I am a new FNP, I like it than being a bedside RN

Sam. W, MSN, APRN · Mar 10

When I was in the FNP program, RNs were making bank on COVID travel assignments while the FNP job posted online looked so sad, salary-wise. And many RNs hate to be an NP, so they went back to bedside nursing after getting an FNP certificate. I was discouraged. I thought I should never have gone back to school for a master degree.

I used to work in bedside nursing, and it broke my back. My body hurts, my neck and shoulders hurt, and it causes headaches for me often. I often had to clock in at 5:30 or 6:00, and I usually just got up around 5:15 and rushed to work. Now I still get up around 5:30 out of habit, but I don't have to leave until 7:30, and I do not need to clock in and out. I have time to stretch my body, do some exercise, cook breakfast, and enjoy my coffee. I feel soooo much better physically. And so far, I haven't had to take orders from anyone, which works nicely for me.

Now I've been working in family medicine for 2 months. They started me seeing one patient for 1 hour, then 40 minutes, and now down to 30 minutes. Since there aren't enough patients, they haven't thrown me in to struggle. Often, I see only 3 patients a whole day. They have Epic, which is what I love as well, makes charting easier and faster.

So far, I have no regrets about going back to school during COVID and missing out on all the opportunities to make big money. This life now suits me better.

I don't make much more than I did as a full-time RN; I was paid well as an RN. However, I now have 40 hours off for CME, $2000 CME reimbursement that RN do not get. I don't work 8 hours a day every day. I'm scheduled to work 4 and a half day per week (0800-1700), but often end up going home 1 hour early, again, I do not have many patients yet. Our lunch break is one hour, not 30 minutes, so I don't have to rush back to work while shoveling food into my mouth anymore. We do not on-call or work weekends, which is lucky for me.

I don't take charting home, but I do take the laptop home to work on Epic. This way, in the future when I have more patients, I can finish charting right after seeing them."