I was offered (and accepted) a job in a surgical center right before I graduated. My role was to spend a portion of my time in the OR, the office, and to do aesthetics (botox, derma fillers, etc...i was to be trained at this). But because I was their first NP and they only had PA's in the past, I found myself literally fighting for everything!! They certainly didn't value an NP. I was working over 12 hours a day (5 days a week) and got paid for only 8 hrs/day (along with terrible benefits!!), amongst other issues. It wasn't a good situation for me at all. I have since left that position as you could imagine. Quite frustrating for my first NP position!!
Anyway, I did get many other job offers and I have decided to pursue retail health. I will be starting at the end of this month. I know there are lots of mixed feelings regarding retail health, but I did spend some of my clinical time at a retail health company during school and I really felt like I learned a lot and I always felt valued as an NP. Funny where you end up sometimes!! I think that working at a retail health center is a good start for me right now (my husband and I have a business so I needed better hours to help out) but I'm sure I'll miss the OR and probably will want to get back into that environment someday.
Oh I almost forgot, I attended a Family NP program because I wanted a broad educational background. Hope this helps!!
KidsRN9,
I was an OR nurse for over 12 years and had no problem getting accepted into an NP program. (I just finished in May and passed the ANCC exam in July!!) In the OR, there is little assessments done by the RN's but I was able to scrub, circulate, first assist, and suture. Some charge nurses do the assessments on patients so that may be something to look into.
So my point being, if you want to go into the OR, GO FOR IT!!
KidsRN9,
I was offered (and accepted) a job in a surgical center right before I graduated. My role was to spend a portion of my time in the OR, the office, and to do aesthetics (botox, derma fillers, etc...i was to be trained at this). But because I was their first NP and they only had PA's in the past, I found myself literally fighting for everything!! They certainly didn't value an NP. I was working over 12 hours a day (5 days a week) and got paid for only 8 hrs/day (along with terrible benefits!!), amongst other issues. It wasn't a good situation for me at all. I have since left that position as you could imagine. Quite frustrating for my first NP position!!
Anyway, I did get many other job offers and I have decided to pursue retail health. I will be starting at the end of this month. I know there are lots of mixed feelings regarding retail health, but I did spend some of my clinical time at a retail health company during school and I really felt like I learned a lot and I always felt valued as an NP. Funny where you end up sometimes!! I think that working at a retail health center is a good start for me right now (my husband and I have a business so I needed better hours to help out) but I'm sure I'll miss the OR and probably will want to get back into that environment someday.
Oh I almost forgot, I attended a Family NP program because I wanted a broad educational background. Hope this helps!!
KidsRN9,
I was an OR nurse for over 12 years and had no problem getting accepted into an NP program. (I just finished in May and passed the ANCC exam in July!!) In the OR, there is little assessments done by the RN's but I was able to scrub, circulate, first assist, and suture. Some charge nurses do the assessments on patients so that may be something to look into.
So my point being, if you want to go into the OR, GO FOR IT!!