A good job, but not a career.The good thingsI was working as a community nurse and really enjoyed the autonomy of the position. Enjoyment in this role seems to be very dependant on your local manager. I got on well with mine, but things would be very different if I didn't. The company as a whole is quite disorganised, so you need to self coordinate a lot of stuff. It was a bit like being self employed without the dramas of sorting out all the accounting. This wouldn't suit everyone, but I liked it.
Because you are going to visit people in their houses, the hours are very flexible, and you get to meet an awful lot of people you otherwise never would.
The challengesZero scope for career advancement. I very rarely met anyone outside our immediate team, and was never able to work out where our team sat in the company, or even how big the company was.
If any of your clients start to deteriorate beyond your scope to provide help, it can be very challenging to escalate things and coordinate appropriate care through GPs or hospitals.
Its community aged care, so after spending a lot of time developing very close relationships with your clients, you will often watch them disappear into a facility, or die. This gets to be pretty nihilistic and wearing after a while.