Occupational Health NPs

[Mommy2be]

I am a new FNP grad and I have been offered a job in Occ health. I'm very nervous as this is completely foreign to me. Is there any Occ health NPs that could share your experience??? My background is ICU/ER.

[lflinton]

I have been an NP for a few months shy of a year and I work at an Occupational Health Clinic but also has a walk-in/urgent care clinic side to it. Technically the businesses operate separately as far as nursing/support staff but the NPs/MDs work both sides since the building is connected and owned by the same parent company. So that being said, I love the Occupational Health side but I do not think I would be completely happy if I didn't get any diagnosing/prescribing by working the other side of the business. If this is your primary interest then by all means go for it, but if you want to work in a setting with more diagnosing I think it may be beneficial to use all this knowledge you just worked so hard for (to its full extent). I have been pretty surprised by the things I have gotten foggy on that I don't use frequently (like OB/GYN). I would definitely explore your options, but it's pretty easy work and I like the variety of both!