New grad FNP. Is this normal for urgent care?

[cutiepie2012, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN, APRN, NP]

Hello,

I just started working at an urgent care clinic in July. I completed 7 weeks of new grad training (it was supposed to be 8). The way my contract was written, it says that when I complete new grad training my pay is supposed to increase from new grad pay to provide pay. When I got my paycheck, it was still new grad pay. I contacted my manager and she had me contact corporate and her supervisor. Corporate said they could not pay me for the days I worked as a provider because I was taken of orientation in the middle of the week. At this clinic I see 30-40 patients a day and they are allowed to come in all the way up until closing. I end up having to stay after 30 minutes to an hour catching up on charting and seeing patients. I have been tolerating this but I hit my breaking point yesterday. I was only given an x-ray tech and that was it. 70 patients came in yesterday. The x ray tech talked to the supervisor and she said census was low due to fall break and we didn't need a lot of staff also told her there were only 3 in the waiting room (there were 10 btw). My supervisor texts me and tells me to start triaging patients. So now I'm triaging, having to do my provider duties, and get my own labs, ekgs, splints, injections. Is this how all urgent cares operate? I have never worked for a company that treat there employees as poorly as this one. I work so much overtime every week and don't get paid for it because we're salaried. I'm planning to meet with a lawyer and see what the legal ramifications would be for me if I quit. 

[JKL33]

Find a way out. Get out of there. Sorry this is happening.

[Barriss Offee]

I left a similar situation. They only gave me 2 weeks of "training" and it wasn't very helpful. The reasons from corporate regarding why your pay did not change sound like BS. Lack of support is not okay. Your plan to talk with a lawyer about an exit strategy sounds like an excellent idea. I am sorry this is happening to you. In school, I rotated in some urgent cares that were awesome. 2+ providers, plenty of support staff including a triage RN, heck even a translator. However, most places are not like this. My experience is that most urgent cares minimize their costs (understaff the clinic, salaried providers who don't get compensation for OT and missed lunches, not enough supplies and medications, etc) and push to maximize billing by making you see a LOT of patients and even double book your 10 minute visits. Corporate urgent cares, IMO, are becoming a trap for patients and staff. They have morphed into places where billing can be maximized at the cost of quality of care for patients and quality of life for staff. It is unfortunate. When I left that job, my mental health improved dramatically. I took a little hit on my resumé but ultimately got an offer from people who were sympathetic and already kind of knew why I had to leave even before we had a chance to talk about it. There are a lot of people out there who know why providers do not like working at these corporate urgent cares. Corporate medicine as a whole is becoming exactly like this. It's getting to the point that I am considering the idea that private practice is now the only way to control your schedule,  when you work, and how many patients you are willing to see. But that's a topic for another conversation. Your idea of talking with your lawyer about next steps does sound like a very reasonable thing to do. 

[monkey205]

Call the Labor board and get their advice on your delayed raise.