Post-interview update

Specialties NP

Published

Specializes in Family Practice.

So I completed the my first-ever NP interview with the cardiology practice today. It was interesting and less intimidating than I expected. The practice manager who began the interview gave a good bit of insight into the practice, but not much on expectations of the position. The main physician (out of two) who interviewed me would be my delegating physician with the other 4 physicians being designated physicians (according to the medical board in my state). He seemed pretty easy going, likes attention to detail, and seemed like he would be someone I can work with well.

The practice has never had a NP before and apparently only used their PA as a practice manager (weird). The position they are offering is essentially covering hospital rounding on consults to sort of triage and prioritize who needs to be seen first, who needs to get cathed, etc. It is also to write progress notes, etc. Essentially my job would be to free up the physicians from time consuming documentation and seeing patients.

I got the vibe that they kind of want to dump the busy work on me so they can do more high-dollar stuff. In particular, they mentioned that they would like me to essentially take over all the friday afternoon rounds at the hospital that is 30 more minutes away from where live. After hemming them in a few times to give me an answer, they claimed that the hours would essentially be from 8am-5pm, but from the little bit of research I've done on this, the hours could easily change to 7am-10pm.

On a good note, they didn't seem particularly phased at the number that I was finally squeezed into giving up as a starting salary. Although I hope I wasn't low-balling myself because I haven't been able to narrow down cardiology NP salary numbers. I gave them range of 105-110k for a starting salary. They didn't even try to suggest anything else or act like this was an unreasonable number.

So, it feels good to have an interview out of the way, but I don't know that I'll take this one or not.

Any thoughts?

1 Votes
Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Great - first hurdle done. I would be leery of the Friday call - sounds like it could really eat into your weekend unless there is a "night call" MD. In our practice our "call" ends at 5pm when the "night call" MD comes on.

Specializes in Family Practice.

@traumaRUs - Judy

The more I reflect on the interview, the more I'm tending to feel like they are looking for someone they can offload undesirable work onto. While I understand that this is part of the point of a physician decision to hire a NP, I don't believe that I just went through a grueling 2.5 years just to get dumped on. I know it can be nerve-wracking to consider not accepting the first position that is offered, but I still have a month and a half until graduation. I still have other physicians that have shown interest that I will be talking with in more direct conversations as graduation nears. Unless I can get more defined answers regarding the schedule, etc. with this first offer, and if the situation doesn't appear more palatable, I will likely end up politely declining this offer.

2 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.
12 hours ago, Mr. Southern RN said:

I know it can be nerve-wracking to consider not accepting the first position that is offered...

Don’t accept any position that you don’t see yourself fully enjoying; time is too short in life. I turned down my first job offer a year ago after they were unwilling to offer me a reasonable pay rate. No regrets.

3 Votes
Specializes in Peds Urology,primary care, hem/onc.
On 10/22/2019 at 7:26 AM, Mr. Southern RN said:

@traumaRUs - Judy

The more I reflect on the interview, the more I'm tending to feel like they are looking for someone they can offload undesirable work onto. While I understand that this is part of the point of a physician decision to hire a NP, I don't believe that I just went through a grueling 2.5 years just to get dumped on. I know it can be nerve-wracking to consider not accepting the first position that is offered, but I still have a month and a half until graduation. I still have other physicians that have shown interest that I will be talking with in more direct conversations as graduation nears. Unless I can get more defined answers regarding the schedule, etc. with this first offer, and if the situation doesn't appear more palatable, I will likely end up politely declining this offer.

Be careful in these kind of roles as a new grad, especially in a specialty. I ended up in a role like this. I basically was acting like a resident and doing the scut the physicians did not want to do. In the beginning, I did not mind because I was learning a specialty that was completely new to me, and honestly that is the best way to learn. Now, I am miserable and finally found a new job where I can just be an independent provider. There are a lot of APN's that are totally happy with a role like this and more power too them. If your ultimate goal is to be an independent provider, this type of role may be unfulfilling.

3 Votes
Specializes in Family Practice.

@ArmaniX I agree with that. Live is way too short to sell myself short. Thanks for the reminder.

@rnsrgr8t I think that’s exactly what they plan on doing with me and it’s not what I am looking for in a position.

Specializes in Peds Urology,primary care, hem/onc.
4 hours ago, Mr. Southern RN said:

@ArmaniX I agree with that. Live is way too short to sell myself short. Thanks for the reminder.

@rnsrgr8t I think that’s exactly what they plan on doing with me and it’s not what I am looking for in a position.

I made that mistake in my first job. The APN I was working with, really did not function like an independent provider at all, just like a nurse who could order tests. I being the eager, newbie just wanted to do whatever they wanted me to do. In the beginning, it was good because that was how l learned by doing all the scut. Slowly I was allowed to see some patients on my own but I still had to do all of the nursing support for the attendings. Then I was being pressured to see more patients but there was no one to do all of the other support work that was demanded of me.

I am moving on to a new position where I am a provider and they have enough support staff to handle all of the other things. I am there solely to see patients.

There are a lot of APNs who would have been happy with the job I had but a lot of them would not. You just have to decide what you want. I was to naive as a newbie to know what to look for.

Specializes in Adult Primary Care.

Mr. Southern, any updates? How are you doing?

Specializes in Family Practice.

@AnnieNP I haven’t heard anything back yet. I’m supposed to hear next week either way. I’m still planning on passing on it and pursuing a position with a nephrologist. I’ll post with any updates.

1 Votes
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