NP in a surgical specialty (or general)

AutumnBlaze · Mar 12, 2018

I am a ACNP who works in surgery. I do not scrub, although I could, as I am not needed to. My team, NPs and PAs, cover our hospital 24/7. There is always someone here. We round, write orders. we admit, we discharge, see patients in ER and our clinic. My background is critical care. Not sure what else you want to know?

danceluver · Mar 12, 2018

@AutumnBlaze...thank you for your reply. How is the schedule? Do you need to work nights/weekends and holidays and be at the whim of your supervising surgeon? How do you like your role? Also, is there a reason why you don't scrub? It would be something I would be interested in but wondering if I really don't know what that entails down the road....

Dodongo, APRN, NP · Mar 13, 2018

ACNP & RNFA. The RNFA is a must in my area if you have any hope of beating out a PA for a surgical position.

First assisting intra-op, rounds/consults pre-op to decide if they need surgery and to do orders and optimization if they do, rounding post-op and managing patients on the floors and units. No office time. M-F. No weekends. No call. Base salary plus RVUs for cases that are billable as first assist.

AutumnBlaze · Mar 13, 2018

@AutumnBlaze...thank you for your reply. How is the schedule? Do you need to work nights/weekends and holidays and be at the whim of your supervising surgeon? How do you like your role? Also, is there a reason why you don't scrub? It would be something I would be interested in but wondering if I really don't know what that entails down the road....[/Q
We cover 24/7, doing seven 12 hr shifts and one 8 hrs shift every 2 weeks. We all do days and nights, although I do have one full time night person. We cover holidays but only @ night. I work with several surgeons, some are easier than others.We work with surgical residents and they scrub.In a dire emergency, we may have to scrub, it happens rarely.