For those of you who have say 5+ years experience as a NP what is your opinion on our profession now? Has it changed from when you were planning to become a NP?
As I've mentioned here many times before I am concerned about the future of our profession and at times embarrassed to be identified as a NP. When I decided to become a NP, not everyone and their 20yo baby sister was becoming one, and the few I knew from work were mature, professional and competent. My biggest gripes were their lack of polish, frumpy attire and affinity for excessive hand holding but now I long for the days when those were my complaints. The new trend of minimal if any admission standards as well as lack of RN experience makes me think our outcomes will tank. Regardless of one's philosophy on the admission requirements or experience prior to our short track to prescribing education if for no other reason than the sheer number of new graduates as anticipated in upcoming years there is cause for concern.
What I am seeing based on the postings here is a total lack of maturity and professionalism from more than a few of the newbies. I have seen multiple that come across imo as histrionic, narcissistic with glaringly poor writing quality and I'm not referring to text slang. My real-life experience as I previously posted, and if I recall correctly got cursed at and possibly called a hater? which made me "lol", is that institutions in my area are taking notice of the ill prepared new NP graduates and either shying away from hiring them or placing them in subservient roles. The pay rates in my specialty range from $90,000 to $185, 000 per year with no specification based on years of experience simply because so many have no clue how to manage their business and frankly while I think I'm an above average NP I doubt I'm worth $90,000+ a year more than some of my colleagues.
Agree and yes dentists, who I'm not a fan of and question whether I'm coming out alive most visits, other MD specialties and CRNAs have rigorous admission process and previous experience requirements. Why not other NP specialties? At least I think CRNAs are still particular unless they have also started admitting anyone who can pay the tuition and fog up a mirror held directly under their nose.
Yeah i have heard that their standards are not as high as previous but At least they still require the GRE ha ha.
Gotta watch some of those FMG docs too, there seems to be a higher percentage of them giving off silly medication regimens even though some from every educational aspect are guilty. Not sure why people dont just Uptodate or medscape when in doubt lol
Not so many years ago I overheard two nurses talking about an online program where they could get their NP and all exams were open book. They were complaining about how hard nursing school was and how this open book deal sounded like their ticket to easy street.
I think about those two every now and then and wish I had though to get their names to see if they ever went to school or ever passed the "cool open book program". My fear is that they did and are practicing in some urgent care in Texas or Oklahoma.
Agree, too many online programs that are more about cashing checks than producing safe practitioners. Not saying all B&M programs are amazing there are plenty of bad ones (lots in Texas - LOL)!
There should be qualifiers to enter a program that consist of GPA and other measurable standards. I also believe a few years bedside nursing is appropriate or way more clinical hours required by the programs. Finding your own preceptor is just NUTS! Bring quality controls and only graduate the best of the best and then salaries will soar and patients will be safe.
For those of you who have say 5+ years experience as a NP what is your opinion on our profession now? Has it changed from when you were planning to become a NP?
As I've mentioned here many times before I am concerned about the future of our profession and at times embarrassed to be identified as a NP. When I decided to become a NP, not everyone and their 20yo baby sister was becoming one, and the few I knew from work were mature, professional and competent. My biggest gripes were their lack of polish, frumpy attire and affinity for excessive hand holding but now I long for the days when those were my complaints. The new trend of minimal if any admission standards as well as lack of RN experience makes me think our outcomes will tank. Regardless of one's philosophy on the admission requirements or experience prior to our short track to prescribing education if for no other reason than the sheer number of new graduates as anticipated in upcoming years there is cause for concern.
What I am seeing based on the postings here is a total lack of maturity and professionalism from more than a few of the newbies. I have seen multiple that come across imo as histrionic, narcissistic with glaringly poor writing quality and I'm not referring to text slang. My real-life experience as I previously posted, and if I recall correctly got cursed at and possibly called a hater? which made me "lol", is that institutions in my area are taking notice of the ill prepared new NP graduates and either shying away from hiring them or placing them in subservient roles. The pay rates in my specialty range from $90,000 to $185, 000 per year with no specification based on years of experience simply because so many have no clue how to manage their business and frankly while I think I'm an above average NP I doubt I'm worth $90,000+ a year more than some of my colleagues.
Many of your issues with new NPs seem to have more to do with the riff between millennials and the older generation. It's a complaint older generations have about millennials across the board, in any profession.
Many of your issues with new NPs seem to have more to do with the riff between millennials and the older generation. It's a complaint older generations have about millennials across the board, in any profession.
Good point and I continue to be surprised at the entitled attitudes and expectation of a parade in their honor for simply doing what is expected but that is a complaint I have about our society in general and has little to do with unprepared, incompetent NPs. Don't even get me started now that people no longer have to pay for their homes or their educations because they boo hoo that they didn't know and made poor choices...whole nother thread.
I think my main issue in our profession is the weak education across the board both brick and mortar as well as online programs and the lack of experience required which has resulted imo in underprepared providers of all ages. The annoying clusterB histrionics that seem so prevalent among younger posters here at AN is simply one example of why I'm embarrassed to be a NP at times. I do wish there was a bit more maturity which would likely come with more experience and age but maybe not.
Unfortunately I already blew my wad by attempting to thank all participants and not just those who have patted my bottom but now I'm thinking this is the part where I switch to all caps and scream HOW DARE YOU SAY I AM OLD AND DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE YOUNG, BRILLIANT AND DESERVE ONLY THE VERY BEST?????? STAY OUT OF MY THREAD!!!!! JK, see I even know what that means. I'm not that old and out of touch.
Good point and I continue to be surprised at the entitled attitudes and expectation of a parade in their honor for simply doing what is expected but that is a complaint I have about our society in general and has little to do with unprepared, incompetent NPs. Don't even get me started now that people no longer have to pay for their homes or their educations because they boo hoo that they didn't know and made poor choices...whole nother thread.
