Any regrets becoming a NP?

[DesertSky]

I'm curious to hear if anyone has any regrets regarding becoming a NP? If so, what do you wish you would have pursued instead? I have a few concerns that give me pause such as over saturation of NP's and provider burnout. What if I go through NP school to not be able to find a job? What if I get burned out as a NP?

I have been a critical care nurse for over 5 years and I'm not sure if my feelings stem from stress from balancing work and school, or if it's second thoughts creeping in. I'm halfway through a MSN AGACNP program at well-respected, brick and mortar school where my preceptors are provided. I work in a level 1 trauma center ICU and see how hard our AGACNP's work and that a number of them seem to be rather burned out from the sheer amount of work and responsibility they constantly have on their plates.

I would love to hear thoughts from anyone who would be willing to share.

[AnnieNP, MSN, NP]

I absolutely LOVE being an Adult NP. I really do like primary care. I have several families where I treat three generations! My only regret is I didn't do it sooner. I worked as an RN for aprox. 15 years before going back for my NP.

[King_of_Stuff]

My first job out of school was perfectly fine. However another company persuaded me with a significant increase in my salary to join them. This became a huge error as it turned out to be an extremely unpleasant situation. We ended up parting ways after 6 months. This job made me really question Healthcare and whether or not this is something I wanted to do. I'm currently in between NP jobs and getting credentialed for a job and Immediate Care. I agree with what everybody above says that I don't necessarily regret becoming an NP, but don't let it suck the life out of you. Offices of facilities were used and abused you because they know that you're good potential source of profit.

[MikeFNPC, MSN]

No regrets in any way. If you're interested in NP, do it. Try and avoid the negative rhetoric. It's an amazing profession. NP is the future of healthcare. Do you want to be part of the future? I do, and so does my wife, she's in NP school now.

[Samoyed, MSN, APRN, NP]

Part of me has regrets. I was an RN for 7 years and worked in specialty med surg and ICU before becoming an NP. I have now been an FNP for about a year. I work in adult primary care for the largest specialty care group in my state. The patients are quite complex, 30+ medical problems on 30+ medications, many being autoimmune, cancers, hematologic. I went to a well respected B&M school. I feel very underprepared. I might feel a little more prepared if I worked in a small town family practice with fewer medically complex patients.

I definitely have physician support. But what tends to happen in my clinic is that routine follow up and annual exams get booked with the physicians. I see all the same day appointments-- and NOT strep throat, sinus infections. I get booked new leg swelling (I have diagnosed countless DVTs), shortness of breath (I can always hope for PNA, asthma exacerbation- but its usually more complex like IPF, or something autoimmune-sarcoid, lupus), visual changes, weakness, fatigue, confusion, chest pain, abdominal pain. While some things are self limiting and end up easy/benign... I have diagnosed way too many cancers. When I get booked with cellulitis it tends to turn out to be osteomyletitis moving towards sepsis! Abdominal pain is infrequently constipation or diverticulitis it tends to always be something surgical I'm sending to the ER. I also frequently get booked hospital follow ups....why yes you were in the ICU for 21 days in cardiogenic shock and you're booked to see the brand new NP now on 10 new medications and still having chest pain. If I didn't have strong nursing background there is no way I would survive.

Part of me wishes I tried working in a procedural area like endo, cath lab EP lab. Or tried something different altogether like inpatient pediatric ICU. How's the pay difference? Well I'm making 25k more than I did an as RN. But instead of working 3 12's and being done at the end of my shift, I'm now working 4 "10's". 4 10's = 4 16 hour shifts and working at home and on my day off equally about 60 hours per week. Therefore based on the amount of time I'm working, it is quite considerably less than an RN. Work comes home and my home life suffers.

Despite this.... I love seeing patients. I love the environment. Sometimes the follow up and medical complexity can be beyond overwhelming and time consuming. I am thankful for UptoDate. And an understanding spouse who is also a nurse!

