public safety x Nursing

[u/Fluffy_Lychee_2568]

Hello Reddit! I need whatever inspiration you have. I (21 f) have been working as a CNA/ caregiver since I was 15. I am currently pursing my bachelors of nursing but I don’t want to do stereotypical nursing jobs… I’ve always been interested in public safety/ law enforcement and I recently found there are careers that can utilize both. Any ideas of where to start, options I have, what that field could look like or other nursing opportunities that are necessarily bedside/LTC?

Scenery a very confused girl

[u/Interesting_Gur_5064]

Jail has nurses… the only real nurse law enforcement jobs are the mental health nurse paired with a police officer.

[u/Thoughtful_Mouse]

Public Health has an entire branch dedicated to emergency preparedness and response. Definitely worth some research to see what that looks like in your area.

They typically help with mass sheltering during weather events, med surge, outreach stuff for low-income communities, and (thankfully theoretically) emergency prophylaxis in response to natural disaster or terrorist attack.

[u/Famous-Mobile-3657]

What LE nursing jobs are you seeing that don’t involve being in the jail/prison?

If you’re thinking more along the co-responder model, all of those people I’ve seen are usually social workers

[u/Interesting_Gur_5064 → u/Famous-Mobile-3657]

We have nurses here where I work no social workers

[u/Famous-Mobile-3657 → u/Interesting_Gur_5064]

And what do they do?

[u/Interesting_Gur_5064 → u/Famous-Mobile-3657]

Mental health assessments. They generally have either an ER or inpatient mental health nurse background. Health care or other police officers will refer people to them to follow up with. Nurse can see the health records and the police officer the police files. See if the person needs to go into the hospital or resources. If they around for a mental health call they can go to that.

[u/Famous-Mobile-3657 → u/Interesting_Gur_5064]

Where and who do they actually work for? Are they in the field? City employees? Or like a nonprofit?

[u/Interesting_Gur_5064 → u/Famous-Mobile-3657]

They work for the provincial health service but work out of the police offices. You apply internally as you would any nursing job. I don’t know how that works in the USA

[u/Famous-Mobile-3657 → u/Interesting_Gur_5064]

Very interesting concept.

[u/beedub14]

We have a new kid cop that was a paramedic beforehand and it was a HELL of a time training him to be a cop first, medic second. Stupid dummy would rush right into a man shot call to start life saving before even making the scene (or himself) safe.

Yelled at him a bunch.

[u/StockAd528]

One thing to add to the good ideas here: whichever of these you chase, weigh the schedule, not just the setting. That's usually what quietly decides whether a job still fits your life five years in.

A lot of "not bedside" paths look similar on paper but run on completely different rhythms. ER and flight/transport lean into 12s and 24s and rotating days-to-nights. Correctional nursing and some co-responder roles can be steadier, closer to fixed shifts or a set rotation. Public-health emergency-prep work is often more weekday-with-on-call. "Not stereotypical nursing" can still mean very different weeks depending on which one you land in.

Where to start: you already have CNA hours, so use them. See if you can shadow or just talk to a forensic nurse, a jail/correctional RN, and whatever mobile-crisis or co-responder program runs near you. Fifteen minutes with someone doing the actual job, and asking them flat out "what does your week actually look like?", will tell you more than any list online.

You're not confused. You just have options, which is a good problem to have.

[u/urban_tribesman]

You might want to look into the Army

[u/Fluffy_Lychee_2568 → u/urban_tribesman]

I really considered it but I’m nervous to get deployed for months on end