I think my main issue in our profession is the weak education across the board both brick and mortar as well as online programs and the lack of experience required which has resulted imo in underprepared providers of all ages. The annoying clusterB histrionics that seem so prevalent among younger posters here at AN is simply one example of why I'm embarrassed to be a NP at times. I do wish there was a bit more maturity which would likely come with more experience and age but maybe not.
Unfortunately I already blew my wad by attempting to thank all participants and not just those who have patted my bottom but now I'm thinking this is the part where I switch to all caps and scream HOW DARE YOU SAY I AM OLD AND DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE YOUNG, BRILLIANT AND DESERVE ONLY THE VERY BEST?????? STAY OUT OF MY THREAD!!!!! JK, see I even know what that means. I'm not that old and out of touch.
Lol
You didn't strike me as old. But I know a lot of people who are in generation X complain about millenials and our attitudes, demeanor, etc. I've even complained about us while learning to embrace my own "millenial-ness".
I think it's a common complaint that many will continue to have for quite some time until tolerance is learned. I mean really....who raised us? I think the difference is that we aren't all YOUR son or daughter so less patience/tolerance might be immediately extended as a result.
I do, however, think that schools could do a better job at preparing nurses for the Np role. Particularly with finding preceptors. I turned down a DNP program for that. Maybe that's entitled mentality there too but I do expect a certain of education and want to know what I'm talking about when it comes to my patients.
I also think that regardless of the years of experience one has before going into grad school that schools should be able to prepare you for the role by providing adequate clinical exposure and knowledge. I do understand that, however, that with most graduate programs regardless of the profession that it is advisable to have experience prior to attending and it definitely helped me solidify the information I'm learning but the way bedside nursing is going, I think we will see many running from the bedside much sooner unless hospitals decide to make a change.
The linked article discusses an MD who failed to match who decided she is going to nursing school for a "fast-track" into NP credentials. So she would be a well educated NP, but without a residency, how will her bedside skills be?
I"m curious of anyone's input into this. I know so little about med school other than there is a lot of it, then internship and residency.
So lets look at our prospective NP:
"But they could help MDs like Dr. Heidi Schmidt, a Juilliard-trained opera singer and entrepreneur who graduated from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine on the island of St. Maarten. She received honors in clinical coursework, but struggled with standardized tests and had to make multiple attempts to pass two national board exams."
She went to a Caribbean medical school but failed to pass her boards multiple times.
This means she is an independent candidate and has other strikes against her. Given that there are a plethora of US candidates as well as a plethora of Caribbean grads without step failures, its no wonder she didn't match.
How would her bedside skills be? It depends on how she did on her clinicals. She had one year of clinicals which is probably around 1500 hours and maybe 1000 hours in the second year. The experience, would be variable. The other question, is can she get through NP school. She already has a track record of doing poorly on standardized tests, why assume that this will improve in NP school.
"But they could help MDs like Dr. Heidi Schmidt, a Juilliard-trained opera singer and entrepreneur who graduated from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine on the island of St. Maarten. She received honors in clinical coursework, but struggled with standardized tests and had to make multiple attempts to pass two national board exams."
She went to a Caribbean medical school but failed to pass her boards multiple times.
This means she is an independent candidate and has other strikes against her. Given that there are a plethora of US candidates as well as a plethora of Caribbean grads without step failures, its no wonder she didn't match.
How would her bedside skills be? It depends on how she did on her clinicals. She had one year of clinicals which is probably around 1500 hours and maybe 1000 hours in the second year. The experience, would be variable. The other question, is can she get through NP school. She already has a track record of doing poorly on standardized tests, why assume that this will improve in NP school.
Excellent points. She already has a huge leg up due to her medical school training and will probably be able to pass the light fluffy NP stuff without a problem. As for the boards, which I personally didn't find challenging at all, I bet she'd be fine unless there is an extraneous issue like severe test anxiety or a language barrier. Unless she's a complete heron I'd lay money that she will be far more competent than the average new grad NP who has never been a nurse.
Usually carrib medical students dont do well enough on the MCAT to get into an american medical school. 0.6 correlation between MCAT score and USMLE score. If you go to an american medical school and pass boards first try and act human in clinicals you will get some sort of residency, just might not be plastic surgery.
Those who dont match either have bad clinical reviews, failed boards a few times, or tried to match into a very competitive specialty without proper scores. If you barely scrape boards and try to do something like... interventional radiology, you probably wont match.
Unfortunately, the people in charge of budget do not value NPs...evidenced by zero wage/compensation increases, increased premiums, increased workload expectations etc.
As a result myself and another colleague have left acute care/hospital NP.
Majority of the NPs in my neck of the woods are specialty or hospitalist NPs...few are primary care.
Without experienced NPs to mentor NP students and new NPs...I can't see that our contribution will continue to showcase the value of the NP.
When I worked hospitalist NP, I mentored NP masters students. We also provided guidance and support to residents and medical students.
My professional opinion shaped patient care, my medical colleagues deferred to my clinical judgment...because of experience and expertise in my area.
In the last year of my work as a hospitalist NP, it was too workload heavy to have a NP student. That and I was contemplating a switch back to hem/onc NP.
To me, I could see the death knell for hospitalist NP....if u dont have experienced mentors...it would be so easy to make mistakes by omission or commission.
Specialty NPs seems to be the way, NPs are trending in my neck of the woods.
Personally, if I had a choice to make all over again....I probably would not have chosen nursing at all.
Aromatic
352 Posts
Yeah i have heard that their standards are not as high as previous but At least they still require the GRE ha ha.