Definetely going NP... but Family Practice or Mental Health?

[rynophiliac]

So I have my mind set on becoming a NP but I can't decide if I want to do family practice or mental health? I currently work as a psyche nurse at an inpatient facility and love it. I love the patients because they are so unique. However, my father is a MD and has a thriving family practice and is nearing retirement soon and wants me to do family practice NP so he can leave it to me! He has multiple physicians/PA's in the office now caring for the pt's and he works a 3 day week himself. The practice is established with appointments booked out 4-6 weeks always.

So I'm torn, should I continue to do the type of work I like and make $120-150k tops in mental health? Or take over the medical practice and make a salary of $120k plus the profit from all the other physicians in the office? It would pay me around $250-300k total?

So I have lots of questions to help me come to a conclusion:

Can a mental health NP own a medical practice? Seems like if I'm not the one seeing the pt's (the family practice PA's and Physicians will see the pt's) then I could still own the practice right and profit from the business? This would allow me to still actually work in the psyche field.

If I did own/manage the family practice could I see the day in and day out pt's and write scripts for them or could I not see any pt's because I am not specialized in that area? (in the mental health hospital I work at now the psychiatrist/psyche NP's prescribe for common everyday medical problems all the time)

What is the potential earnings of of Mental health NP's with their own practice working a 36 hour work week? I have talked to many psychiatrist earning close to 250k in private practice but I have yet to ask a Mental health NP in private practice about earning potential?

thanks

[luckylady5]

I'd like to know about this too! Anyone?

[sailornurse]

it might depend on your state bon regs. in my state new mexico, a psych np can not write meds or manage htn or dmii for example. however, as a fnp i can write some basic psych meds (usually fore depression) but those really multiple issues should be seeing someone with a psych specialty. can't really say how your earnings will be, as this is affected by number of patients you see and how much you're reimbursed. i can see 30 pts a day. does your state have independent practice? also you need to look at healthcare reform issues and the impact the changes can have on the practce and your earning potential.

sailornurse, msn, fnp

[gettingbsn2msn, MSN, RN]

This is why I am going adult NP. I hope someone responds to this. I am very luck with my clinicals. I am with a family practice MD. However, most of what she sees is psych. So many patients on anti depressants or anti anxiety meds. If they need counseling or additional meds she makes a referral to behavioral health.

[NAURN]

If Psych is what you love, do that! I don't know the details about owning your own practice or what not, but you have to decide what YOU want. If you like the business aspect and the idea of owning a practice, then by all means take over your father's practice. But if psych is your love, there's your answer. Plus Psych NPs are one of the higher paid NPs based on the research I have done. It takes a special person to do Psych (that's not me!) and there is great demand for them!