10 Things I Love (and Hate) About Working Remotely as a Nurse

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[00:00:29] You're listening to Ask Nurse Alice presented by Nurse.org, where Alice Benjamin combines no nonsense advice with thought-provoking interviews. Hi friends, welcome to the Ask Nurse Alice podcast. This short, we talk about anything and everything nursing and healthcare related.

[00:00:55] I'm your host, Alice Benjamin, clinical nurse specialist, family nurse practitioner, and chief nursing officer at Nurse.org. And guys, I have some really great news. I finally landed a remote position. That's right, I am now a remote family nurse practitioner. Now mind you, it's one of my gigs.

[00:01:13] I still keep my ER, NP job. I still do media. I still do a bunch of other things, but I literally legit get to work from home a majority of the time now and I'm really, really excited about it because

[00:01:27] you know your girl, I've been working 25 years in nursing profession. ER, ICU, critical care transport, federal COVID testing and vaccine site. Like I've worked with some of the sickest, sickest patients. I've worked in corrections. I've worked in some very high acuity areas.

[00:01:43] I've worked very short staff, like many of y'all, many short staffed, not enough equipment, not enough supplies. I injured myself at work, like worked with problematic employees for problematic employers and always been at the mercy of the leadership team is that day.

[00:01:59] Mind you, some of them are great, but some of them not so great. But anyways, so I had actually always in the back of my mind been looking for a remote position because you see it online, you see all the people,

[00:02:12] oh, join me on a day as I work remote and do that. And I would be like, where do you find those jobs? Like I'm looking and looking and looking. Where legit, where do you find them?

[00:02:21] And like many of you, I would be online looking at all the job boards. Indeed, monster. You know, signing up for these like random emails and sometimes looking at the online job fairs, like I got a job, but I want a job and I want to work

[00:02:34] remotely because your girl was burned out. Now, I love taking care of patients. I love being the thick of things. And many times I love the thrill that comes and unpredictability that comes with the ER and ICU. Calm and crazy, but I love it.

[00:02:49] I operate really well under pressure. But that has been a joy. And I've loved being able to accomplish it and achieve that and do my best. But your girl wants a break. I want to break.

[00:03:02] And so I landed a family nurse practitioner remote position and I love it. It's with a major hospital system in the state of California. And it's awesome. And I actually have a lot of colleagues who are licensed in the state of California,

[00:03:17] but legit they live like in Florida, Texas, New York, Nebraska. So it's either getting that California money and working in a state that has a lower cost of living, which is really smart. I love Cali, but I'm not so I'm not leaving.

[00:03:31] But anyways, I thought it was really great and it was conducive to my schedule. And one thing that's different about the hospital is like you can say you're going to work seven to seven or seven to five, whatever you're going to work. But do you really?

[00:03:44] Do you really? Because many times you can get stuck, held over. There's no one to relieve you. There's an emergency like so many things could happen. And I was just tired and I was ready for a change. Now I still do.

[00:03:59] I still wear many hats and I would always encourage nurses never have just one stream of income, have multiple streams of income that way. If something ever happens with one job, you have something to fall back on. That's always been my philosophy.

[00:04:12] And that's what I'm going to share with others. So I want to share 10 things that I love about work remote, but I have to be honest. Those highlight reels on Instagram when didn't tell a full story.

[00:04:21] So I also want to share 10 things that I hate about working from home. Now you're probably like, damn, she's ungrateful. I'm not ungrateful. I'm just being transparent. It's OK to like something and not like some things about the thing that you like. It's OK.

[00:04:33] I will at the end of the day, I'm grateful. I feel blessed and I'm honored and thankful that I have the opportunities to have the roles and the job that I do. Absolutely. But I'll be a damn lie to say that it was all picture perfect,

[00:04:47] hunky dory all the time. It's not. And that's what I want to share with you in case you are considering or looking for that remote MP or remote nurse job. By the way, there are in LVN positions to work remotely.

[00:04:59] But anyways, long story short, if you're looking for that type of position, probably going to share some things that you really are looking forward to. But I'm also going to share some things that you maybe didn't consider. OK. So 10 things that I love about working remotely from home.

[00:05:13] One is the flexible schedule. So no longer do I have to sign up for my break times or wait for the break nurse to relieve me. I get to have my morning break, evening break, my lunch break whenever I'm ready to. Right.

