the cold hard reality for FNPs in primary care...?

[guest464345]

I'm just starting my MSN/FNP, the idea being to finish in about three years while working most of the way through.

I work in the ED, and I like the variety. I'm seeing a lot of stuff that would (and often should) be seen in primary care. I like the patients and my coworkers. The ridiculous behavior of certain folks doesn't usually get under my skin. But the hospital is a brutal grind - at least for me. The noise, the unpleasant physical environment, the lack of control over basic decisions like when I'm allowed to eat, the risks of being hurt intentionally or accidentally....I don't think I could keep this up for 20 years.

What I really want is a comfortable middle-class existence, doing something reasonably useful in the world, using my brain, with a chance to actually interact with patients, but also with the energy to enjoy my family and personal life.

So like many people I thought: FNP. But now I wonder....what will my options be, realistically? Grinding through 30 patients/day in the outpatient world might be physically easier (presumably I would get to sit sometimes, and I wouldn't be lifting people), but it's also more responsibility and maybe not much more pay. And, it doesn't really give me any more time to interact with patients than I have now.

If you're an FNP in an outpatient setting...have you found a work niche that is a little more (for lack of a better word) humane? Where, and how?

[aprnKate]

I am a relative new NP (10 months), and my transition from being a floor nurse to an NP has been wonderful. I see 18-20 patients a day, my environment is low stress, and my pay has significantly increased ($35/hr to $53/hr with up to 10% yearly bonus). I work 3 ten hours days and have 2 four day weekends a month. I do have weekend and holiday commitment, but I am not working a day night rotation and no overnights. I get a mandatory 1 hour lunch break, and do not run around like a chicken with my head cut off. Also, I work alone and do enjoy the autonomy. Yes, I do have more responsibility, but my stress and anxiety level has significantly decreased since my floor nursing days. I use to dread every shift as an RN, and had anxiety attacks while headed to work when I was an ED nurse. I feel I am being payed for my knowledge, respected by the patients, and valued by my employer (since I bill and bring in income). I remember the nights of battling incontinent dementia patients (and the bed facilitator who wanted to load us up with them with no regard to staffing), cursed out by drunks, tortured by pain seekers who were on the call bell every hour on the hour, and not valued by the hospital. For ME, it was a no brainer to continue my education and become an NP as I realized hospital/floor/ED/unit nursing was not my cup of tea.

gerry79...wow! you have well stated every reason I went from ER RN to NP...cheers to us becoming NPs!

[nats2012]

Did you do the program online or was it a traditional classrom