National Health Service Corps

CoryRN · Apr 19, 2002

Good luck with your nurse practitioner program. I am a national health service corps scholar and you can contact me if you still have questions regarding the corps or about the scholarship. I have one more year left in my NP program and have a good friend going through the job placement process through the corps currently.

CoryRN

joyrochelle · May 29, 2002

CoryRn and jdewzk--

I have looked that the NHSC for some time now....any input you have I would love to hear about it. I am still trying to figure out what AP degree i want ( cnm or whnp) and I have just graduated ( waiting to take boards) so I have some time to consider it all. But lease email me if you [email protected]

Thanks---joy

awilliams1214 · Aug 15, 2005

Good luck with your nurse practitioner program. I am a national health service corps scholar and you can contact me if you still have questions regarding the corps or about the scholarship. I have one more year left in my NP program and have a good friend going through the job placement process through the corps currently.
CoryRN

I was wondering what is the starting salary for NPs working for the National Health Service Corps? I will be starting NP school in January.

tealeafs · Aug 20, 2005

I am a FNP NHSC scholar, a year and a half into a two year commitment and can offer the following information. Please note that what is current may be different then my experience.

1) The program is great for doctors, but I am not sure for NP's. Most sites will take any new doctor since they have gone through a residency. As a new NP, it is tough getting that first job, let alone trying to find one that is on an approved list.

2) The list on the NHSC site looks great, so many places. BUT.... the majority of those clinics really want a Loan Repayment person, with experience. They get on the list automatically for posting a position under loan repayment. I would suggest you contact some of the clinics on the list and see if they really have a position (the list was in my experience, terribly outdated ) and ask if they would consider a new grad. When I went through the list had 30+ FNP sites, of which 3 were actually considering new grads. That left all the scholars fighting for 3 spots.

3) While the NHSC quotes great stats for 'found a placement on their own', NP's are specifically listed in the contract the NHSC sends out to run the program as an area of difficulty that needs improvement with only 85% of NP's finding placement on their own. I fit the in the 85%, just barely, but it was 6 months of crossing the country chasing down obscure low paying job leads while the NHSC threatened a ANP prison assignment. The NHSC (actually their lowest cost provider) was of very little help. They knew NP's were a problem and had no solution. I told them to go ahead and assign me someplace, they said they had no FNP assignments.

4) The whole thing wasn't a good experience for me. I was ready to go and 'serve' but there was no place to go. The financial assistance the scholarship provided was great while in school, but 6 months of unemployment during the job search made that a wash. With loans so inexpensive, I would have done better on my own and I would have been able to go where I wanted.

5) I finally did get a great job and am happy to be out practicing where there is a need. I certainly sound down about the program, but maybe it has changed, and maybe your experience will be improved.

Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions.