I’m a new grad, sort of, I graduated 2 years ago and I am finally starting my first NP job. (I was sick for a year and couldn’t work, postpartum depression is real people ?).
So I have a dual degree FNP/AGACNP, but of course with covid nonsense I have not been able to land any inpatient jobs. There have been 50-100+ applicants for every job I applied for. Granted half the hospital in the area have been on hiring freezes for over a year...
After months of no success I moved on to the outpatient world and landed a job in pain management. Seems like pain management jobs are a dime a dozen right now and I’m beginning to think there’s a good reason for that.
I’ve had 7 days of training and will start seeing patients on my own tomorrow. I am beyond stressed!! I was promised a 6 week orientation and that didn’t happen because the provider I was to replace up and just left (who does this?? Isn’t that patient abandonment??). So now I received 2 weeks of orientation and that’s all they can do. Beyond stressed about this. It just seems crazy to me. I have NO idea what I am doing, my back ground as a bedside RN is ICU and basically all my NP training was ICU and family medicine (which family med I completed 3 years ago.. soooo I can’t remember a damn thing from that).
I want to work inpatient. I want to work in the acute care world. But I need a job! I plan on continuing to apply to inpatient positions, but is this pain management job even going to be worth it? I will get no training, be stressed AF, to do a job in an area of medicine I do not like. (Who actually likes pain management??)
I am worried I am going to get stuck in the outpatient setting.
I need experience, I need a job, but is working in pain management going to hurt my chances of ever getting into the hospital setting?
All these hospitals want NP experience but is pain management even going to count?
Update- I stayed in pain management for one year. That was plenty long enough. While I did learn a lot, and overall it helped me settle into the role of an advance practice provider… I would never ever do pain management again. The clinic I worked at was actually wonderful. My boss we great and very hands off, my MA was awesome, and the other APPs were very experienced and incredibly helpful. It was a great office/learning environment. But… (and it’s a big but) I wasn’t happy, I did not feel safe prescribing the doses my patients were on, I was yelled at more in this job then any other job by upset patients when I would not prescribe what they were requesting. I caught numerous patients abusing, selling, buying, mixing, and all sorts of other issues. I left that place feeling like I wasn’t actually helping patients, and was in fact actually hurting some patients.
I have since moved on to much better places. I work inpatient at a pediatric hospital on a surgical service and absolutely love it!! I will say I miss those pain clinic hours and the 1 year I put in there did help me land my dream job, so overall it was the right job for me at the time.
Update- I stayed in pain management for one year. That was plenty long enough. While I did learn a lot, and overall it helped me settle into the role of an advance practice provider… I would never ever do pain management again. The clinic I worked at was actually wonderful. My boss we great and very hands off, my MA was awesome, and the other APPs were very experienced and incredibly helpful. It was a great office/learning environment. But…
Thanks for the update! Good to hear you made the most out of your experience and moved onto greener pastures. As I mentioned, I see job ads every so often for pain management FNPs, and always wondered if it's the right way to go regarding a first job out of school. At least I know now, it's doable.
J&B-RN, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP
72 Posts
Hi there,
Update- I stayed in pain management for one year. That was plenty long enough. While I did learn a lot, and overall it helped me settle into the role of an advance practice provider… I would never ever do pain management again. The clinic I worked at was actually wonderful. My boss we great and very hands off, my MA was awesome, and the other APPs were very experienced and incredibly helpful. It was a great office/learning environment. But… (and it’s a big but) I wasn’t happy, I did not feel safe prescribing the doses my patients were on, I was yelled at more in this job then any other job by upset patients when I would not prescribe what they were requesting. I caught numerous patients abusing, selling, buying, mixing, and all sorts of other issues. I left that place feeling like I wasn’t actually helping patients, and was in fact actually hurting some patients.
I have since moved on to much better places. I work inpatient at a pediatric hospital on a surgical service and absolutely love it!! I will say I miss those pain clinic hours and the 1 year I put in there did help me land my dream job, so overall it was the right job for me at the time.