I am writing a post I wish I could have found online a year ago when I was trying to decide how to start my career as a new nurse practitioner. I am in a fairly prestigious NP Fellowship program in NYC and I do not recommend it. Be very cautious with your expectations and who you talk to if you are looking into programs like these. Ask to speak with fellows or former fellows who are not the people the company first recommends. Ask very specific questions such as, what kinds of concerns have current fellows expressed, and how many of the fellows have expressed any concern about the program. If there is something that is important to you to get out of doing a fellowship or residency, don't be scared to ask about it in great detail in the interview and if you get an offer. Ask them and pursue getting a clear answer. Ask how many fellows have gotten to do the procedures you care about doing or how often fellows see patients in specific populations if that motivates you (peds, newborns, obstetrics) and ask for very specific percentages. Ask about who the preceptors are and how often fellows are not precepted in person by someone who has experience working for the organization when they are supposed to be precepted. Ask about what any "independent" clinic time means, for example, ask if it means that fellows will be completely on their own from day 1 of practice during independent clinic with no clinician available for even on site EMR assistance or training. Beware of vague answers. This program has not done a lot of the basic stuff it promised us, and has done a lot of additional things that have been terrible. A lot, if not most, of the people here this year are very unhappy. Perhaps the most general advice that I can make based on my group of fellows is, if you have a job offer that appeals to you even somewhat and you are weighing it against a fellowship opportunity, I encourage you to take the job offer. Don't make sacrifices to do a fellowship that you hope/believe will be a great opportunity unless you have really good insight into the program, like a friend who went through it and gave you the real scoop. Fellowships and residencies are great ideas and we need them badly but there aren't a lot of resources to support them, and at least in my company it is basically a disaster. I wish I had asked a lot more specific questions beforehand. Ask to get in writing the things that the fellowship will do that are important to you (even basic things like precepted hours, the ratio of preceptor to fellows- (it's not going to be 1:1), and the definition of precepting- it should not be done by phone "as needed"). I would also get the maximum patient numbers in writing if the program is increasing patient numbers over time.
I've never posted on this website before, but I always read it before making big career decisions. Sometimes I found helpful info and sometimes I didn't find much. I hope this can be helpful to someone else like me.
Hi NPfellow123, thank you so much. Unfortunately I do not have the function to direct message. Would you please reach out to me at [email protected]? I am extremely interested in learning more. Thank you!
@NPfellow123 I live in the NYC area and I want to apply to 2 of the nurse practitioner fellowship programs here in NYC. I am curious to know which fellowship program you are currently participating in and to ask more questions. Do you mind speaking with me via email? My email address is [email protected]. I have not practiced as an NP yet and I don't want to waste time on a program that won't be beneficial to my practice.
I have also been looking into fellowships in NYC, and this has me worried. Would you mind reaching out to discuss this further? My email is [email protected]. Thank you!
FNPstudent17
2 Posts
Hi NPfellow123, thank you so much. Unfortunately I do not have the function to direct message. Would you please reach out to me at [email protected]? I am extremely interested in learning more. Thank you!