Dumplins

Hi! I worked with a cardiologist for about 2 years. It was my first job out of graduate school. I had Tele experience as an RN so I'm sure that helped a bit. He pretty much trained me and told me everything I needed to know and was always a phonecall away if I had any questions. As for work, my mornings consisted of rounding at 1-2 hospitals/LTACs. Then back to the office around noon and did the office for a few hours. Mostly chest pain, abnormal EKG, HTN management, and cardiac clearances for surgery. We did outpatient exercise stress tests as well. It was a single provider practice so that meant splitting weekends and holidays. Pretty much had no life.

I agree with everyone else. It seems as if you have a great support system. Better than most. I know many people in my program went through similar situations and they made it out ok. Most of them sticking to Part Time for school.

NJ =)

I'm a new graduate and just started officially training with him on 4/18/16. I had about 2 weeks of training of shadowing him and seeing patients in the office. I'd then round with him at the hospitals and found it to be quite easy. Most of what we are consulted for at the hospital is Uncontrolled HTN or Chest pain. Everyone typically gets the same work up of Stress, echo, troponins..etc..so it doesn't become too complicated. I've been blessed with having an extremely helpful doc who will always pick up the phone when i call and will always respond to my texts whenever i have any questions. He has pretty much been walking me through a lot of sticky situations. We talk about every hospital case thoroughly and he lets me know the plan he has in mind for the patient. And no, I don't do any procedures. Having a helpful Doc is DEFINITELY needed. He pretty much has been letting me go at my own pace. I've essentially been on my own for the past month and it hasn't been bad at all. It helps ease my mind knowing that he's very attentive and responsive. I'm constantly asking him questions about cases and he doesn't mind at all. In fact, he encourages it. Afterall, if i mess up, it's his license that's on the line too. =)

I agree, you should definitely be reaching out directly to doctor's via email or in person. I try to search to see if the office has a website and an email address. In that, I write a nice cover letter and attach my resume. In person visit to drop off your resume is preferred. Dress up nice and go around lunch time. Ask to see if the doc has a a few minutes to speak to you about a job opportunity. Most likely you'll be turned away a decent amount of the time. But there will be many places that will surely take your resume and keep it on file.

Yes I agree with the others. If you're in a very saturated area, it'll be very difficult. Where are you located? I'm in the NJ/NY area. It can get pretty competitive, but there are definitely new grad openings from time to time. I'd look to relocate if it is indeed very difficult. For a new graduate with your RN experience, it shouldn't be too difficult to at least land a few interviews.

My experience as an RN helped me land my interview for a Cardiology NP position. So I'd say it definitely helps. Especially as a new graduate, you need all the experience you could get.

I just started a position as a new grad FNP with a Cardiologist. I was a Telemetry Nurse for 3 years so I think that helped. Otherwise i'm sure they'd prefer an Acute Care NP. So far it has been great and I'm learning a lot. My day pretty much consists of me rounding at a 1-2 hospitals in the morning seeing patients. Then heading to the office in the afternoon to see office patients. Overall I'm satisfied so far.

Thanks for all of your suggestions! Sorry I didn't get to reply to this sooner. I ended up going with the Cardiology offer because of my gut. It was more because the field of Cardiology is a lot less specific than Endocrinology and I figured it would be better for my future with Cardiology experience under my belt. So far I'm 3 weeks in and it has been great! The doctor has been very supportive in my training and very flexible as far as my wants and concerns. Currently I'm not taking call, but he said that may change in the future. I am just started to do every other weekend rounding. Which really just come out to an addition 3 hours of work per week (which adds up...I know..) We are already in discussion with a pay increase as long as I can meet my patient quota. Which I am fairly close already and will probably meet it within another 1-2 months. Overall I'm satisfied. Especially with it being my first NP job. No complaints...yet =) Thanks again for your help guys!

