Pros
No bedside nursing. No infectious disease risk. No interaction with doctors required. No CPR or any other clinical skills required. Attractive office building. Street clothes or scrubs okay. Each patient contact is an individual event; finish the call and on to the next, one call at a time. Pay is hourly, so OT is paid for more than 40 hours per week. Lot of opportunity for OT if wanted.
Cons
24/7; be prepared to work holidays, week-ends, shift-work. Favoritism rampant. Benefits measly. Underpaid. Calls come in almost nonstop. Employees disrespected by management; questions/requests to management ignored or not answered in a timely way. Constant pressure to work more hours than scheduled or different hours than scheduled. Chronically understaffed; many nurses leave before orientation is over. Required to obtain and maintain RN licenses in multiple states (expenses reimbursed by employer, but still a hassle.) Nurses are widely advertised as being there to help the caller; actual role is to drive business to HCA hospitals. Manager listens in to your calls, measures their length etc; they even watch your bathroom breaks. Your review is subjective; raises go to those who suck up best. Otherwise expect a 2 % increase per year--a morale killer when you see those that barely escaped being fired, getting the same increase you got. No real pathway to management; if you want to move up, go elsewhere. "Team leader" positions are available at $1/hr more than staff nurse; but more is expected from them than $1/hr would normally buy.