[00:05:28] We're so accustomed to working long hours in the hospitals. And many times our break time was dictated by our patient load that day. So sometimes you didn't get a break. Sometimes you can barely go to the bathroom. Now, I don't have to worry about that.

[00:05:40] Now, yes, while there will be appointment times with patients, there will be times I have to call or face kind of FaceTime with patients. Much of my workload is working with answering patient messages or refilling prescriptions and things of that nature.

[00:05:58] So I kind of have a very flexible schedule. I can rearrange some things around, move them, move them around as long as I'm getting my work done and I'm being efficient and I'm being professional.

[00:06:09] It's my schedule, maybe I get to go in a break when I want to. So that allows me time to do the things I really want to do and have a more enjoyable day. Number two, I also need to save time on my commute.

[00:06:20] I live in Los Angeles, so the commute time is crazy. I don't know if any of you all are familiar with the one on one or the four or five or the 10 freeway, but stay away from those. Right. But where I live in Los Angeles,

[00:06:35] there are hospitals nearby in my area, but the bulk of hospitals and the hospitals with the greatest needs are South LA, I should say. And so there's a lot of time commuting.

[00:06:45] And let me say this, I would spend, I had to plan for an hour to get to work at least and then also taking into consideration is going to take me an hour, hour and a half to get home from work.

[00:06:56] So sometimes I'd be on the road two and a half hours related to work, but not at work. And sometimes I would sit there and calculate, like, what if I got paid during my commute time? How much more of my paycheck would be?

[00:07:07] A little jit would do that as I was sitting in traffic jams, hearing honking horns, dealing with hustle and bustle and road rage motorists. I'd be sitting there like, I can do so much more with my time. Like this is crazy.

[00:07:19] Like I wish I could be while I'm sitting in traffic, I'm like, man, I wish I could be answering emails. I wish I could be doing this. Like I think of all the things that I wanted to do at that time when I couldn't.

[00:07:27] So now working remote saves both time and money spent on commuting and allows me to do things that I'd rather do. And my time is just way better spent. Number three, I actually save money working remotely. So my car, we'll just think of this.

[00:07:44] Yes, I still have a car because I do personal things. But when I think of my car for work, I'm saving money on the utilization of my car, gas, maintenance, tires, those type of things. The other day I was like, I didn't really drive anywhere.

[00:07:59] Like I legit didn't have to leave my home in my car for a week. I was like, wow, this is crazy. Could actually live close enough where I could like walk to Starbucks. Like, you know, so I do some I do some walking. And I think that's great.

[00:08:13] I didn't have to drive and go anywhere because I instacarded all my groceries. I couldn't want to go the grocery store. But I legit was like, oh my gosh, if I wanted to be home all the time, I legit could with this position.

[00:08:26] Not that I want to all the time, but I was like, I don't have to get in my car and go anywhere. That was great. So saving expenses related to commute and transport. Transport, I said I like transporters do my transport. Right.

[00:08:40] Then I also got to save money on food. So going to work, you know, with all the coworkers, oh, who's doing the Starbucks run? So so by the time you get your Starbucks, you know, you have your drink and your pastry. You do that enough times a week.

[00:08:53] It can add up. Now I got Starbucks money, but I don't always want to spend money on Starbucks, if that makes sense. So I legit I'm like, OK, Couric, let's see what you're going to do.

[00:09:01] And so I've been able to make my own drinks and experiment in my with my coffee, my lattes, teas. I can do my own and have as much as I want. Coffee, snacks, food, I get to prepare my own food the way that I want.

[00:09:14] So I'm eating a lot more fresh foods versus all the processed foods and fast foods and whatever is in that cafeteria food. Because even though I would make my breakfast or lunch to go to work,

[00:09:26] sometimes I didn't have the time to do it and sometimes I would forget it at home. So now I don't have to worry about buying something or those expensive ass vending machines because now I have my whole kitchen available to me at any given time.

[00:09:38] So I'm saving money on restaurants, the cafeteria and all of those other things. Number four is cozy clothing. Now, I love my phabletic scrubs and so that's what I wear in the hospital, outside the hospital.

