NP vs. RN job satisfaction

Jasil · May 29, 2010

My wife is in the same boat sort of......She has a great Occ. Health job that pays extremely well with great benefits M-F 9-10hr days. Almost like a NP schedule now and makes slightly less than 80K + 8% 401k match as a RN!! She wants to be a NP for autonomy and to "help" and to really "practice medicine" she is now worried. Her friend said don't do it PA all the way that NP's are being saturated fast.......after looking at the curriculum and clinical hours it sure seems like the best bet for "practicing medicine" and takes less time.

Then she read a article today saying PA is a top ten career path for the next decade and worries that she has made the wrong choice now. In our state there is just 1 PA school it seems NP schools are everywhere plus online and she worries how this will affect her as NP's are "pumped out" as she puts it.

Spacklehead, MSN, NP · May 29, 2010

Nope, I don't regret the NP decision at all! Better hours, better pay, better life and more respect. That just about sums it up for me! :)

Boyd_NP · Feb 20, 2011

Hi all -- I'm presently working in a private practice and am the only NP working with two docs.I've been there about 5 months now and it's my first job as an NP. My job includes rounding on their in-patients every morning, answering pages from the hospital on all new consults, seeing patients in the office and being on-call every third week (with one of the docs backing me up). While I think it's a lot especially as a new NP, I do have about 12 years nursing experience, working med-surg, oncology, and ICU. Part of those years I worked as a travel nurse and you learn to be very flexible, resourceful, anytime you are working as a contract nurse. Having a broad experience has definitely helped in my NP role. I could not imagine doing my job with only, say, two years nursing experience.

Things I like about being NP: greater autonomy and influence in my patients' lives, variety of the work, the benefits of having a broader education, the options available now that I have with a Master's in Nursing, travelling to conferences and meeting other clinicians while learning. My patients have told me how happy they are to have me as their NP. It's really a great feeling knowing you're able to influence someone so positively about their health.

Things I don't miss about working bedside (and I think a lot of these could go without saying): I don't miss turning patients regularly, breaking my back getting them up to a commode, running a code on a 94 year old with metastatic cancer in the ICU because the family wants everything done, taking ventilated patients on multiple pressors to CT scan halfway across the hospital, or the measuring and recording of urine output hourly. I do miss the camaraderie of working with a good unit of nurses, you know like the kind that all appear to help with a new admission. You don't find that many places but when you do it makes working bedside a total pleasure.

So, overall I think my job satisfaction has increased due to greater autonomy, respect, variety of work, and influence I have. A lot of bedside nursing is task-oriented and I think that is what makes it so unappealing. I know I would make a lot more money working as a travel nurse in an ICU or agency but then I'd be back to doing a lot of tasks I don't like doing. There is a lot of on the job learning to do and it's a different feeling now that you are the one making decisions instead of just carrying them out. I do put in about 50 hours a week and make slightly more money than I did working as a staff ICU nurse but definitely I wouldn't go into the NP role to make great money. RNs earning 100K per year will find it a little bit difficult going thru the pain of getting an MSN/NP just to find out that they'll not make near that much as a new NP grad despite all their nursing experience. However, your back and joints will thank you for it in the long run.

So, do it if you have the desire to learn and have greater autonomy, influence in your patients' lives, and better options. With the greater experience you get as an NP, the more indispensable you will become to a practice and will be able to better leverage your salary, benefits, etc.

Ok -- just my long-winded thoughts on the subject---

nguyenhnic · Sep 6, 2011

Thanks for all of the responses, this has really helped in my own decision of pursuing an NP!

ickc22 · Sep 18, 2013

so how do you like being an FNP now after three years. I don't really like being a nurse and hoping the FNP will be right for me. What is your experience?

gerry79 · Sep 30, 2013

For me, its more money (about $25,000 a year more), less physically taxing, more job satisfaction, and better hours (I work 30 hours a week). I was an RN for 6 years, so my pay raise as an NP was quite substantial.

All_dogs_eat_kale · Dec 29, 2015

Is there a clear difference between having a MSN or an FNP along w/MSN?

I am sure there is a topic somewhere on this site but haven't seen it in my brief search.

Dranger · Dec 30, 2015

Is there a clear difference between having a MSN or an FNP along w/MSN?
I am sure there is a topic somewhere on this site but haven't seen it in my brief search.

FNP is the specialty, MSN or DNP is the degree. FNP-MSN, FNP-DNP etc.

OCRN3 · Jan 8, 2016

Being a NP I feel less tired after work and don't feel rushed. It's the practice though because I rarely see more than 15 patients a day.

Working on the floor it has it's good and bad days but I can still plan my day as I wish. Those 12 hours are killers, but being a floor nurse you get a real camaraderie that you don't get as a NP. ( I am the only provider in my office when I am there) so it will depend on where you work. Some NPs work very hard when there clinic is very busy.

After my 12 hour shift on med surg I feel exhausted. Sometimes I laughed all day during my shift on the floor. So it will just depend on where you work.

If I had to choose, I would rather be a NP than a floor nurse because my hours are better, I don't feel exhausted after work, I actually get to see my family on a consistent basis. The pay is much better. I feel as though I am making a bigger difference in people's lives.

Hope this helps

Alicia777, MSN, NP · Jan 8, 2016

I'm much more satisfied with my NP job versus my RN job. More money, more autonomy, independence and respect-everything I wanted. I would say the only thing I really miss is the large peer group I used to have as a staff RN. While we still meet out from time to time for dinner or a drink, it's not the same.