Good news: I received my FNP license on March 8th, interviewed on March 9th, will job shadow for a final decision on monday March 13th to start asap, with starting salary of $75,000 until credentialed, then $85,000 plus productivity bonuses afterwards.
Bad news: It's a pain management clinic, I will do trigger point injections, large joint injections, they have X-ray on site, etc but at the end of the day, it's a pain management clinic that want to see your through put of patients at 24-27 per day.
Should I take this job or keep looking, not much open locally currently, most want 1 year experience. What I'm thinking is to take this job, learn as much as I can and try to move up to a better job in a year, what do you think?
Have you considered Texas? The job market here seems to be pretty stable. I haven't graduated yet but when I go to the monthly NP association meetings there are always people recruiting for jobs, especially in Dallas Fort Worth.
The Seattle rheumatology job is very attractive except for the pay, I went up there this weekend and looked around, I'd be working as a peer with the other MD's, seeing patients, mon, wed-fri with tuesday as a training day. Full hour for new patients, 1/2 hour for existing patients. But so far they are not budging on the pay of $92,500, I told them that I won't take the job. The Seattle area is pretty, but the traffic is horrible!
The Pain management job is fast approaching the 90 day mark, I have until the 90th day to be able to quit without a 60 day notice. It is a sweat shop factory, 4 FNP's with 4 scribes jammed into a windowless room seeing 30-40 patients per day, with double/triple booking time slots the norm. Tomorrow I see 40 patients on my schedule, 15 min slots wether new or existing patients, and the slots are often triple booked, requiring to see 3 patients per 15 min, horrible. The pay is not worth it, but at least my 1 year time clock is ticking. I'm currently making $80,000 per year with the expectation of having all of my credentialing done by now, once completed, then I move up to $90,000 salary with no OT
Friday I start an Urgent Care job on the Fri/sat/sun that I'm off from the pain management job. The good thing about that is, I will be working with either an FNP or an MD in order to answer any questions that I may have as I complete 1 year of training. The pay is ok for around here, $42.50 while training and $44.50 once you are on your own. So $88,000-$92,000 give or take.
PRN shift pick ups for a few days at weight loss clinic for $50 hr
So I am still in the boat of picking a great job in a good location but low pay and I have to move across the country on my own dime, vs, stay in place, keep working 4-7 days per week, while waiting for something better to open up.
I'm still torn, right now, I don't really have a strong desire to leave my house (I'm the only one living here)
Gosh if you move, you are footing the bill, the pay isn't any better than what you are making currently, the traffic is horrid at new place. For me, the writing is on the wall: stay put...
I wouldn't move to Seattle (I live in Seattle) for that job, not unless they're paying your moving expenses. Plus, the cost of living in Seattle is much higher than that of anywhere in Tennessee. There are cost of living calculators online so I'd guess that you'd have to earn ~$120,000 to equal the $90,000 that you're getting in Tennessee. I'd stay with your current job until you get another that suits you better. With a year of experience you'll have many more options.
For the pain management job, did they train you on the joint/TP injections or did you know how to do those prior to applying for that job?
Trigger points, it was a show one, do one type of quick training, not hard. It's just a volume and numbers game, how many patients can you see, how quickly, I'm much faster now than when I started, no time for small talk though.
Latest update: I received an email from the department head, I told him that at a minimum, I would require $106,000 to start, that's salary, 4 days of clinic, 1/2 day of training each week, 5 weeks of paid vacation per year, 10 holidays with pay, PTO, 5% matching 401k, retirement and 1/2 per established patient and 1 hour for new patients........they are desperate, they are down 4 out of 7 providers, and that includes the department head to cover 2 facilities for rheumatology and arthritis.........Sounds like they are going to approve it, if they do, I think I am going to move to Tacoma, WA and take the job. Am I making a mistake?? I make that much locally with 2 jobs, but don't have the retirement, vacation or 401k aspects, nor the stability of a govt job and I see up to 40 patients per day, whether they are new or existing.......What do you all think....Keep in mind, that I have all of 3 months current FNP experience!!
If it were me, and I were in your shoes.. I would easily EASILY take that job. Fresh start, nothing holding you back... I would love to live in WA and I've heard specialties are the way to go. Im just a student though. Good luck with your choice.
Washington is beautiful and if you want a change, it's very different from Tennessee. A very liberal "blue" state compared to Tennessee, where I've also lived.
People in Seattle a very nice and a lot would be transplants like you (and me).
Traffic is one of the worst in the country and getting worse by the day. Living in Tacoma is fine if you're working in Puyallup or Federal Way but not if you're working in Renton or Seattle - the commute will kill you. I've had a 2.5 hour daily commute in Seattle and it is hell. The VA Hospital on Columbian Way in Seattle would be a terrible commute from Tacoma. You should be able to find a cheaper place in south Seattle, Burien or SeaTac and have a manageable commute.
Well it's been a few months since I updated this post, a lot has changed, much of it for the worse and some for the better, ugh.
From Apr-Aug I was working 7 days per week, 4 days at the pain clinic, 3 days at the urgent care. I quit the pain job and just worked the urgent care job, which overall was a good decision, but then the bad decisions started rolling in :-( As previously mentioned I was offered the Rheumatology job in Seattle for $92,500, they finally did up the pay to $95,900 starting out, with 5 weeks vacation, 4.5 days per week with the half day for training.