[00:09:55] And even when I'm working here remotely, I love put throwing on my scrubs to kind of put me in that mindset of Alisher at work. But sometimes I don't want to do it. Sometimes I'll put my scrub top on and I got my cozy pajamas

[00:10:06] and my warm fuzzy slippers on my feet. No judgment. Like I could never come to the hospital and do that, right? Something else about the clothes is like I get to wear whenever I want to wear that day. So that's one.

[00:10:19] The clothing that I wear, I don't have to worry about bodily fluids being splattered on me from emptying someone's fully, from suctioning, from inserting an engine tube down someone's projectile vomit. I don't have to worry about that. Also, don't have to worry about doffing and dawning PPE, right?

[00:10:36] The masks, the gloves, the gowns, the goggles. Mind you, by the way, sometimes PPE was hard to find the hospital. Anyways, and now that I have it, I'm at home. I don't have to put it on and off. Do you remember those patients like you'd get?

[00:10:49] I would have isolation patients legit in and out, in and out. You know, many times I had to put on and take off PPE, wash my hands, make sure I don't spread to someone else and then have to go into that room

[00:11:00] multiple times until do that multiple times during the day, which also took up some of my time. I got to worry about that. And also my nails and hair. I can wear a neon green nail polish and not have to worry about management or leadership

[00:11:11] or someone telling me I'm not professional because these are my nails and for the most part, you're not seeing. I could do a whole visit and you not even see my nails or my hands. You didn't even know that I had hands.

[00:11:22] You just I mean, you think I have hands when you see my arms, but you would know I can do what I want to do, right? And then also like right now, if I need a fill of my gel nails,

[00:11:30] you can't see that. I mean, I do. I really do guys up, but you don't say that. So no judgment there. And then my hair, you know, in the hospital, you needed to have it tied back, pinned back up, can't have it super, you know, long and flowy.

[00:11:43] You got to watch out in the colors of your hair. Although there's a crown act where you really shouldn't be telling nobody what to do with their hair. But in the health care setting, because of infection control, primarily, you wanted your hair pinned back.

[00:11:53] So because now how my hair is down, listen, I could have bed head if I want to. Now like if I in the hospital, I couldn't do this because if I leaned over to even listen to someone's chest

[00:12:03] with my stethoscope, my hair is going to fall in their face. It's going to fall against their skin. If I'm changing someone, cleaning someone up from a coat brown, my hair could fall in their poop. So I got to worry about that.

[00:12:14] So I'm comfy and cozy in the clothes and in the attire that I want to wear. Number five, working remotely also allows me to spend more time with loved ones. So another big advantage that I feel occurs when working remote is I can just spend quality time

[00:12:30] with my family and friends who are over. Like it is work day, but if I got a girlfriend who wants to come over and chit chat with me for a little bit, mind you as long as I am hip or compliant, she's not involved or hearing or listening

[00:12:42] to the patient care that I'm providing. When if I'm on a call with the patient, I can literally legit be sitting next to her at my kitchen table and I'm filling prescriptions or doing other documentation. Now I will say this, I am not distracting myself

[00:13:01] in crazy conversations or things like that that are distracting me from my work. Because if you think about it, it's like bringing the break room. In the break room, you get to be in there with your colleagues or even in the patient hallways.

[00:13:13] You're documenting and you're talking to your coworkers. So now that I'm documenting, I'm documenting at home if my son wants to come in and have a short conversation with me or one of my friends visits and say, hey, how are you doing, Alice? I'm cup coffee.

[00:13:27] I legit can sit at the table and currently do my work by having the company of my family and friends close to me. Again, long as they are not involved in my patient care, as long as I am doing the tasks that I need to,

[00:13:40] I'm being professional, I'm on task, I'm jeopardizing anyone's care or health, I get to spend more time with loved ones. And just think of the time that I'm not commuting. I said earlier, sometimes I could spend two and a half hours on the road.

[00:13:53] That's two and a half hours I actually get to be with family. There would be times where I'd be getting off of work. There was a school activity or a family activity that I wanted to do, but I couldn't attend

[00:14:04] because I had to commute from work to home, had to shower, get dressed and then drive to the event. And because of that length of time, I wasn't able to do it. So now I'm working remotely. So once I'm out, clocked off the clock, I'm clocked off.

[00:14:18] I've not been with patients so it's not like I need to shower and decontaminate myself. I'm actually, okay, let me just change my clothes and I can go. So that's another thing that I love about working remotely. Number six is I also get to customize my work environment.

