New-Grad FNP: Is this job too much of a risk?

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Dear Nurse Beth,

I am a new-grad FNP since April 2021. I have 9 years of experience in the emergency department. I have a job opportunity with a medical device company for a product that is still working on FDA approval. I am excited about the opportunity, but as a new grad - I recognize that my clinical skills may suffer if I chose to go this route. I would be getting in at the ground floor - so there is a bit of risk in this job opportunity.

I'm not sure that I'm extremely keen on working in a clinic setting in the first place, so working with a start-up product for a new medical device sounds promising and could be fun! I would get to travel and work closely with the sales team. The starting salary is not awesome - but it's about what I'm seeing out there for starting at an Urgent Care (or retail clinic). What I wonder about is ...10 years from now, will I have lots of opportunity? Is this a good route to take? Will I wish that I had cultivated my clinical skillset in Urgent Care or Emergency room nurse? Is this a pathway to becoming a Clinical Trials Nurse Practitioner, and is that a good route to take? My gut says - "Go for it!" But my head says - "Are you thinking about your long-term job prospects?" Any advice for me? 

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2 Answers

Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

Dear New FNP,

Congratulations on your accomplishment! You are ready for a change and a sales job with travel is definitely a change from a clinician's role in the ED.

I am curious, and if we were talking in person, I'd ask you what your vision was when you decided to go back to school to become an FNP. But no matter, this crossroads of opportunity is where you are today. Maybe you've always done things the expected, traditional way, and not given yourself the chance to take a risk.  Maybe now doing something entirely different is appealing and feels like freedom. 

Life is about taking chances and finding your passions. You've already identified that it could open up opportunities in clinical research. note: Clinical research jobs are usually more abundant near large universities.

A good route to take? A good route includes one where you are fulfilled in your job. You can't know yet if sales, perhaps education and technical expertise, will be purposeful to you, but there's no harm in exploring them. 

You could approach your decision from the "what's the worst that can happen?" to gauge the risk. Not liking the job? Losing your skills? You haven't used your diagnostic and treatment skills in independent practice yet. If you don't like the job, you could always choose to go back into the clinical field, which would mean starting at ground zero, which is where you are at now. Do consider if this is a start-up company or an established company with a new, as yet unapproved product. If it's an established company, there's a chance you would still have a job even if the product is discontinued.

After careful consideration, I would give weight to your gut over your head. The problem is knowing if it's truly your gut (which knows what you need, deep down) or the flush of excitement at the prospect of a novel job opportunity combined with the anxiety of a timed decision.

Either way, the risk is low, and the chance of regret for not trying is lower still.

Best wishes in your decision,

Nurse Beth.

On 11/5/2021 at 2:36 PM, Nurse Beth said:

I am curious, and if we were talking in person, I'd ask you what your vision was when you decided to go back to school to become an FNP.

I think that is the key question.

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I'm not sure that I'm extremely keen on working in a clinic setting in the first place

When you were considering continuing your education, what did you picture yourself doing with it? Were you wondering about less-common opportunities all along, or are you imagining that you could be interested now that an opportunity has come along?

I'm not a risk-taker but I do agree with Nurse Beth's advice as far as finding a fulfilling job, etc.

But I have a non-risk-taker's take on worst case scenario: IMO worst case scenario is that you won't have practiced one day as a clinician following your educational process and therefore the kind of places that would take a chance on you as a clinician sometime down the line would be places I wouldn't want to have to work. My personal opinion (sorry) is that it is very unwise to not get any experience doing the things for which you have received initial training but have in fact not done yet (making a diagnosis, making plans, ordering tests, prescribing, etc) unless you have very little desire to do them at all, in the same way that a role devoid of patient care might not be advised for a brand new RN.

Also, I'm not saying it isn't possible--I know there are a lot of different kinds of opportunities out there--but what kind of company/product needs an FNP with no experience to get the product to market? I hope it isn't one that could do just as well with an ED RN.

Anyway, random thoughts and good luck with your decision and Job Search.

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