is it possible to work as an NP w/o MD's hours?

Specialties NP

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I have applied to NP school, I would love to do preventative primary care, and feel passionate about social medicine. The more NPs I talk to however, the more I get the sense that working conditions are pretty bad in my area anyway. All the NPs I know and work with work MD hours, are on-call, answer calls, etc. They say in primary care you generally see ~50 patients/day, and still are on-call.

I don't want to work THAT much. The NPs in my hospital are pulling 12hr shifts sometimes 5-7 days a week. Honestly I'd be happy working 2 days a week at 12hr/day, and like to live frugally. Is it possible to be an NP and not work very often? Per diem? Prison health? Community health?

Specializes in allergy and asthma, urgent care.

It's definitely possible. I work in primary care in an urban community health center. I work 4 ten hour shifts, 1 Saturday a month, and I don't have to take call. I do have to add that I probably put in another 10-15 hours a week doing charts, but I can do that from home so it's not so bad. I think you're more apt to find a position that suits your needs outside of the hospital environment. I've seen a lot of positions advertised for part time NPs in various settings. I'd also look into working at a college health service. The pay generally is not that high, but there are many part time positions available, and you only work 9 months of the year (in most cases).

I work in family practice and work 2.5 days per week :up: with NO call, no weekends, no nursing home hours, etc. Actually, I can count up to 5 classmates (and those are just the ones I have kept in touch with) who are all working some variation of part-time. For me, flexibiliy and part-time hours were more important than a lot of other benefits and I found that in a small family practice.I don't have any other benefits other than CEU and paid malpractice. We carry benefits through my husbands work so benefits were something I never really cared about.

The medical group that I work for has a Monday-Friday 8-5 schedule for all providers (MD/DO/PA/NP) and NP's do not take call at all. We also have floats that work per diem.

Specializes in Trauma, Emergency, Urgent Care.

Very doable. I decided that I wanted to try to create a work plan that allowed for more control over my work schedule and a greater degree of lifestyle flexibility. So I chose a different path.

I work 3/10s per week in urgent care setting (this is my base position) and have a PRN position with an ED staffing firm that is expected (yeild varies) to yield another 3/12s per month. In addition, I am also working to gain PRN status with another firm. Between the three positions I should have no problem getting enough hours when I want them, but the beauty is that I am only "on the hook" for 3 days per week (30hrs). The other positions are PRN and I can accept or reject shifts depending on my needs and schedule.

I am early on in this experiment.....but so far it is great. I love not having a 5 day / week commitment. I am more refreshed and no longer dread Monday mornings.

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