[00:14:32] So unlike the hospital setting where it's noisy, lots of machines and alarms going off, you got your IV pumps, you got your EKG monitors, you got the fall monitors going off, you have fire alarm drills, you have the chitter chatter of people up and down in the hallway,

[00:14:50] screaming patients, whatever, and then even just the environmental work exposures of infection, disease, bodily fluids, airborne things, patients who come in with infestations and then also working in an environment where the equipment is broken or there's not enough equipment for you to do your job.

[00:15:11] All of the hazards and nuisances that come with working the hospital, now I can go into my office which is aesthetically pleasing to me, has this nice smell of orange essential oil. If I want to, I can burst some sage in the morning,

[00:15:26] has nice quiet calming music playing in the background or if I want to turn up and let's tell a little something, I could do that and there's natural sunlight, fresh air, and so it's an environment where I don't have to worry about having to respond to someone

[00:15:41] who's fallen out of the bed or respond very urgently to someone who's not breathing or needs immediate CPR. Now those are things that I have enjoyed doing during my career and I still do them but I just don't have to do that as much now

[00:15:57] because I've found my way to contribute to the nursing profession in a different way, working remotely. So now my work environment is customized to be one that is more relaxing and less stressful for me and I sit at my desk and I have a comfy roller chair.

[00:16:15] If I want to sit in my recliner, if I want to sit on a comfy couch, if I want to sit outdoors, I can because now I get to control my work environment. Number seven, now this is something that I've heard

[00:16:29] my colleagues say that they do do like in our chit chat, I haven't necessarily done this yet during my remote work and I think it's because I'm a lot more relaxed but if I just imagine your 12 hour shift, you're over because your relief didn't come

[00:16:43] or the patient got really sick or you were hiding your charting and then a two hour commute time right there and back, you legit, I could spend like at least 16 hours gone for the day, have to come home, shower, eat, take care of family and get up again

[00:17:00] to do it in the next morning. So if you're working seven to seven, sometimes that seven is like really, by the time you get up and by the time I have to really get up, get dressed, commute and all that stuff, if I count for everything,

[00:17:11] it's really like five to eight 30 and then when I get home again, decontaminate, eat, try to unwind, spend some time with, check on my kiddos and stuff like that and then go in a bit and have to get up at five o'clock for the next morning.

[00:17:23] Like I legit didn't even really get my full eight hours of rest between my shift. It doesn't feel like it. So sometimes that can make you really tired and sometimes you're like, oh, I need a nap at work. So depending on where you work,

[00:17:33] they'll say you'll get fired if you take a nap at work. Some people go to their car and they're lunch break and they take a nap and then there's people that just tail tail on your little snitches if you take a nap at work. But working at home,

[00:17:46] first off, I don't get that exhausted anymore. It's a really need a power nap. But if I wanted to, I could take a power nap during my lunch period which is an hour long and that is amazing because I'm not wasting time walking to my car,

[00:17:59] walking back to my car legit. If I clock out for lunch at 12, I can be taking a nap at 12, 01 and literally come back to my desk at 1 p.m. So I get that full power nap if I need to. But the great thing is working remotely,

[00:18:15] I've been less exhausted. So I haven't needed a power nap, but if I did, I can take one. Number eight, something else that I love about working remotely is that it revives my mental and physical health. So being in a more relaxed environment

[00:18:29] that I control has been extremely helpful on my mental. Think of all the stress, the mental stress at work from being short staff, having very demanding patients, not having enough equipment, being pulled in multiple directions, worrying about the high acuity

[00:18:44] and how you're gonna take care of these people while having to ignore some of your own bodily functions like eating and peeing and drinking water so you can take care of other people. And then also in the back of your mind,

[00:18:55] having family and other things going on in your life, the mental distress that can cause and even being exposed to repeated deaths, seeing certain patient situations can be traumatizing. So lots of mental health things there and not saying that working remotely is gonna solve

[00:19:15] all of my mental health issues, but it allows me to take better control of what's going on, what's influencing my stress and anxiety and depression and I get to control some of that and alleviate some of those things. So that's another step in the good direction

[00:19:32] as far as my mental health. And then as physical health, I'm not exposing myself as much to the physical dangers of nursing, illness, disease, physical injuries from heavy patients, responding have quickly to help patients, working on broken equipment, not enough equipment, those type of things.