Decision points:
Aug 2017 - quit the pain clinic job (good decision)
Sep 2017 - Sold my house (good/bad decision) I made some money on the house, but in hindsight I should have kept the house, it was a great house.
- I was offered a full-time job at the Urgent care for 36 hours a week at $42/hr but then move up to $44/hr, so $78k - $82k per year give or take, the pay isn't bad for the area, and I was learning a ton (sutures, etc) and I should really have taken the job as it was a great learning opportunity with an MD there if I had any questions (which I had tons of them). (bad decision)
- Offered a last minute job with the VHA in Nevada in an Emergency Dept at $92,500/yr but with shift diff, it would have been more, but I unfortunately turned down this offer as the start date was the same exact date as the start date for the job in Seattle. I think that I would really have learned more in this job, but to be honest, I was a little afraid to take the job as a new grad, but looking back, I think that I should have tried, as it was a great opportunity to learn. (bad decision??)
- The Rheumatology job in Seattle, FINALLY, sent a start date with a better pay scale, start pay is $95,900/yr, working 4.5 days per week, the half day being a training day. It's a great opportunity to learn as I'm basically in a medical resident position right now, as in, I am currently training with the medical residents and fellows under the attending and I'm following a medical model. I am learning a ton about Rheum and I'm finally starting to do joint injections and aspirations, I did 4 knees and 2 shoulders on thursday. As to the commute, it is wretched, I live in Steilacoom, WA and commute 4 hours per day, luckily, I ride the govt shuttle bus from Lakewood to Seattle, so I don't have to drive. Eventually, I will work in the Lakewood VHA location and my commute will be less than 10 mins, so I'm looking forward to that. As to housing, I found it hard to find a place to live, I wound up renting a tiny 1 bedroom house for a little over $800/month, but it has 2 garage bays, which is nice, location is near the water and minutes from where I will be eventually working.
Nov 2017 (decision time again)
- I've now been in the Seattle area for 2 months, I'm living in a tiny 1 bedroom house that is in a great location, but I only have what I brought with me in the back of my pick up truck, everything else that I own is back in TN in storage, I only had a week and a half notice to move here once I got my report date, and this job will not pay to move my stuff.
Options:
1. Continue to work and live where I am for another 6-12 months to get some time under my belt in my current job and then head back home, while leaving my stuff in storage, that's kind of a pain and I'm sleeping on an inflatable mattress and my table and chairs are of the folding variety :-)
2. Make the commitment for a longer term in my current job (2-3 years) and move my HHG here and find a bigger house with an increase in rent.
3. There is a good chance of a job back home, working in Primary Care, but at a pay cut, $87,600 per year, working 5 days per week (mon-fri) with holidays and weekends off. Pay would go up to $90,000 in a little over a year. And I could pick up where I left off doing PRN at the Urgent Care and gaining that experience and picking up some extra income as well. IF I don't get this job, then I revert back to choices 1 or 2 :-)
Pro: of moving back home, either in 2 months, 6 months or 3 years is that it's in a cheaper cost of living area and I'd be back home and will buy a home and settle down.
Con: of moving back home soon is, not getting the chance to really delve into this specialty, which a great opportunity.
Pro: of staying put, is again, this is a great opportunity to learn and honestly, it's a great job, I really like doing the injections, as I like hands on. It's really a beautiful area, as long as you stay away from the interstate.
Con: of staying put, is I'm not going to stay here past 3 years (hopefully) and if I move my stuff here, which I will need to do, it's going to cost a few thousand and I will need to double my rent to somewhere in the neighborhood of $1500-$1700 a month to find a nice rental with a garage. Housing cost, high property taxes if you buy and heavy traffic are the worst things about this place.
*So what do you all think?
Should I stay put, since I'm already here and learn the job that i have, especially since I'm still a new grad essentially, I will not have my 1 year working as an FNP until March 2018. Or assuming that I get the job primary care job, should I go back home and take the primary care job, buy a house and settle down?
I'm leaning towards just staying put, but either way, it's a very pro/con heavy decision, costly in terms of money or stability either way, I'm in between things right now, in a bad spot due to bad decisions really.
And for those that think the pay is too low, I agree, but back home in NC/TN the FNP pay is horrendous, the county starts out full time FNP's at $60,000 per year, so $87,600 looks pretty good in contrast. I get a ton of emails about different FNP jobs across the country and honestly the vast majority are in the $90k - $100k range, the pay for RN's is skyrocketing and yet from what I've seen the FNP pay is not. The organization that I have a good chance of getting that primary care job at $87,600, if I were to take the RN opening instead, I'd be making $$77,500 base pay and then extra on nights/weekends, so if I were a floor RN working every other weekend, I'd make more than as an FNP and that's with the govt, but this is local to NC/TN, your mileage may vary elsewhere.
When it rains it pours......In addition to the job I have (rheumatology), and the home based PCP job back home that I interviewed for, I just got a call for a Emergency Room Job as a FNP in SC :-)
Mission2BNP
27 Posts
Have you considered Texas? The job market here seems to be pretty stable. I haven't graduated yet but when I go to the monthly NP association meetings there are always people recruiting for jobs, especially in Dallas Fort Worth.