Is Becoming A NP Worth It?

Do I or don't I go for a Nurse Practioner degree? My thought process may help make you in your nursing journey. Specialties NP Nursing Q/A

My reasons why I question going for a Nurse Practitioner license.

  1. Working with some seasoned nurses in the ER over the last couple of years, they make more than starting NP's do.
  2. Two doctors and a nurse who did recruit and hiring for a couple of years all stated that it was not worth it.
  3. If I don't jump on the bandwagon right away...the rumors of the dreaded 2015 DNP may come true

The Drawbacks:

  • Increased liability without enough pay
  • Overworked and underpaid for their work. In our ER, the PA's do most of the work while the physicians kick back
  • PA's are preferred in hospital settings (which is my major interest...though I'm sure an office setting will be great later in life)
  • Again...financial. They did not agree that 2.5 years of schooling was worth a mediocre increase in salary (even long term). They collectively felt that working a 4th 12hr shift each week was better than spending another 2.5 years an lots of money for an NP degree.

The Positives:

  • Increased autonomy
  • I can do a full time NP program and still work
  • There are 2 great NP programs near me (TWU and UTA)
  • I believe I can get in without to much hassle
  • In state tuition is affordable
  • Self satisfaction

I understand that financial compensation is not all there is to a job though it is a necessity. Increased autonomy is very important to me and the main reason I would like an advanced practice degree. Med school would be great, but being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and taking 4 years off is not appealing to me.

So to the current NP's...

Would you NOT get your degree if you had to do it again?

Was it worth it more than just personal satisfaction?

Do you enjoy your setting?

Specializes in Psychiatry, ICU, ER.

For what it's worth as a psych NP student with 2 semesters to go (!)... we are regularly inundated with postings for psych NPs. They are all over the internet and all over the place. The last one I got was in Chicago, starting salary of six figures with 2.5 months per year of PTO (2-3 weeks sick and CME and the rest vacation). Full medical insurance paid. I know that at least a couple of psych NPs in private practice here in Texas make more than 200k a year, and 90k-130k starting seems to be the norm across the country, though inpatient/hospital type settings seem to pay less across the board.

A common theme I'm seeing about NP salaries is you have to know how much money you are bringing in to a practice and argue your case for an appropriate salary. Healthcare is NOT any different from any other business, if you own a practice, build up a clientele and charge the going rate in your area. If you are employed by a practice, you HAVE to play hardball sometimes to get what you want, or, yeah, you will be paid $65k a year and you have nothing to blame but yourself. Why would an employer pay you 120k a year when you are ignorantly chugging along, thanking him for the 1,000 dollar raise to your 65k salary?

Nurses in general seem not to be very astute at business so they slide along making crap wages. Sorry, but here in Austin, RN wages are TERRIBLE given the work conditions, who wants to do this for the rest of their lives?! If you look, you will find opportunities to make a decent wage, earn a good return on your money, and, most importantly, do what you love to do.

Specializes in Sub-Acute/Psychiatric/Detox.

$125 an hour for a contract Psych NP here in New England.

I will be an NP someday, as long as I have a steady nursing job to plan $ wise. I think nursing wages will go down slowly for the average floor nurse. We won't notice the pay cuts because they will come in the form of no raises and heavier workloads.

Also I am tired of people confusing me the LPN as a NP, just like people think that because I am male I must be the doctor.

apocatastasis said:
For what it's worth as a psych NP student with 2 semesters to go (!)... we are regularly inundated with postings for psych NPs. They are all over the internet and all over the place. The last one I got was in Chicago, starting salary of six figures with 2.5 months per year of PTO (2-3 weeks sick and CME and the rest vacation). Full medical insurance paid. I know that at least a couple of psych NPs in private practice here in Texas make more than 200k a year, and 90k-130k starting seems to be the norm across the country, though inpatient/hospital type settings seem to pay less across the board.

A common theme I'm seeing about NP salaries is you have to know how much money you are bringing in to a practice and argue your case for an appropriate salary. Healthcare is NOT any different from any other business, if you own a practice, build up a clientele and charge the going rate in your area. If you are employed by a practice, you HAVE to play hardball sometimes to get what you want, or, yeah, you will be paid $65k a year and you have nothing to blame but yourself. Why would an employer pay you 120k a year when you are ignorantly chugging along, thanking him for the 1,000 dollar raise to your 65k salary?

Nurses in general seem not to be very astute at business so they slide along making crap wages. Sorry, but here in Austin, RN wages are TERRIBLE given the work conditions, who wants to do this for the rest of their lives?! If you look, you will find opportunities to make a decent wage, earn a good return on your money, and, most importantly, do what you love to do.

apocatastasis- I understand what you are saying re: your worth to a practice- however, as a new NP (or just graduating & looking for a first job, as I will be soon)- how do you research that?

