trackhead

New grad NP with 23 years ER, CCU, flight, paramedic background. $130k working ER/primary care, critical access. (Intermountain west-rural town) $3,000 CME plus five days paid time off 5 weeks PTO annually starting $50,000 loan repayment $10,000 sign-on

New grad here, just passed test today. 23 years working ED, CCU, flight, etc. Totally sick of all of that. I'm 49 yrs old. Got four job offers before I graduated. All in 120-130k range in either primary care or ED/primary care mix. Three of the offers had full tuition reimbursement up to $50,000. Yes, I made $60/hr as a flight nurse, but crashing planes and staying up all night sucks, as does flying covid patients all over the planet. Not sure what to tell you, yes, you will work hard, yes, you will likely take some of your work home with you. Yes, it's a ton of emotional effort to finish school, but I think it is worth it........I'd rather be an FNP at age 60 than a flight nurse or an ER nurse.

Is there any value in holding on to the CEN (Certified Emergency Nurse) credential as an NP student with 1 year left of school and 20+ years of flight/ER nursing in terms of getting a job? I'm not interested in working in the ER as an NP, and quite frankly, I think all these nursing certifications are a joke anyway. I'm keeping my CFRN because I still get reimbursed for it. But I feel no employer is going to care about some silly CEN certification, nor even know what it is. Thoughts?

Anecdotal, but I was speaking to our medical director of the flight company I work for. He has been a trauma attending for 10 years now, and he mentioned when he was first an attending, he always wanted to back up his medical decisions with another attending, but HE was the attending now. So even after med school and 4 years of EM residency, he still felt insecure. Something to consider.........

I have a kid in school, no PA school locally, and I don't want to pull my kid from his school and relocated. I'm not stirring a pot. I have worked with a bunch of awesome NP's over the years in the ED. Just curious......

Good to here, thx.

Let me preface this topic: Not trying to stir the PA vs NP pot, just asking questions. I have been in healthcare for 22 years working as a ground/flight medic, then ER/ICU/flight nursing. I got accepted into a MSN/FNP program (brick and mortar) that starts in the spring and I hope it produces a competent FNP in me. I considered PA school, but I don't want to move my family/kids (no PA program locally). Anyway, looking at the curriculum of PA vs NP and it makes me wish I was going to PA school. The curriculum is all patho/pharm/science classes compared to the FNP didactic. So my question for those of you who had similar backgrounds with a lot of prior experience as an RN, did you feel your FNP program prepared you for your job role? I realize it takes time to achieve, which is no different than when I was a new medic or RN. Just curious how the transition was for those with a fair bit of prior RN experience. Thanks in advance.

If you have a pulse, you potentially have a job in this industry, in my opinion.

I've spent the last two winters in AZ working ER, worked staff at Flag 12 years ago. Flagstaff always has inhouse seasonal positions, but pay is low, better off going through a travel agency. That said, FMC back then was a great place to work, at least ER and ICU, not sure about tele. Sedona has a little ER, but no inpatient beds. Also a fun place to work. VVMC is under the FMC umbrella, and was a great place to work way back when as well.

Did it for two years, just sold ours and moved into an apartment. Easier to live in cold climates in standard housing.......RV's kinda suck for that.

Billings?

I'm at Chandler ER and just extended another 13 weeks. Busy ER, but good staffing and nice place to work. Not sure about other parts of the hospital. I worked at Banner Boswell last year and really thought it was the worst ER I've ever worked in. Anyway, good luck.

We (wife, kid, me) lived in a 36' fifth wheel for two years for my travel work. Sold it last week and moved into an apartment. We now have a truck camper and a small utility trailer to move between assignments. We can live free between assignments in the truck camper, travel lighter than the fifth wheel, and enjoy assignments in cold climates without having to worry about trying to keep pipes from freezing in an RV. We enjoyed our time in the fifth wheel, but like Ned says, even if you pay cash for your RV, you still have to divide the total cost by how many months/years you plan to travel and add that to your monthly RV park fees to differentiate the cost of RV life versus apartments. For us, wanting to do winter assignments was the clincher, and the fact that I work every weekend and bail out away from humanity on our four days off in our truck camper.

The good side of this story is a motivated recruiter is better than a slow, unresponsive one. But like anything in life, there's a balance, and this guy is way beyond it.

It's a bit odd that you had an offer for one job from two companies. Turn one down gently? You're the boss, not the agency, that's how I look at that relationship. They need you more than you need them.

AZ Mayo was justin hiring ER travel.

How do you get quick offers? Not really sure, maybe Ned has more insight. Driving here from Texas I had an offer for 4/5 positions submitted for within four days of getting submitted. Maybe travel experience helps, seems to. There's just a ton of work down here now with the snowbird season ramping up. I know nothing about dialysis needs, so can't really help you there. But there is a large Native American population on the outskirts of town, and they typically have large populations of dialysis patients/centers.

I'm in Phoenix right now, working ER. My contract here almost dissolved in the first week for some confusion between vendor manager, hospital, travel agency. Long story short.....contract is fine, but in the meantime, I looked for other work here and had two offers in the city within 48 hours. Apply with someone other than Banner. They have 50% of the hospitals, but there are a TON more. Look at Tucson too, lots of needs down there. The Banner pay is ok, but there silly completion bonus is nothing more than your salary being held ransom until they pay you later. Banner Schmanner........I worked at Banner Boswell ED last winter, worst ER I've ever worked in. Not a fan of that facility.

It's only "tax friendly" if your home state (tax home) has zero income tax. Otherwise, you're still going to pay income tax.

This was work I did from 1997-1999. They phased out medics in this role, but yes, I did insulin drips, heparin drips, everything RN's did. I had to have some things double checked, just as I have to do as an RN now. We did the same scope of practice as RN's, just got paid really crappy. But regardless, that experience was invaluable to me as an ER RN. Either way, some of the best RN's I've worked with were previously ER techs.

I was a medic for a few years in an ER, working with an expanded scope of practice (we were essentially nurses), then became an RN. I learned almost nothing in nursing school that I didn't already know from my experience as an ER medic. Being an ER tech would be invaluable not to your education, but more toward real life work in the ER. I'm obviously not a fan of education as the answer to competency.

You're getting too nervous for no reason. Relax, ask questions, you'll be fine.

I've done a few assignments with them, on one now, and have had no issues. Pay is similar to other companies.

I haven't understood any of that persons posts either.............

I'm a Utah local (SLC). I just turned down two travel jobs there because I got something somewhere else, but it's a friendly city and the skiing, no matter where you live in the valley, is never more than 25 minutes away. The hospitals there are all pretty good, I've worked at most of them (ER). Somewhat might chime in and say HCA (St. Marks) is bad because it's HCA, but it's not bad in SLC. I worked there for quite a while. Anyway, Utah is a realistic travel goal, and a great place. 4 hours from Moab, some of the best skiing in the country, incredible mountain biking, etc, etc.