RN TO NP?

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I am currently an RN in Florida struggling with the decision to get my Master's and pursue my NP. I make 100,000 working 3 12's a week. This is a prn position that never gets cancelled. I make my own schedule and can work as much or as little as I want. However, because I travel to several hospitals locally and am PRN getting higher pay I have no medical benefits or PTO. I feel as though this is the max I am going to make as an RN. I am having a very hard time finding starting salaries for NP's in my area. There are a lot of job listings but no salaries / schedules posted. So here is my question ...do I go back for 3 more years of schooling ? If so, what type of pay increase would this entail? Is it enough to be worth the extra schooling ? Are there options of still having a 12 hr shift schedule in this field ? I am so close to committing but struggling because my search for information has come up with limited results. Any local NP's in the Florida (Tampa) area or really any NP advice at all would be great ! TIA

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moved to student NP forum for more answers.

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

I can't help with your specifics, but I would say: only invest in becoming an NP if you have a desire for the role. If you do it for the money you will more than likely be disappointed.

Good luck, I'm sure someone here can give you some specifics on your area. Florida is a notoriously hard state for NPs to practice in.

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Specializes in Cardiac rehab, med-tele, psych, research.

I am in the family nurse practitioner program at University of Central Florida set to graduate in a month. I can tell you from my research that nurse practitioners average salary range from Mid 80's-100s in FL.

It's hard to advice you if it is worth it our not but I can say that you should have some desire to take on the tremendous responsibilities that being an ARNP entails. Like many jobs, if you're doing it for the money/benefits you probably won't enjoy it. The pros to being a nurse practitioner besides an increase in salary is the autonomy, the ability to make decisions for your patient (not following orders), not having to work every other weekend. I also like the outpatient setting. As a Family NP, most NP programs will tell you are trained to work in the outpatient setting, not in the hospital (acute care NPs can). These are just some of my reasons why I'm excited to be a NP.

I worked during most of my 3yrs of school (had to stop working the last semester because I had a baby) Many students are able to work through school doing the part-time track.

I guess just make a list and weight out the pro's and con's. Hope that helps.

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