I will graduate next year, with a A/GNP MSN. I plan to take both the GNP cert exam (aanp) and A/GNP cert exam (ancc), because I want to be in a geriatric primary care setting. Unrealistic? It wasn't when I *started* my program, but is changing a bit now. :0(

Specializes in FNP.

apocatastasis has good points, but I think there is more to it than what you bring to the practice, and that is what the market will bear. In my area, NPs are making in the mid 60s, no benefits. They are happy to get it b/c they would top out in the low 50's with nights/weekends/holidays lifting the 350pounders by themselves in the hospital. Yes, we could all move to Chicago and make more money, but we choose to live where we do for a reason, and there is a trade off. Low wages are the price we pay for a quality of life we can't buy anywhere else. It is also worth pointing out that physicians here are not earning the salaries being quoted.

Our only general surgeon is losing money and keeping the practice open with his retirement savings and a 3rd (yes, you read the correctly) mortgage. He said he may as well b/c he will never retire. When he is gone, we simply won't have a surgeon for 100 miles. He is paying his staff, but hasn't paid himself in years.

It took us 6 years to find him, lol, but the last internal medicine MD we recruited here is being paid 95K a year, but since we are an underserved area (shocker) he gets an additional 35K in loan reimbursement assistance from the feds. I know b/c he told me. He also said most of his classmates started out at twice as much. He also said he feels like he got the better deal and would have come here for less, lol.

So in the end, the most important thing is to know your market so you cannot be taken advantage of, yet don't price yourself out of it.

2 cents from the unemployed/never employed NP. ;)

No, it is not worth it to become NP. I thought I am happy with my starting salary until I found out..... wherever we earn > 100K, physician counterpart are making twice (or almost) your wage doing the same exact job with the same workload esp in outpatient setting. And the reimbursement the company will collect is similar to what they get for physician fee. I even think employer can afford to pay us >$130 or more per year but the market is so saturated with NP who are "willing" to get a lower wage... It's our fault that we create too many schools and many graduates.. oversupply of NPs.. Hopefully, DNP movement will slow it down... but even with the oversupply, like apocatastasis said, if we are astute at business and collectively refuse to accept lower-then-market/unfair wage and are more flexible about moving.. the wage should improve somewhat... Right now, despite increased liability/independence, we are getting paid less than other allied-health counterparts eg. pharmacist, optometrist etc... crazy

So when I became a NP, I doubled my RN salary. My RN salary was 70k a year. You do the math and tell me if it was worth it ;)

I'm applying to NP schools this year. Is it worth it? For me it is. I have always been dissatisfied as a RN. I don't know. Feels like something was always missing. Feels like I'm running around like chicken with my head cut off. I'm not even 30 yet and would NEVER want to spend the next few years of my career working that hard. Yes, it is true. There are some nurses who can make the same amount of money that a NP makes, but I've always asked myself, "What will I have to do to make that money?" The quality of my life matters to me. Not just how much I am going to make. I want to use my brain more instead of running around all the time. I feel that I carry so much responsibility and have to work my tail off all the time. At one point I wanted to be a MD, but I actually want to be a NP. I really love the idea of seeing a patient's condition as something to figure out. It's like putting the pieces of a puzzle together to figure out what's wrong. It's going to be challenging, but I enjoy that way more than being a floor nurse. I rarely feel like I have the time to think.

Specializes in Certified Family Nurse Practitioner.

I will graduate this November as an FNP. Although money was a factor it cannot be the only thing that drives me. As a staff nurse i was making $42 per hour at night working 3 shift per week pulling in close to $80k per year. I dont expect my first NP Job to be paing much more than that out of school, but I do know that in certain area here in Mississippi that NPs are making anywhere from $65-$85 an hour, mostly in ERs, an some specialty areas. The real money is in going out on your own, where the sky is the limit on salary. I think many people downplay Np salaries to disuade others from going into the field. But I know know several NPs who make $150,000 + per year but dont go around bragging about it. A good friend of mine got out of school last spring and his first job was $60 per hour with full benefits working 3 shifts per week in a fast track ER, and has two PRN jobs. He averages 4 twelve hour shifts a week and is pulling in over $140,000 per year his first year out of school, without even trying hard. That is right up there with CRNA pay in high pay areas. Incedently, CRNAs in my area cant find jobs, and when they do, have to take very low salaires because the market it glutted with them. Doctors and hospitals are finding out that NPs can be a big source of income for them, and the demand for NPs will only get larger in the future. That beind said.....Money should not be your main motivation for doing anthing.

I graduated NP school in 2011. I thought my starting salary was a little low. I work hard and I am very type A. My yearly raise in 2012 was fantastic! I have been a RN for 12 years before graduating from NP school. All I can say is GO! Finish your NP program. The starting salary may seem low for an NP, but if you work hard, the yearly raises/bonuses will put you WELL above RN salary. I am in the Southeast. I will never miss answering call bells, code browns, or breaking my back to lift/reposition patients. Finish NP school. I would do it all over again (if I had to). :)

Specializes in FNP, ONP.

