NP Worried About Quitting Job

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Hi Nurse Beth,

I have a dilemma. I started part-time in an office NP role in late 2021. I'm also an NP in the hospital which I continue to do and enjoy. The MD that hired me essentially talked it up; said it would be great, his staff is wonderful and I would love it and want to leave the hospital.

Well, fast forward several months later and while the experience has been good for me and I feel like I CAN do it, I'm mentally trying to plan my exit strategy daily. The pace is unrelenting, I'm doing most of my prep work unpaid at my full-time job or on weekends, the staff is grumpy at best, the pay is not great and can't be altered and the commute home sucks....

My issue is I know the MD will be in trouble with hiring if I resign and has flat out asked me please not to leave. My plan was to wait until the end of the year and give him 3 months notice, I feel like this is a generous amount of time and then beyond that I will just have to deal with the awkwardness of seeing him at the hospital. Any additional ideas to make the blow easier to deliver? Thank you.

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3 Answers

Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

Dear Dilemma,

A dilemma doesn't really exist except for your guilt feelings.

You are going above and beyond what is professionally required. It's almost a boundary issue where you are putting his needs above your own.

It's a job. If it doesn't work out for you, give your notice and leave. He will survive, he has before and will again. You have given a lot but working 24/7 is not sustainable.

Consider that he mislead you about the job and he is profiting from you working so hard. Of course he doesn't want you to leave.

Interesting that the pay "can't be altered". How can that be? Everything can be altered or negotiated- work hours, pay, work load.

I hope this helps you gain a different perspective.

Best wishes,

Nurse Beth

You state "the pay is not great" I'm going to guess that you mean the pay per hour isn't great. If you added all the all the unpaid prep work you do is it still not great or is it actually closer to terrible?

Poor pay, continually needing to working for free outside of the office, unrelenting workload, grumpy staff, awful commute...I do not doubt that the MD will have trouble replacing you WHEN you resign.

I am an RN not a NP but in this case it really doesn't matter the answer is the same. You are in no way responsible for the staffing problems of this clinic. If the MD or Practice manager wants to retain staff they need to address the issues. I'm going to go ahead and guess the staff are grumpy because they too are overworked, underpaid and have dealt with a revolving door of staff who are hired, need to be trained and then immediately leave due to the above mentioned problems. 

In my opinion your only real options are 

Schedule a closed door meeting with Practice manager / HR and or MD if they are an owner. Clearly outline the things that they need to improve such as increased pay that covers all the work you are doing and more staff to manage the work load if they wish you to continue on staff. They will either agree and come back to you with some sort of plan or tell you blah blah blah, that won't happen at which time you need to hand them the letter of resignation that is already printed, signed and waiting in your pocket, do not wait until the end of the year! That is just allowing yourself to be taken advantage of. 3 months notice also seems excessive to me, but I'm and RN not a NP so I probably  wouldn't take my word for that.

Or skip the meeting and just hand them the letter of resignation. Even if they increase your pay it won't improve the commute home or the grumpy staff. Sadly the grumpy staff probably also need to renegotiate a few things or resign but that is not your issue to deal with. 

I would not allow the though of awkwardness when encountering the Dr at the hospital to be a reason to continue this job. I am willing to bet they are very aware this job is not competitive (pay, workload, atmosphere) which is why they are force to resorting to asking (begging) you not to leave. Give them appropriate notice and then treat them the same way you would treat any other college or patient who you have had a difficult encounter with, polite professionalism.  

Best of luck!

I wish I could like Nurse Beth's response 1000 times.

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