Not sure what to do

AlwaysTiredNP, MSN, APRN, NP · May 6, 2022

I work in the Emergency Department as an NP, and I love it!! I have never worked hospice so I don't have a comparison there. I can tell you, that I wouldn't want to work Family Practice because I enjoy seeing patients and then sending them on their way back to their PCP, which is NOT ME! I don't want to monitor and manage patients on a long term basis. I enjoy all the chaos of Emergency Medicine. The visits that don't need to be there, the people who feel like I should be their primary care, the education, the drug users and abusers, the homeless people... all of it. I love it, and I love my role as an NP because I feel like it allows me to have more of an impact on patients than I did when I was an RN and it's less labor intensive because let's face it, being an RN is hard labor, it's tough work and I WAS TIRED!

I have no regrets. I had more than one offer coming out of NP school, not all of them were great, some were downright horrible and offering less than I made as an RN and I turned those down. I did not take the first offer I was given. I knew the right offer when I got it, and I took it. I make more money than I made as an RN.

NP school was the right decision for me. 100%, It is a lot of work, I still work 12 hour shifts, I am still tired after work. It is still frustrating, and there is a lot of responsibility. The stress is still there, it's just a different stress but you have more autonomy.

If you really love hospice, why not work as an NP in hospice care? In my area there is a big need for NPs in hospice and home care.