Damselle

i don't think we disagree at all... see what I just did there :) most of my original post was spent discussing my salary, why it could have been more, but that there were other variables for me involved. but I do agree with you in fact. I too have worked some some pretty rediculous doctors and I was definitely giving better care for the patients and being compensated less. I've also seen them get their comeuppance: legal troubles, lawsuits, etc. things always catch up with the worst of them in the end, and yet they worry we're going to do something to get them sued! Lol. I've also worked with excellent doctors. My first job, I worked with a wonderful child psychiatrist who reviewed every single case I saw that week with me. He taught me how to prescribe...something, sadly, I did not learn in clinical, because no one would or could let me do it.

well, since this is online, know I frame this in the genltest of ways. If you've just graduated, then, of course, a prospective employer will talk about your education. I honestly can't remember that far back, they may have talked about mine too. Most interviewers will be kind an try to focus on your strengths. If if you have some working experience, and they are still talking about what school you attended....there's a problem.

This is an interesting point. I'll argue, though, that from the employers perspective, they can't afford to have too many physicians on their payroll. This is especially true in Psychiatry, where reimbursement rates are ridiculously low. Many agencies, If they are small, will have just one doctor, and the rest APRN's. Otherwise, they would go bankrupt. Many do, and they get taken over by larger practices. Anyway,...it wouldn't be a smart move on our collective parts to price ourselves out of business. if reimbursement rates improve, then maybe your right, we could start asking for a better portion of that. I don't see rates getting better in my area. Have you?

No, potential employers don't look at what kind of school we graduated from: Ivy League, State University, Hands on, online..... They do look at years of experience, type of experience, how you present yourself, and how you fit into the culture of the clinic, or facility. Then there's location and specialty. In in my state, near the bigger cities, $100,000 would be entry level, but in the rural areas, that might be competitive. I live in a rural area were I drive 45-60 minutes to get to any job. As a psych NP, I'm in high demand. I could have taken the job at the clinic where I was doing locums. They offered me $15 more per hour more than where I'm working now, but the staff where incompetent and not helpful, the clinicians where ineffective, the environment was dirty, and the clients where all on an assortment of medications I didn't want to continue. Oh, and, the deal breaker, they wanted me to work Saturdays. so, I work for less money, Mom- Thurs, 36 hours, I have my own Medical Assistant who does everything for me, the clianians I work with are mostly great, and the environment is nice. I still make over $100,000.... Now, in my area, we have a plethora of family and adult Np's, so they have a harder time negotiating a good salary. It's also about supply and demand. I don't expect to make what a doctor makes. I didn't go to school for eight years and do four plus or even more years of residency. I don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans. common guys. Let's get real here.

I did did the post Masters cert for primary care with Umass Boston online. Overall, course content was excellent. You do have to find your own clinical preceptors. That's hard! Everyone is so busy and burnt out in primary care.

Good luck Mike! Let us know how you do.

I am moving into dermatology. Someday, I'd like to have a clinic providing all things for the skin, esthetics, stress reduction, nutritional advice......a nice plan to help people feel better about themselves.

Well, if working as an RN I would say get to know the meds really well....that's mostly what you'll be doing. groups are usually run by the health techs/aides... unless it's a med group. they'll train you on stuff like restraints. hopefully you'll have some large male type people working there. get to know how to to deal with axis 2 stuff and PTSD. you'll get a lot of substance abusers and they often have these diagnosis'. learn about triangulation, setting good boundaries, etc. don't forget that's it's not just the patients that create difficult dynamics.....:)

Hello all, my first post and I wanted to come on here and share my experience. I passed! first time. I didn't think I would and had started googling how people were doing on these exams.....that's how I found this forum. Most of what I read worried me more, but there were some good suggestions on here too. Some I wished I had read sooner, such as the practice quizzes on APEA. I decided to take the ANCC exam. That's what I took when I was first certified as a Psych NP. I've been working as a Psych NP for eight years, so I figured I had to get at least some of the role-type questions right! I decided to just study my notes from my primary care class since getting these types of questions right would get me atleast a passing grade. Two weeks before the exam I took the ten free questions on the ANCC website. I just barely passed and was not comfortable with that. So I took the $50 practice exam on the AANP site. I wish I could have done more, but up until very recently, I've only been working part time and funds are very low....Well, I didn't pass that exam at all! And their feedback is useless. Don't waste your money on this exam. The ones on APEA are less expensive and look better to me. I was able to figure out my weak areas and studied those topics for two nights before the exam. This must have helped, cause I passed. I couldn't believe it! My score didn't come up on the screen, so I went out to the monitors who told me it prints out. I looked over at the printer to see page after page printing...."oh no!" I thought these were the areas I needed to improve and I had failed. but she had already pulled it off and was notarizing it. hahaha. The exam seemed well balanced to me on all topics. There were about 1/4 NP role type questions. There were usually two responses that I could rule out right away and two that I had to choose from. From the practice exams, I realized they really take the hard line. For example, for the free practice questions there was a correct response of telling a family member I would only speak with the patient. Honestly, I would have finessed this response a little more. Families can be a valuable resource and shouldn't be alienated. Sometimes, the right answer seemed so obvious that I thought, "that can't be right...it's a trick!" So, I hope this helps someone. Sorry for the long post!