Nice job: Nursing off the beaten path

Working for M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
In some nurses’ estimation, the happiest place on earth is also the happiest place to work. “I always loved visiting Disneyland and was an annual pass holder,” says Iris Lirios, RN, one of 60 nurses employed by the amusement park in Anaheim, Calif. “When I heard that the park had nurses, I was so excited to think that I could work at one of my favorite places.”

Amusement park nurses come from a variety of backgrounds, including ICU, telemetry, oncology, school nursing and nurse education, and it helps to have some knowledge of pediatrics. (Lirios was formerly a floating nurse on a hospital rehab floor.) The problems they see range from heat- or motion-related illnesses to skinned knees, viruses, headaches and heart attacks. At Disneyland, patients are of all ages and hail from every walk of life. “I meet people from all over the world,” says Lirios. “It’s interesting to get to know various cultures and provide assistance to people from other countries—and they are very appreciative of the care we give them.”

As you might guess, possession of an upbeat temperament is de rigueur for the job and, as in any nursing job, patience, friendliness and a good sense of humor help. Adaptability is important, too. “Things can change very quickly, and every day is different,” reports Lirios. “But that’s also what makes this job so unique.”

Click for more information about jobs at Disney.

High-Tech Nursing
With the practice of medicine becoming increasingly electronic, nurses with sharp computer skills have an edge. And nurses with really good computer skills can even make a career out of it. Informatics, a hybrid job that combines nursing with IT skills, is a booming field—and the salaries are growing to match, up 42 percent since 2004.

To be a nurse informaticist is to be a bit of a translator: Using your medical expertise, you help hospitals and medical offices choose software, set it up and then offer support to the nurses and other healthcare professionals who use it. “To work in informatics, you need to have a systematic approach to your job, but nurses naturally have that approach,” says Joyce Sensmeier, RN, vice president of informatics at Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) in Chicago. “Many informaticists come out of critical care—they’re used to technology.”

Sensmeier herself started out as a med-surg nurse, then received computer training through the hospital’s staff development program. She became a liaison between the IT and nursing department before deciding to devote herself full-time to the computer side of nursing. There’s no special degree required for informatics. “Sometimes nurses are trained off the floor,” says Sensmeier, explaining that many attend nursing information graduate programs or seek specialty nursing certifications.

While the job might sound like it lacks the human interaction that nurses are so good at, in fact, a good ability to communicate with others is one of the top requirements of the job. Informaticists aren’t just analysts—they’re educators, too.

For more information, contact the American Medical Informatics Association.

Working in the Wilderness
It’s not every nurse who can step outside for a break and find herself among some of the most glorious scenery in the country. Those who do count themselves among the fortunate few who work in national parks. Like camp nurses, park nurses may work summers only. “Some are travel nurses, but others are nurses who just make arrangements with their regular jobs to go back in the winter,” says Deborah Brown, RN, director of operations for three clinics in Yellowstone National Park.

National park clinics are busy and their nurses work hard, but they also have ample time off. At Yellowstone, nurses work three 12-hour shifts with four days off, allowing them to enjoy living in the wilderness. Healthcare workers are all also housed in the same area, so there’s a lot of camaraderie among them. “We’re always getting together for potlucks, and that, along with the schedule, helps bring nurses back year after year,” says Brown. In fact, more than 50 percent of Yellowstone’s nurses return to the job each year.

The work at park clinics, which also employ physicians, is similar to that of an urban emergency department—the nurses see everything from victims of car accidents to broken bones, only they treat people of various nationalities. “The staff also comes from all over the world,” says Brown. Her previous positions, which include working in the ICU, being a flight nurse and managing an emergency department, have stood her in good stead in the park clinics. Many of the nurses have a strong background in emergency medicine and some critical care experience. “Mostly what you need, though, is a sense of adventure,” Brown advises. “And you can’t mind living two hours from a grocery store!”

For more information, check with individual national parks.