NP in.....fitness and wellness?

[greygooseuria]

I'm not sure how to exactly ask this question, since I've been searching for jobs in this area and have seen NOTHING. I am not looking to change jobs, but eventually the end goal for my career is to practice as an NP in a role where I not only medically manage people with chronic diseases, but I also am their personal trainer/nutritionist, ideally with having a gym attached to the practice for patients to use and be guided by the provider. I've seen nothing like this and I think it would be a great approach to helping people with obesity and other chronic illnesses.

Anyone know of any practices like this? I'm not certified as a PT yet, but I've found the information in the textbook fairly remedial so I doubt I'll have trouble passing the exam. There are also special certifications that the ACSM offers if you have a BA in exercise science, so I was thinking I could get one of those in my spare time since a local school offers a program fairly cheap. My husband will eventually be a psych NP soon, so that could afford us the opportunity to open our own practice together too if nothing like this exists, though building a client base scares the bejeesus out of me. Anyone have any ideas/leads?

[Nacki, MSN, NP]

Designer NP...I would love both of your gigs! I would be interested in hearing more. How did you find out about these opportunities?

I found both my jobs on Indeed. Actually, my per diem job was my first NP job and it helped me get my foot in the door at the new job. I was also able to negotiate a higher salary due to my experience. I think it's pretty good for someone with less than 2 yrs experience.

I know you're in Texas, Carachel. PM me to let me know where and I can see if my Per diem job has any openings in that area.

[Nacki, MSN, NP]

Hey Carachel! I tried to pm you back, but your box is full! Yes, that's the company I work for. I like getting off early, but could see how that would be difficult for some people.

I hope you find something else that fits!

[PG2018]

I like to workout and run, and I've done both for years. I hate contractual gym memberships. I find I detest most people who work at gyms since they're usually a bit snobby although for the life of me I can't figure out why. Having said that, gyms never seem to be very lucrative. I've known people who owned them, and short of national franchises they often go out of business within months to years as the revenue isn't where people wanted/needed it to be.

If you want to own a gym as a potential supplement to your income then it may not be a bad choice particularly if it's managed well. You'd have to keep your overhead low. Branching out into tanning beds is probably an easy way to make some money. Hire a teen girl for minimum wage, give her unlimited free tans, and short of bulbs and power you'd be ok. You could also sub out trainers, masseuses, smoothie makers, etc and have them there at appointed times for a bit of their personal revenue.

Being able to streamline this with a medical practice could be difficult. As we're aware, most Americans are content with being fat and lazy. Regarding psychiatry, most are content with a pill over therapy. You could likely have your own full/part-time practice associated with the gym, i.e. be attached to that building. Psych doesn't have much overhead. I have a desk, a bank of computers, and a prescription pad. With family practice, you have to have all that medical junk to use on people. It would behoove you to be able to run labs without outsourcing them, but it would only be cost efficient to outsource them. By reading your posts, it seems that you want to manage the biological illnesses in people by prescribing and leading workouts. You're losing money by hosting training sessions unless you're doing it as a hobby/moonlighting venture. A muscle bum could do that for a fifth of what you need to be making an hour.

I would think your best bet, with regards to practice arrangment, would be to have the gym and use that as a referral source for medical and psychiatric treatment, i.e. feeling low, fat, and tired, come see ________, FNP and also being available to the typical acute stuff you see in FP, low back pain, overuse injury, sports injury, etc. You could probably peddle vitamins, etc. at the gym as well in conjunction with your medical practice, e.g. "_____, FNP recommends a daily dose of GetMeHappy Vitmain Supplements, You'll Be Glad You Did."

[tschultz11]

Designer NP I would be interested in obtaining more information regarding these opportunities.