[Kimiko20, CNA]

7 hours ago, Samoyed said:

Part of me has regrets. I was an RN for 7 years and worked in specialty med surg and ICU before becoming an NP. I have now been an FNP for about a year. I work in adult primary care for the largest specialty care group in my state. The patients are quite complex, 30+ medical problems on 30+ medications, many being autoimmune, cancers, hematologic. I went to a well respected B&M school. I feel very underprepared. I might feel a little more prepared if I worked in a small town family practice with fewer medically complex patients.

I definitely have physician support. But what tends to happen in my clinic is that routine follow up and annual exams get booked with the physicians. I see all the same day appointments-- and NOT strep throat, sinus infections. I get booked new leg swelling (I have diagnosed countless DVTs), shortness of breath (I can always hope for PNA, asthma exacerbation- but its usually more complex like IPF, or something autoimmune-sarcoid, lupus), visual changes, weakness, fatigue, confusion, chest pain, abdominal pain. While some things are self limiting and end up easy/benign... I have diagnosed way too many cancers. When I get booked with cellulitis it tends to turn out to be osteomyletitis moving towards sepsis! Abdominal pain is infrequently constipation or diverticulitis it tends to always be something surgical I'm sending to the ER. I also frequently get booked hospital follow ups....why yes you were in the ICU for 21 days in cardiogenic shock and you're booked to see the brand new NP now on 10 new medications and still having chest pain. If I didn't have strong nursing background there is no way I would survive.

Part of me wishes I tried working in a procedural area like endo, cath lab EP lab. Or tried something different altogether like inpatient pediatric ICU. How's the pay difference? Well I'm making 25k more than I did an as RN. But instead of working 3 12's and being done at the end of my shift, I'm now working 4 "10's". 4 10's = 4 16 hour shifts and working at home and on my day off equally about 60 hours per week. Therefore based on the amount of time I'm working, it is quite considerably less than an RN. Work comes home and my home life suffers.

Despite this.... I love seeing patients. I love the environment. Sometimes the follow up and medical complexity can be beyond overwhelming and time consuming. I am thankful for UptoDate. And an understanding spouse who is also a nurse!

Thank you so much for all of your input on being an NP! Do you recommend working in any more areas before applying to NP programs? How do you feel about sites like drugs.com for learning medication interaction checks? Is there any way you could have more of your work kept at work?

[Oceannurse1234]

I have 2 former nursing school instructors who are NPs but do not work as NPs. They didn't want to take their work home with them, be on call, and have patients blowing up their phones. I personally wld never go into the field as a NP. But that's me. I prefer the MSN route in teaching.

[mcaselogic]

I have some regrets:

1. I did not work out my math and could have been earning a bit more as an ER RN.

2. I did not think it thoroughly when it came to work/life balance.

3. I did not consider the over saturation of the NP job market.

4. I had zero clue as to the amount of mental stress I'd encounter rounding three hospitals.

However, I am thankful for the choice I made because I'm closer to reaching my actual goal. If I wouldn't have gone to FNP school, I'd still be making great money but going nowhere.

I do think prospective NP students should be made aware of the cons this profession has and not be swayed with the "you're going to be calling all the shots and have enough time to balance everything out"

[Oldmahubbard]

Every NP position is so different, it is so very hard to judge. Even within the same field.

I was treated as lower than canine feces as an RN, so for me, there has never been a question.

[blondenurse12, MSN, NP]

I have mixed feelings about becoming a NP. I make more money and I have more autonomy which are good things but I feel like I traded a lot for it. I was an ER nurse and then a CICU nurse before going back for my MSN. I very much enjoyed the complexity of recovering post cardiac surgery patients and I enjoyed the camaraderie of my fellow nurses and staff.

