Parkland Hospital?

U.S.A. Texas

Published

I have an offer for a women's health NP job at a Parkland Hospital outpatient clinic. Can anyone tell me what it is like to be an NP at Parkland? Pros/cons? How do resources compare to other large hospitals in the Dallas area? How do salary/benefits compare to other NPs in the Dallas area?

I would be relocating for the position, so I want to know as much as I can before I make my decision!

Specializes in LTC, Acute care.

Congrats to you!!!!

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Congratulations!!! I hope you were able to celebrate this weekend!

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Have you been able to start your new job at Parkland?

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Yes, I was able to start a few weeks ago, thankfully. I went through the general hospital orientation, and began the orientation specific to my clinic. So far, everything has been great!!! It is definitely overwhelming, but I'm trying to take it one day at a time.

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That is wonderful news! That is the best approach. In time, you will find your routine and feel more confident as you gain more experience.

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I just recently received an offer at Parkland for a similar role. Can you explain the credentialing and privileging process at Parkland? They give a window of 90-120 days, does it really take that long? How has your experience been so far? What type of clinic are you working in? I know they have 9 different women's clinics (OB, Gyn, etc.).

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WomensHealthNP-BC...do you still get on allnurses.com?

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Yes, you're correct, the delay was due to processing in the state of TX. I took the NCC boards in PA, where I worked as an RN. I planned to move back to MA to work as an NP. I applied for my MA RN license early in the process, while I was studying for boards. Then, as soon as I passed I applied for my MA APRN. Since everything was in place for my MA APRN license to be issued, the process was fairly quick. But, my decision to move to TX wasn't what I had initially planned (boyfriend lives here), so I had to start from scratch (RN license, APRN license) as soon as I accepted the job--and that took almost 3 months.

Looking back, I applied to the NCC on 7/22 and received an email for computer eligibility on 7/30, which stated that I would receive an eligibility letter in the mail within 3 business days, and I was able to sign up for a test date on 8/3. Classmates of mine were able to sign up for as early as 8/12 I believe, but I waited until 8/28. So that would be less than 2 weeks to receive the ATT. As far as the results, I can't find any evidence of it taking 21 days to receive official pass results. I was in the middle of a move, so I believe my results got mailed to my home address and were overlooked until I got home on 9/17--but had been sitting there for a while :)

I used the Kelsey review guide and practice question book at first, but found it difficult to stay engaged. I ended up purchasing the Fitzgerald review course because the short 20 min bursts of review with audio and visual, which was a great way to keep the review structured and feel like I was actually accomplishing something on my study days. I ended up with a system of reading the Kelsey review guide and looking up info I wasn't clear on, and taking notes in the margins. This served as my knowledge base, then I would listen the the Fitzgerald review to reinforce the most important topics. Finally, I would test myself on those topic areas using the Kelsey question book. I definitely think the questions were more straightforward than the NCLEX, no tricks. It really was a test of "entry to practice" and what a new NP should have in their basic knowledge bank.

For interviews, I ended up in person for all. First, I interviewed in person at a women's health clinic in Boston with the executive director and medical director (didn't get it, they ended up hiring an experienced midwife). Second, I interviewed at a MGH research unit with the chief of the unit (decided not to pursue it because it was only 60% clinical). I sent my resume to every other hospital and clinic I could find in the Boston and greater Boston area over the course of 2-3 months, even if they weren't hiring. I applied to a few other positions, like breast oncology or family practice with a women's health component, but there were very few general ob/gyn positions available in the Boston area. That's where TX came in. For Parkland, I first had a phone interview with a recruiter. After that, I was moved along in the process to interview with the clinical managers and NPs at two different sites. I actually ended up making a list of all of the interview questions I was asked during the entire process, to send out to friends who were in the process of preparing for interviews:

Nurse Practitioner Interview Questions

  • Career Questions
    • Why did you want to be a nurse practitioner?
    • Why women's health?
    • Where do you see yourself in 1, 5, 10 years?
    • What are your professional goals?

    [*]Work History Questions

    • Describe 1) the best and 2) the worst qualities and experiences you have had with a manager and why? Be specific.
    • What is the best thing a manager ever did for you?
    • How would your last manager describe you?
    • What work environment do you like best and why?
    • Do you have any issues delegating to other employees such as MAs, RNs?
    • Describe a relevant situation, your action, and the outcome
      • Patient from a different culture than your own
      • Conflict with a coworker, how you resolved it, and the outcome
      • A time when you stuck to your decision when others opposed it
      • A time when you received criticism and how you reacted to it

      [*]Describe your approach to a ‘difficult' patient

    [*]Personality Questions

    • Describe yourself in three words
    • Why, specifically, should we hire you?
    • What drives you to do this? Money, recognition, achievement, etc? What is the driving factor?
    • What is your biggest accomplishment in your life, aside from your education and your family?
    • What brings you joy?
    • What is the most interesting thing you have done in the past three years besides school and volunteer work?

    [*]Experience/Education Questions

    • What procedures did you do as a WHNP student?
    • What three women's health issues are you most interested in?
    • How comfortable are you with your time management skills?
    • How comfortable are you with a large caseload?
    • If you could change one thing about the NP profession, what would it be and why?
    • Have you considered getting a DNP?

    [*]Resume Questions

    • How will you incorporate your interest in research into the work place?
    • Describe in detail your role as a peer advisor
    • Describe the education modules you designed and how they could be adapted here
    • Are you interested in administration? Why? What do you think makes you a good leader?
    • Why do you volunteer—reasons specific to each volunteer endeavor?

    [*]Training Questions

    • What do you want from an orientation?
    • What do you expect from a preceptor?
    • What learning environment/relationship with a preceptor would be most beneficial to you?

Sorry about the length of the post, but I hope this helps!!!

This is SO AWESOME!! Thank you!!!!!!

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Specializes in WHNP-BC, FNP-C.

I was offered a job there in 2011 and they only wanted to start me at 78K for APRN I in the Women's health clinic. I had to decline. sounds like that has improved. Are you still working there? I see postings and would like to know if it's gonna be worth my time to apply and interview again. I currently live in San Antonio, so a 10 hour round trip drive needs to be worth the time and effort.

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Hi, are you working now at Parkland? What's starting rate for a new grad for APRN I at a Parkland women's health clinic?

Thank you!

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My experience is that the starting salary is between $90k and $95k for NP 1 at Parkland. I'm not sure if that would differ between clinics, but I doubt it.

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After receiving the offer, when did they give you more details about hospital orientation? my orientation is next Monday which is exactly a week from now. Still, all I have is my orientation date but no other information at all. I reached recruiter and she told me we are still scheduled to have orientation next week but she didn't sent me any other info yet...

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