Working as a RN at a Women's Health Clinic!
MY FIRST REGISTERED NURSE GIG! I've been working as a part-time(ish) nurse at a women's health clinic downtown since the end of March! And sadly... I will be leaving this job by the end of this month of May. 😭😭😭. Yep.
Let's back it up a bit. This women's health clinic downtown is owned by this physician. Her private practice consists of her, and two nurse practitioners! It's pretty amazing! The physician who owns this practice loves Columbia students and has hired SEVERAL nurses and Family NPs to be a part of the team. That's basically how I got this job in the first place! Word of mouth and some nice connections.
Essentially, I work 2-3 times a week for 4 hours in the afternoon and alternate days with another FNP student in my cohort! This job isn't your typical RN job, though. It's a little less hands on clinical, but a WHOLE lot of history taking, patient education, counseling, refilling of medications. Patients would call in with issues regarding their birth control, localized pain, irregular bleeding, the list goes on. The most common types of symptoms patients call in for are bacterial vaginosis, urinary tract infections (UTIs), yeast infections, and herpes outbreaks. From there, we ask the following related questions regarding their symptoms so we can prescribe the correct medication. I also get calls about more information about various birth control, if their birth control method isn't working for them, etc. I also go over lab results with patients as well, sometimes all normal, sometimes with some abnormals where we would need to call the patient to let them know they tested positive for something and need to be treated, if their vitamin D is too low, or if another procedure needs to be done in order to further investigate abnormal test results. I've really been learning a lot about various things so far including the EXTENSIVE amount of birth control pill names out on the market, what to do if someone is having prolonged breakthrough bleeding, signs and symptoms of PCOS, when to determine if some symptoms are URGENT and need immediate medical attention or not.
Sadly, the practice is switching the way it is structured and are now looking for a FULL TIME RN which both I and my other FNP peer cannot have time for as we are still first and foremost FNP students. 😭 Really sad about it, but thankful for the experience I was able to get here, and looking forward to what the future holds. I will be TA-ing a few classes in the summertime (physical assessment lab for the incoming MDE-ers and advanced physical assessment for the current MDE-ers). That will probably take up some time in addition to regular class and clinical requirements. It would be nice to make some extra $$$ on the side, though.
Anyway, sorry it took so long for me to update you all about this part of my life. I hope you're still finding my blog somewhat interesting! Comment below if there are any other topics you would like to hear from me!
Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Meagan