I basically work alone now. I am the only provider on staff at a given time. It's kind of isolating. I also feel like my job is rather monotonous. In urgent care, you see the same stuff over and over. I feel like I lost a lot of valuable skills. I used to titrate a dozen drips, manage chest tubes, Swan lines, IABP, CRRT. Now I just swab 20 throats a day because everyone thinks if they have a sore throat for five minutes, it's strep.

I could get another job and I did at one point but I wasn't given any orientation, the office staff was hostile. It was just a bad experience and I don't think it's uncommon. One thing I thought prior to becoming a NP was that you'd have more respect and/or freedom.

You don't. It's like being a staff nurse but in an elevated way. Now you are personally subjected to Press Gainey/Net Promoter Scores. Your volume is also scrutinized. Do more, do more, do more. I almost quit my program because I became quite depressed during clinicals. My preceptors would be the first ones in the office, last one to leave, on call, working weekends while the physicians have half the volume and come in when they feel like it, take off time whenever they want. I feel like we are just workhorses, just shut up and bill as much as possible and don't expect too much. I personally would like to leave healthcare all together but I don't know what else I'd do.

[mcaselogic]

2 minutes ago, blondenurse12 said:

I have mixed feelings about becoming a NP. I make more money and I have more autonomy which are good things but I feel like I traded a lot for it. I was an ER nurse and then a CICU nurse before going back for my MSN. I very much enjoyed the complexity of recovering post cardiac surgery patients and I enjoyed the camaraderie of my fellow nurses and staff.

I basically work alone now. I am the only provider on staff at a given time. It's kind of isolating. I also feel like my job is rather monotonous. In urgent care, you see the same stuff over and over. I feel like I lost a lot of valuable skills. I used to titrate a dozen drips, manage chest tubes, Swan lines, IABP, CRRT. Now I just swab 20 throats a day because everyone thinks if they have a sore throat for five minutes, it's strep.

I could get another job and I did at one point but I wasn't given any orientation, the office staff was hostile. It was just a bad experience and I don't think it's uncommon. One thing I thought prior to becoming a NP was that you'd have more respect and/or freedom.

You don't. It's like being a staff nurse but in an elevated way. Now you are personally subjected to Press Gainey/Net Promoter Scores. Your volume is also scrutinized. Do more, do more, do more. I almost quit my program because I became quite depressed during clinicals. My preceptors would be the first ones in the office, last one to leave, on call, working weekends while the physicians have half the volume and come in when they feel like it, take off time whenever they want. I feel like we are just workhorses, just shut up and bill as much as possible and don't expect too much. I personally would like to leave healthcare all together but I don't know what else I'd do.

Wow. You nailed it, unfortunately. I don't see much value in my work anymore. Like you said, do more and shut up.

I'd go back to ER as an RN but I don't know anymore. I too have had depressed moods ever since I started working as an NP. Some days are cool because I see a great case but that happens once every 2-3 months.

[PMHNP Man, MSN, APRN, NP]

No.

I'm a PMHNP, and psychiatry is the lifestyle specialty. I don't regret becoming a NP. I wish I'd done it sooner in life. In fact, I'm courting the idea of taking a new job (with benefits) for 25 hours per week plus all my current moonlighting and consulting hustles.

Having said that, nursing wasn't a first career, and if I could go back I wouldn't pursue either my first or second career. However, I left career one to become a PMHNP (career 2) and being a RN was sort of the fluid process. I couldn't have been a career ward or specialty nurse.

I do sometimes wonder what it would have been like as a CRNA although I've made over 200k/yr so it's not a salary issue, but I was uncomfortable with the amount of crap you had to do in critical care (which I was trained and received a pay differential for). The lines, tubes, and electronics seemed like a giant clutter.

[staphylococci, NP]

No regrets here!

Overall, I really enjoy Family Medicine. I didn't realize the value of a PCP until I became one myself! I've really enjoyed the long-term relationship building with patients and families and take great pride in being their go-to source for medical information. My work is very intellectually engaging and rewarding. The good days definitely out weight the bad, for sure.