your clientele. This makes giving good care so much easier. Scheduling, unexpected walk -ins, multiple physicians wanting to run their practices their own way,the phone triage, nights and weekend coverage, and covering lunch breaks even becomes an issue. The ambulatory clinics are pretty much on an island all their own without the support system you have in the hospital.
None of this is to discourage, just to let you know it is a different world than in acute care. You will miss that very much in the beginning. Took about 5 years before I could let go of hospital nursing. Good luck
Neither. I’d say it’s moderate…. Not as intense as floor nursing. Where I work we have good teamwork and a lot of variety. On your feet a lot, but rarely lifting patients. Some days get really busy, some days are a little slower.
I have been in the ambulatory surgery arena for almost 25 years. I agree with so many here, no nursing is easy. The good is it’s always changing no 2 days are the same. Also good the schedule is usually predictable. It can be chaotic. I have never had a day where I just “sat around” & waited for the next pt. I’ve trained to do pre/OR circulate/PACU. I also endo circulate. Free standing ASCs have an interesting dynamic in that there is little to no ancillary staff. OR finished who cleans the room—not housekeeping—YOU. Pt crashing…. Rapid Response??—Nope YOU. & your IV skills better be top notch. These are the reasons I love it. You need to recall a lot of skills, use them all together but organize them appropriately. Coordinate everything so that 16 ortho hand cases get in & out of 2 OR suites by 1130 & make every pt feel like they’re special not just a number!! It is a different type of busy and challenging nursing. I have never felt that it was easy.
It varies upon the peoyou work with, the type of practice and your patients. You need to keep a lot of things fresh in the back of your head because high acuity patients may actually present to clinic instead of ER and you need to be able to respond appropriately.
It depends where you work. If the surgeons and anesthesiologists are well respected and have their patients best interest in mind, then it can be easy because you have them for support should things go downhill. Many surgery centers have few nurses so you must be dependable and be willing to work sometimes over 12-14 hour days. It’s bar to be hourly so you get paid accordingly with over-time. I was at a surgery center for 18 years and I loved it. It was my home away from home. Some days were harder than others. But, I loved it. You truly become a patient advocate in a small surgery center like that, and that is very gratifying in itself.
I love the ambulatory setting ! Same day surgery and patients are not sick sick per se ! I have been in this field for the past 20 years and love it ! It’s not always easy and sometimes it is difficulty when patients get bad news after a colonoscopy or EGD and codes happen but it happened only twice in my last 20 years of working in that field !
It’s easy in my opinion, but there are always difficult days with staff shortages or tough situations with patients or fellow co-workers. It depends on your flexibility, your perception, and other multiple factors. I’m certain some specialties may be more difficult than others, but I like the time I get to spend with my patients when we are fully staffed and how I learn more when I have time to chat with providers and fellow colleagues.
You also have a normal, stable schedule with no expectation to work holidays or weekends, generally speaking. Some clinics have Saturday or weekend hours, but this is not usually the case.
Nursing can just be difficult as a career. There are a lot of aspects to take into consideration in nursing.