Interesting thread. Short answer, yes, it is absolutely worth it. I have an independent practice with complete autonomy. I work 3/4 time and earn in the neighborhood of $140K. I make my own hours, come and go as I please.

I personally hate my psych patients, lol. I groan when I see chief complain "depression" or anxiety." I can not stand needy whiners. I'd rather do a DRE any day! Let's get it over with, you go on your way and we do not ever speak of it again, right? ;) I do not want to have to see you and hear about your sucky life and stupid imaginary problems every month for the next year. (Google the Bob Newhart youtube video "Stop It") In that sense, psych NP would be highly preferable to FNP because I suspect most of Zen's patients have genuine behavioral health problems vs. just a failure to cope with normal life challenges, which is mostly what I see labeled as "anxiety" and "depression." Suck it up Buttercup. Get some exercise, get some perspective. A prescription is not going to fix what ails you.

I do get yelled at occasionally, but here is the thing: I am there to treat a medical condition, no to pander to them or enable them. When people are inappropriate, I get up and walk out. The visit is over and I won't see them again.

I do see a variety of fascinating things and meet a lot of very interesting people, most of whom are very pleasant. I really love seeing patients that do what they are supposed to do and whom make good progress toward goals. I don't like seeing people that don't follow directions/advice, make no lifestyle changes. I usually cut them loose after a year of no progress. They need to find someone that inspires them to make healthy life change, if I can't I'm not the right provider for them. I 'm not going to just keep writing scripts for the same conditions if they won't even try to do anything for themselves. Besides, they get tired of hearing me harp on the same things and are ready to be done with me too, lol.

29/30 days work pass by pleasantly and without unexpected complications. Most of my grief comes from insurance companies. The words "prior authorization" sometimes make my blood boil, lol. My least favorite part of the job is paperwork. I can't stand filling out FMLA paperwork and endless forms for nursing homes, home health, physical therapists, etc, but at least I can bill for it. I take a half day a week to do nothing else and I don't enjoy that day very much, but it must be done. I usually treat myself to a nice lunch to give myself something to look forward to that day.

I like 75% of my patients, my career trajectory, , my day to day office life, my colleagues and my salary. I'd do it all again.

I know I'm extremely late getting to the party on this one, but here goes.

It all depends on where you are. I am an NP in the worst state to practice in. (Alabama). I am also in the largest city, (Birmingham) which happens to have 2 universities pumping out NP's almost on a monthly basis. The market for us is not good here and due to the limitations the state puts on us, it makes practicing extremely difficult. My wife and I went to NP school together and have struggled over the past year since graduating NP school. I currently do contract work for a large insurance provider, that is zero challenge and zero clinical use. I worked for an orthopedic straight out of NP school, but he had no idea how to use an NP and I left d/t the fact of spending over half of my time each week on the phone talking to patients about MRI results or listening to them explain to me why a 30 day supply of Lortab only lasted 10 days. Not a good use of my time or education. I'm not saying I'm above doing this job, I have done a lot harder work for a lot less money. I'm just saying I did not spend 2 1/2 years of my life and more/less a second mortgage on a graduate degree to sit on the phone 4 hours a day when you could have an RN or even a medical technologist handle what needed to be done.

Another thing I learned, and I have heard this from well seasoned NP's as well. Finishing NP school is a lot like finishing RN school. You have a lot of knowledge, but you have to learn how to apply it. From there you grow into a well educated RN. Unlike the hospital that has an orientation program to bring you up to speed as a new nurse, I have yet to find an NP situation like that. I'm sure there are some out there, but the dealings I have had, doctors have "thrown you to the wolves" and it is sink or swim time. Not a very comfortable situation. Doctors are people just like you and me and they all have their "own" personalities. Some are excellent teachers and others couldn't tell you how to pour **** out of a boot with directions on the heel. If you go through with it, or have gone through with pursuing NP school. The kicker is finding a good physician that will take the time to bring you up to speed. Just like becoming a good RN and getting comfortable takes a couple of years. Becoming a comfortable NP is about the same.

Specializes in Psych, substance abuse, MR-DD.

Interesting thread! I personally chose psych NP because I love psych but I do not love working nights and weekends and holidays. I also liked the idea of working with clients all over the spectrum of mental illness, not just the sickest of the sick who are inpatient. I loved seeing all of the variety in outpatient during my internship. And around here we have 15-20min f/u appts generally but can make 30-40 min occasionally for very complex and acute patients. Community mental health, as I am sure community primary care, can be brutal though! People can be very sick and have a lot of trouble with compliance. I haven't started working as a NP yet but I do believe that I made the right choice for myself and my family.

+ Add a Comment