becoming an NP only to return to RN role?

Can anyone else chime in on how common (or not) this phenomenon is? I have personally known 2 nurse practitioners who were long time RNs that elected to continue work primarily as RN and ultimately decided they will pretty much stop working as NPs. They had part time NP jobs so it's not like they never worked as NPs or were unclear about the pros/cons of each role.

I should add that although neither RN or NP route is the road to riches, the woefully depressed salaries for NPs in my state may play a part? Both said they earned better wages and had easier workloads as RNs than as FNP. One is highly recommending I seek out work as a RN in a specialty. These are people I know and respect so I take their advice to heart and frankly am feeling a little anxious and confused by this.

Has anyone else encountered this phenomenon? Certainly this wasn't something they talked about in NP school, I feel like it's almost taboo to bring up!

Interesting data. I forgot about the 2004 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses which I do remember participating in. However, I disagree that the percentage of NP's working in the role is only 40%. If you take a close look at the table, you'll find that of the 141,209 NP's, 81,433 have the position title where they are employed and this is 57% of the estimated total number of NP's. 42,425 of the estimated total number of NP's do not have the position title but work in a field of nursing (30%), and 17,352 neither have the position title nor work in the field of nursing (12.3%). 57% + 30% + 12.3% = 100%.

Interestingly, the percentage of NP's with the position title where they work are higher for those with national certification and/or State BON recognition (approx 67%).