[00:19:52] So that physical stress. And by the way, mental health when you have a lot of mental stress, the release of all that cortisol stress hormones can actually impact your physical health. We know that right? Inflammation, increased heart rate, break out your skin, edges gone, nails brittle,

[00:20:08] cause GI upset issues, ulcers, things like that. But so that canal connection is there. So working from home lets me control a lot of those things. And so it's really a step in the right direction. And besides, if I wanna get up and stretch

[00:20:21] or go for a quick walk, I can. If I want to not be bothered by a lot of people, a lot of nagging from patients and team staff and leadership, I don't have to. So working remotely has been a great step in my mental and physical health.

[00:20:37] Also number nine, no clinical drama. Okay? So patients and staff included, no more belligerent, rude patients or staff, exposure to the bodily fluids, having to respond urgently and emergently in stat situations, which can throw off my entire workday. The drama of, hot-o we're doing a quick hot-o

[00:21:00] or something happened, joint commission just rolling through state, rolling through and you gotta hide all your drinks in the wiles and all the broken equipment and shit like that. No more of that. I don't have to. So the frustrations that come with the job

[00:21:13] of being a nurse, again, I love being a nurse, but the frustrations that come with that, I don't have to deal with it as much. It's always cold in the goddamn ER. You gotta wear blankets and jackets and shit like that.

[00:21:21] Now I'm at home, I can put my robe on or I can just go sit outside. I can change the temperature in my office. Like I get to do what it is I wanna do and I'm not gonna be constantly disturbed or interrupted by call lights.

[00:21:35] Different calls from on the phone, from different, I don't know, home health equipment companies, this and that, da-da-da-da. Like I don't, I'm in the middle of a cold blue and the patient's family is upset with me because I wouldn't bring their data blanket.

[00:21:48] Like I don't have any more of that. Okay? And then 10 is I get more time in the day. No more staying over, waiting to be relieved. You know, the commute time, I have more time my day. Those are 10 things that I love about working remote.

[00:22:02] Let me run down this list real quick about the 10 things I don't like. Borderline, low key kind of hate about working remote. We that I didn't realize were going to pop up. I just didn't think about it and they don't really mention this in the interview.

[00:22:16] They just, you know, they just didn't. Number one, loneliness. Now as funny as that may sound, you're like, I don't gotta deal with none of these crazy patients or crazy people. Now it's just you by yourself. So when there's no one at home, it's like just you.

[00:22:28] So where you were, I was once fighting for and like couldn't wait for some me time alone time, you know, cause there's no more call lines, staff or patients bothering me or interrupting me. Now it's just me by myself. So even for the most introverted person

[00:22:44] who prefers being alone and uninterrupted time, sometimes it's natural you're gonna feel lonely cause I'm like, well dang, nobody's here. Like you kind of miss out on a little bit of the break room gossip and things like that or just your work bestie.

[00:22:56] You don't have your work bestie that you kind of would do things with. The person who helped you turn like, come on, help turn on patients and we're gonna go turn yours. Like so there's a little bit of loneliness that comes with that because believe it or not

[00:23:07] because we spend so much time at work, we develop very strong relationships. Our work family can sometimes become our extended family. Now while those people can also, they can also get on your nerve and you love them, but they also get on your nerves like family.

[00:23:18] So now that I'm remote on some days, I'm like, oh, I gotta miss a little chit chat, but hey, it is what it is and I'm gonna deal with it. But fortunately I still do work in the hospital doing some assignments. So not too much of a problem,

[00:23:31] but someone might consider that, oh, I feel a little bit lonely today. Also distractions. Now these are different type of distractions. So while in the hospital you have beep and ivy pumps, alarms from the, that someone's falling out of bed,

[00:23:46] someone's calling, all of a sudden there's this huddle like all of these things that are distracting you, that's one type of a distraction. At home there are other distractions like, I am, maybe I'm doing a patient's chart, I'm working on something, but I gotta look something up.

[00:24:02] Well it's very easy to keep another tab open and sometimes you're like, ooh, what's on Zillow? Oh, something pinged. What is this? And so you can get distracted by things on your computer, also distracted by things in your home because crazy thing.

