Interview Questions and strategies for first NP job

[Mberrn]

HI,

I am an PMHNP student due to graduate in May 2020. I am anxious about interviewing for my first position and curious about what kind of questions I should ask and would be appropriate. In other words are there any strategies you would suggest when when interviewing or questions a new graduate should ask that may not be so obvious. I am primarily interested in out-patient clinic or substance abuse treatment centers. I have 10 years nursing experience in various settings, primarily ER in a psychiatric hospital as an ER nurse and also MH crisis evaluation. I also have 3 years experience in a substance abuse treatment facility, and a couple years acute MH and ECT treatment. I am obviously interested in salary negotiation but not too worried about this conversation other than not understanding what kind of pay structure is more reasonable/desirable... salary? RVU's? Confused how pay structures work and what this means for me when negotiating. I am also curious if it is reasonable to ask about on boarding, orientation, or mentoring? As a new grad, I think my ideal scenario would be to enter a clinic with a team that is supportive toward training and mentoring. Is it reasonable to ask for a grace period, or lower client volume while learning the ropes? Also, should I expect to be paid less while orienting/training in this fashion? What seems daunting to me, or what I fear is that I will enter into a job an be expected to take a full load of patients while learning how to be a provider, look up best practices for my patients, navigate insurance companies and document in the medical record all within a 15-30 minute patient contact window.

These are my two big concerns but I am wondering if there are any other suggestions for hidden nuances of the practice environment that I should have on my radar?

also,

Please forgive me if this topic has been posted and answered several hundred times, but I could not easily find my answer through the search feature.

[mangopeach]

Not unreasonable to ask about mentoring and having a lower patient load while you get up to speed IMO.

This is my first psych NP job. I work for a community mental health center. To be honest, I would have liked more time before getting a full patient load but it is what it is. The first month I did not have a full patient load.

I was not paid less during the time I did not have a full patient load. I don't think you should expect to be paid less. But someone with a lot more experience may have some more light to shed on this.

The documenting in the allotted time is what I struggle with so I am no help there. I don't have to deal with any of the insurance details where I work.

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

Questions to ask might include:

a. How much time is allocated for medical management appointments (30 is good and 15 is bad)?

b. What software do you use and does it have electronic prescription capabilities?

c. What is the availability of counseling services for the clients that I see (some offices have little, others have a great deal especially groups owned by counselors).

d. What will the nature of the physician supervision/oversight be? Obviously states that require collaborative practice have more oversight, but there can be large variances in practice even within supervised practice states.

e. How will I be paid? Will there be incentive bonuses? What if I care more about money than benefits is 1099 (with a higher salary) an option?

f. Is there a "non compete" in the contract and if so what are the parameters of this clause in terms of time and area.

g. Will there be a medical assistant to get vitals and to set the next appointment? How about collecting and verifying insurance and co-payments?

h. What is your attitude towards CAM therapy (even that with is evidenced based such as SAM-e for non bipolar depression?) .

i. What is your attitude towards evidenced based medicines such as Lithium (for bipolar) and Clozapine for Schizophrenics that have failed two adequate does of antipsychotic medications (many practices under utilize these medications due to the challenge of ongoing lab monitoring). How often do you encourage long acting injectable medications in suitable patients (in the United States about 10% of appropriate patients get these verses around 60% in Europe according to Dr. Puder/Dr. Cummings on their psychotherapy podcast).

j. What resources do you have in terms of things like partial day and intensive outpatient programs? How about ACT teams? What happens if someone is suicidal (or a threat to others) and needs to be made inpatient on an involuntary basis (5150 in California or Baker Acted in Florida for example)?

k. What will my call obligations be?

l. Do you pay for resources like UpToDate and Epocrates?

m. How much do you contribute towards the employees health insurance (in Florida often less than 50% of the premium, but on the "coasts" the employer often pays 100%).

n. Do you carry Liability Insurance for clinicians (you should still carry your own of course)?

These should at least get you started.

[Mberrn]

On 11/21/2019 at 5:59 PM, myoglobin said:

Questions to ask might include:

(...)

Thanks myoglobin for the thorough and detailed response! This is very helpful and exactly what I was looking for. I still have some ways to go in my training and hopefully would have identified some of these features after more exposure in my practicum. I will surely consider these questions during my clinical time and bring them with me to future interviews.