Adult Gerontology Primary Care NP Job Outlook

[SN2751, BSN, RN]

I am wondering what kind of jobs are out there for adult gerontology primary care NPs? I know there are many family practices out there that prefer FNPs so they can treat all ages. Are there family practices that will hire an adult gero NP and just have them work with ages 13+?

Curious because I am about to start AGPCNP school next month, and this has been a concern of mine.

[wanttobanurse]

I don't know about family practice...

But you could work in an internal medicine clinic, nursing home and specialty clinics.

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

It is worse than for FNPs because AGPCNPs frequently cannot work in urgent care, "direct" family practice and "minute clinics", which all are in a huge and actively growing service segment. Everything else they can do including SNFs, home visits, direct internal medicine and specialties, tele health, etc. is in competition with FNPs. Furthermore, in places which still allow FNPs to obtain hospital privileges AGPCNPs are frequently disadvantaged because they have "primary care" in their title. Credentialing committees, treating APPs as "extenders", more frequently than not conclude that, if an NP carries FNP title, then privileges can be granted because there are family physicians with those privileges but, as there is no physician specialty with "primary care" title, then an NP with such title cannot be priveleged. This can limit opportunities in specialty and other clinics if inpatient rounds included in job description.

I personally know one area which consistently prefers AGPCNPs over FNPs. It is Geriatrics and (if the NP also has PMH certification) Geri/Psych. It is another segment growing in leaps and bounds and Gery/Psych, actually, pays quite well. So, if it is your cup of tea, you might want to consider combo program even now. Othrwise, I would do good market research in a place you are going to live and work before starting school and start building network right now.

One of the sure winning cards in current NP's world is the volume of population an NP can work with. The volume comes from education and experience. Anything that limits the volume is bad for the job search and, ultimately, career. It is that simple.

[aok7, NP]

I would have to add outpatient specialty clinics such as GI, nephrology, and the like. I am primary care trained and when I changed jobs I was given offers at GI, neurology, and internal medicine clinics. I ended up choosing nephrology. My first NP job was in internal medicine outpatient with a hospital, but now that I am focusing on nephrology, which I am very pleased about, I recognize I am closing down opportunities in the future. Similar to RN jobs, each step is more significant than what a lot of people realize. For you, I would consider your nursing background. Your future employer will be very interested in that I would have to say over your specific credentials (obviously consensus like acute versus primary versus psych and the like I am not referring to here). I had zero pediatric experience, no interest in obtaining it, and I would not be a strong candidate for a minute clinic caring for peds, thus my decision to do 13+, which I do seen teenagers and younger adults.