Hello everyone! I'm stuck choosing between two job offers that seem fairly even to me. I was curious as to which one you guys would choose/recommend. Endocrine NP - This job would be at an outpatient facility that is affiliated with the nearby hospital. The job consists of seeing patients for the morning (approximately 8 patients - 30min/patient), then the afternoon would be mostly phone calls and paper work (calling patients on lab results, correcting insulin from blood sugar logs, etc. Goals for the practice are also eventually to get the NP's to be Endo/Diabetes certified and run classes to teach patients about insulin pumps, medication, diet, etc. Salary: Around $90,000 with no wiggle room. After about 1.5 - 2years of working and obtaining 2 certifications, salary bumped up to approx $100,000 (5k per certification) Vacation: 4 weeks to be used however I want (this includes vacation, sick days, CME, etc) Health/Vision/Dental: Not paid by employer, but offers various company tier plans to choose from. Individual health insurance through them would be approx $167/month. 403b: No matching, but contributes 10% of whatever your salary is every year (approx an additional $9,000) Pros - No call or weekends, good staff support, education-based nursing (something I'm interested in), slightly closer commute of 45minutes (compared to 1hr+ from the cardiology position), 403b contribution of $9k/year Cons - Would have to relocate to Rhode Island (which isn't too bad of a con for me), not much negotiation, fear of difficulty finding another job if this one doesn't work out (endocrine jobs are far and few between in the north east) Cardiology NP - I would be working with a single physician who runs two offices. One office would eventually become my own where I would be the primary person running it. He would train me in everything I need to know and seems like a very open and flexible person, as well as very open to contract negotiation. Days would roughly be me rounding at an LTAC to see 5-6 patients, then heading to the office to see patients. The goal is to reach up to 25 patients/day at the office (approx 15 minutes/patient). Salary: Around $95,000 with opportunity for bonuses and productivity incentive Vacation: Negotiable. Doctor mentioned it would be close to the typical 2wk vacation, 1 week sick, 1 week CME. Health/Vision/Dental: Not offered 401k: Offered after 1 year of employment, with matching (unsure how much matching) Pros - Located in the state I'm currently residing in, opportunity for higher salary, more common specialty if I'm ever looking for another job Cons - Longer commute (probably around 1hr including traffic), taking call every other weekend. Staff support at the office doesn't seem adequate. It would just be me and probably 1 medical assistant who will take the patient in and answer phones as well (though I'm not sure if this is how smaller offices usually work). My interest level is about the same regarding the specialty. I can envision myself in both positions.

dont choose a specialty due to demand. choose one that you love! specialty demand will change from time to time and from location to location. i think overall, psych is currently ruling in demand. and it's also one of the higher paying specialties. unless you're talking about Family vs Acute. which is a wholeeeee other story.

it's hard to tell you where to go from here with little information. i think a good first step is to see what areas you lack in first and brush up on those. from your study routine, it seems clear that you've done ample amounts of questions as well as the Fitzgerald review (especially doing fairly well on the practice exams). It appears that the knowledge isn't the problem. My only thoughts are that you maybe were rushing through some questions, or got caught by the "gotcha" answers on many of the questions. The idea of the test feeling easy and then failing it supports that thought. I would suggest to get right back on the horse, do more review questions, and take the AANC or AANP as soon as possible. Again, I think the knowledge is there, it's just being able to pick out the correct answers on test day. When you're taking the test, make sure to mark every single question you're not sure about. Take your time answering the questions and read them very carefully. When you're doing your practice tests at home, check how quickly you're answering the questions. If you're answering them too quickly, slow down. On test day, use up allllll the time you need to go back and review questions. When I took my test, i had about 25 minutes left after completing. So i went back and reread some of my questions and ended up changing a few answers that I clearly knew were wrong (due to misreading the question).

I am currently in a job hunt for a Derm NP position. I know it'll vary from geographic location, but I can touch on how it is over here in New Jersey. There is a fairly even mix of New Grad derm jobs and experience derm jobs. The majority of Derm practices here hire Physician Assistants, though I'm not sure why. Most practices will hire a new grad and train them from scratch. Training periods usually last 3-6 months, consisting of shadowing, a didactic portion, and sometimes seeing their own patients. From what I've seen, it really depends on how fast the person picks it up. I find it's a little harder to get into the cosmetic side of Derm unless you've had cosmetic experience as an RN.

I would say B and continue looking while at Job B. Unless there's some sort of long term contract. Because you have a husband, it is important to take his wants/needs into consideration. If you have more money from job A, it'll be balanced out by your husband not having any job opportunity. The family/friends thing is pretty much personal preference. Some can do without them...some can't. If you hold them at a higher value, then definitely Job B. Plus, it'll make you happier and give you a better quality of life.

Thanks for everyone's input. I decided to not go with the position. For the main reason that the 4 year commitment was way too long and the fact that I didn't need to go into Derm 100000%. I am a new grad and pretty flexible with what specialty to go into. And to clarify, the amount of patients being seen would lurk more around 40. And yes, @Goldenfox is correct, seeing that high volume in derm is fairly normal. At this practice, the medical assistants do most of the documentation for you, especially if they're more established. Then you just sort of go back and add certain assessments, treatments, and review what the medical assistant did. Thanks again everyone! I suppose I'll be patient and wait for the right opportunity to come!