[00:24:15] I think, I'm like, oh my gosh, I have so much more time. I'm gonna go make my coffee, I'm gonna go sit outside and drink it, then I'm gonna water my plants and I'm gonna sit out in here and meditate for a little bit,

[00:24:25] enjoy the birds chirping and stuff like that. Y'all, I was late one day for work. I'm like, how was I late for work? I'm home, how am I late for work? But I kind of got caught up in all that, ooh my breakfast, my coffee,

[00:24:35] like creating this like ambience, like ooh, this is the perfect life, like the stuff you see on Instagram. And I was late, I was late for work. How are you late for work when you work from home? That's crazy. But anyway, you can easily get distracted

[00:24:47] from those type of things. Number three, something that I didn't anticipate with the working remote was the changes in my eating and activities. Your girl started to pack on a little bit of extra fluff and insulation around the midsection, y'all, yes I did.

[00:25:02] So after years of being in the hospital, moving, moving, moving, like not having time to drink water, eat, things like that. So sometimes I will legit be in the hospital, I'm like, I didn't eat all day, like what's happening? Now, being home, my kitchen is just like

[00:25:17] a couple feet away, I could eat whatever I wanna eat whenever I wanna eat it. And because I'm sitting down, I'm more sedentary. So I'm not doing my, getting my steps in, burning those calories. Very easy to gain weight guys.

[00:25:30] And then also it's real important to kind of get up and stretch every once in a while and move around working remote because the first couple days, I'm like, ooh, I'm sitting at my desk. I'm like, ooh, my little ankle's a little swollen. What's going on?

[00:25:42] I needed to put on tent holds and get up and walk because sitting in a seated position all day without getting up is not good for the circulation in your legs and in your feet. And I was like, oh no, we are not gonna develop cankles

[00:25:54] while working remotely. So changes in your eating and activities can also, can negatively influence your health if you're not careful. So that's something that I didn't necessarily anticipate but now I'm on top of that because I did calorie count one day

[00:26:08] for I was like, oh my gosh, I ate way too much and I was not moving enough. I'm like, this is gonna be a calorie surplus and I'm gonna definitely gain some weight. Number four, something I didn't anticipate is the boredom.

[00:26:19] So in the hospital, it's very hard to be bored because if it's not you and your patients, it's one of your coworkers and their patients, always something to do. Now working remotely, if I have seen all my patients who've done all my visits

[00:26:33] and I've answered all the patient messages and I've fulfilled all my prescriptions and my chats meetings are clear because everyone else has caught up, it can be boring. And so it sounds like boring in the hospital where like, oh, you can go into the break room

[00:26:47] and chit chat with your friends. I'm home by myself. So who am I gonna talk to? And I can't necessarily always talk to my friends because they're at work and most of them were nurses. I can't talk to them. And so sometimes that lack of physical interaction

[00:27:00] with coworkers and even patients can sometimes make for boring. So I'll try at least try to go sit outside get some sunshine, listen to the birds, play some soft music or read a book. I'll try to do something but that interaction is now missing.

[00:27:13] So sometimes it can be a little boring. Also, because I work remotely from home I have to be very self-directed, very proactive in the things that I do. So unlike working in the hospital you're gonna get visual and verbal and auditory cues all the time.

[00:27:28] Like you're gonna be doing something and then you're gonna walk by the patient like, oh shoot, I gotta do X, Y, and Z. Well, I don't have that at home. So it's me and my computer. So I legit have to frequently just go in and check emails.

[00:27:40] I do have a work phone but it's generally more so for calling out for getting phone calls. Most of the communications from my team is done via email or Teams chat. So I have to keep my Teams chat open, be listening for those pings,

[00:27:55] that a message, there's a new message. I don't get those visible auditory loud cues like I would in the hospital. So I gotta stay on top of checking, frequently checking those things or I can miss some important phone calls or important things that come up in my workflow.

[00:28:11] Also six, working slowly. So you would think that I'm at home. I'm gonna be able to be very efficient, no distractions, do what I need to do. But there's something about being in a hospital that gets that hustle and bustle, like that quickness, that cadence of your environment.

[00:28:27] If you're an ER, you know what I'm talking about. There's a cadence. In ICU, you know what I'm talking about. There's a cadence of things. And you're reminded, 612, 612, okay, medications, blood sugar checks, okay, before breakfast, before lunch, before dinner at bedtime. There are just certain things

[00:28:40] that you know and keep you on a schedule. So you stay on top of your things. Well, working at home, because I'm not expending a lot of energy, my endurance might just be slowing down a little bit. Not, I hate to say it like that,

[00:28:54] but when you're used to being busy or used to being busy, when you're not used to being busy, you slow down. And so I don't have that sense of urgency while working in my office or those visual cues to get things done.

[00:29:05] So I actually might slow down a little bit and not be as worried about getting something done because I don't have that same urgency, which ultimately can slow you down. And you can be slower at getting things done because you're like, ah, that's okay, I'll get to it.

[00:29:22] There's no urgency. I'll get to when I get to it. So it might slow down some of your productivity. So I didn't think about that. So it's really dependent on the person who's working remote to stay on top of those things. So it's a reminder,

[00:29:35] I just didn't realize or think about that when I started the position. Number seven, if I need help or have a question, I'm at the mercy of my team's chat meeting. I mean, I could text or call my lead or like supervisor and things like that.

[00:29:55] But for the most part, everyone communicates via email or on team. So when I have a question for something, now mind you, most of the things that I'm doing remotely aren't urgent. If there are then I really should pick up the phone and make a phone call.

[00:30:07] But if there is a question that I have about something that's not necessarily urgent, I'm kind of at the mercy of waiting for someone to respond versus when you're in the hospital, you could just go to the break room or the nurses say she'd be like,

[00:30:16] hey guys and ask a question out loud. And like you got a team of resources right there or you have the provider who's there and you can ask a question and get that answer right away. Now, like when it comes to communicating with my physicians,

[00:30:28] that's done via inbox through Epic, unless I urgently need to call into the clinic and talk to the provider. So sometimes I'm waiting for an answer to get something completed. So just having that level, same level of resources and instant answers just isn't there. Okay?

[00:30:46] So that's something that was different working remotely. And I don't have like, well there is an internet with resources, but for the questions that I need answers to that are more like more of consult, need clinical expertise answers, we'll have to wait a little longer

[00:31:00] to talk to the providers who can weigh in. Also number eight, something that I didn't think about don't really like about work remote as much as I like working remote. Sometimes I have to be on top of the separation. The, sometimes there's a lack of separation

[00:31:17] from work and my personal life. So my office isn't that far from my bedroom, but that's why I like to not work in my bedroom because my bedroom is not my office. My bedroom is a place where I go to relax, to rest, to sleep,

[00:31:31] to fill my cup. It should not be with work. Same with, I kind of, you know, my outdoor patio area, that's usually been a place where I get to relax. So I've noticed that sometimes I take my computer out there sometimes to work,

[00:31:42] which can be a good relief, but then I run the risk of now associating that space with work instead of associating it with relaxation. So sometimes I have to really be mindful about where I'm working. And so I try to stay as much in my office

[00:32:00] to keep that like that's work. So when I step out of my office, now I'm off. So like, I have to create that mental separation for me. And that's why I also, even though I don't have to and sometimes I'm just not,

[00:32:10] but I try to like get up, shower, and get dressed, wear scrubs, and then go on my office. So it feels like I'm going to work. I prepare my coffee and all those things like, I'm at work, I'm in the office.

[00:32:21] So I do that now to kind of create those, draw the line in the sand like, Alice this is home and relaxation. And then this is work. So it's kind of a catch-22. I love that I don't have to do that, but I need to keep some boundaries.

[00:32:36] So for myself to keep it healthy, to separate work and life. So I'm not mixing it all together because I really need a space. When you go to work, you do your work and you leave your work there. When I'm off, I want to relax

[00:32:51] and just relax and I have to think about work. So that's why mentally it's important for me to keep the two spaces separate. Number nine, you would think that the hospital is noisy, right? It's really noisy, I don't know how to cut to some sounds.

[00:33:01] I didn't realize how noisy it was at home during the day. I just didn't, like all of the sounds and things that are going on now. I really get to know what my neighbors are doing during the day. And apparently I got a neighbor who does woodcraft

[00:33:13] or has a workshop, a wood workshop, whatever. Cause he's always selling, like I hear the saw and like noisy things going on. I'm like, what is that? What are you building? So he's building something. I didn't know I had a neighbor like that. Now I do.

[00:33:26] Also, gardeners, my gardener comes within all the other gardeners and everyone else in the neighborhood. I'm like, oh it's noisy out here. What is going on? So it's a different kind of noise. Obviously it's not the noise of IV machines

[00:33:39] or EKG machines, but still there's a level of noise. And then when my family is home, I'll be at my desk working and I can hear them clanking dishes in the kitchen. Sometimes if they're TV or they're video games are too loud, I can hear that.

[00:33:54] I'm like, yeah, can you turn that down please? So those can be somewhat of a distraction. Sometimes in my office, if they don't know that I'm in my office they'll come in cause they want to grab something. I'm like, hello, mama's working.

[00:34:09] Okay, so I have to like put a little sign on my door says you know, in office, in clinic. I do something like that. So anyways, there can be noise in the house which can be distracting which I didn't necessarily anticipate those type of distraction.

[00:34:20] It's a different type of sound. Just imagine almost 25 years of being accustomed to certain sounds and now you're in a different environment and you're like, what's that sound? Like my ears are adjusting to the different sound. And number 10, something that I don't like about working remotely

[00:34:35] that I didn't really think about is the need to get out. It gets boring sitting in front of a computer for a full work day. It does. So I need to get out. I want to do something. I need to stretch. I need to engage in social activities.

[00:34:50] Remember I said earlier that we spend a majority most adults spend a majority of their time at work and that involves getting out of the house. So you have exposure to the commute, the things that you do on your way to commute, you're at the hospital,

[00:35:03] you see different things, you're outside of your house and then you get to come back home and enjoy your home. Now I'm home all day because work is home and home is where my work is. So that whole little thing can be just a little mentally daunting

[00:35:17] like that one week I didn't realize I'm like, I didn't drive anywhere. I legit didn't drive anywhere and I recognize that that's not healthy, that I actually need to get in my car and drive somewhere to do something. Otherwise I might drive myself back crazy

[00:35:33] by just being home all the time. So sometimes I just need to get out the house, stretch, see a different environment. I need to see a different environment versus just, you know, my house is cute. I like it. Your girl did her thing with decorations

[00:35:48] but I need to get out and see something else to keep myself socially engaged, mentally engaged and just a different environment. So I don't get bored sitting at home. So nobody told me that when I signed up for work and remote and I will say this overall

[00:36:08] I'm enjoying this season of working remote. Let's see how long it lasts cause you know your girl gets tired and bored really easily but I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying it and I just thought I would share those things. Now there are some other idiosyncrasies

[00:36:20] that come with the job but I think it depends on the type of work that you're doing remotely. So again, you can work remotely as an advanced practice nurse, as an RN, as an LVN. All those positions available depends on what you're doing.

[00:36:33] Some people are doing more chart reviews where there's not, they're not even talking to anybody they're really just doing chart reviews and like typing and texting versus I get to do a combination of answering patient messages, patient phone calls, telehealth visits, filling prescriptions and those type of things.

[00:36:48] I'm not necessarily in this position required to do anything in clinic for this remote job. Fortunately, I get to still work as a nurse practitioner with for a different gig which provides me some variation but those are just 10 things I wanted to share about what I like

[00:37:03] and what I don't like about working remote. I hope that's helpful. So if you're considering looking for a job like that keep those things in mind spark up the conversation talk to someone who's done the job reach out to me.

[00:37:14] I'd love to tell you more about what I do in case you're thinking about like, is this for me? And then also as nurses are becoming entrepreneurs we're starting to create our own jobs and work remotely from home as well. So that's another avenue

[00:37:26] that I'd love to share more about. So anyways, I'm Nurse Alice thank you so much for tuning in shout out to nurse.org for hosting the podcast as usual make sure to visit nurse.org get great information there and guys if you could

[00:37:37] I'm really trying to get these messages out to the masses it would really do me an honor and do the podcast a big favor if you can leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform it helps us to get the message out to more people

[00:37:49] which is what we really wanna do cause we are in the business of sharing and caring that's what we do so I'm Nurse Alice thanks you so much for tuning in if you wanna reach me you can follow me on all things social at Ask Nurse Alice

[00:37:59] and you can email me at nurse Alice at nurse.org thanks so much for tuning in until next time be kind to one another make good choices and live well my friends Thanks for listening to Ask Nurse Alice visit nurse.org for nursing career, education and community resources