Travel RN to New FNP - Is it worth it?

Specialties NP Nursing Q/A

Travel RN to New FNP - Is it worth it?

I'm a brand new FNP. Just passed boards, interviewing this week for multiple positions. Background is paramedic, ER nursing, flight nurse, and now travel RN in the ER. I am really struggling with the financial aspect of this change.

I am currently making about $3400/week working only 3 day shifts/week. This is a travel contract but I make the drive about 1hr 20 mins each day I work so I can get the travel pay (50 miles from your home or farther to qualify).

The money is nice, and the 4 days off a week is really nice, but I pretty much dread going to work. I am very burned out as far as bedside nursing goes. I'm tired of the usually short staffed days, 12 hours of stress and being behind on tasks, the monotony of the tasks each day (get an IV, label things, send it, get EKG, help patient to bathroom, beg for urine sample on everyone, hang antibiotics, rinse and repeat for 12 hours). I feel like I shouldn't complain because I am being paid nicely and I only work 3 days a week, but I don't enjoy the days I do work.

The NP job I interviewed for yesterday asked my pay expectations. I said $65/hr at least because that is what my base travel RN pay is (without my travel stipends, which I know I can't expect from a local NP job). They said $65 is the top pay they offer across the board for the position and would likely not be able to do that for a new grad. I have seen some positions offering around $45-55/hr on indeed for FNPs (Texas). I expected a pay cut to some degree because I am starting a new career essentially, but man I didn't think it would be this steep. A place today offered me a salaried job at 105,000 per year which they say is higher than they normally offer new grads because of my resume. I honestly don't think I could afford my current life with that (15 year mortgage based on previous RN earnings of 130K/year).

My question to all of you is, is it worth it? Am I looking at this the wrong way? Did anyone else in a similar scenario find a huge relief when they started an outpatient NP position and got away from the bedside and did not regret taking a pay cut? I am honestly stressed right now thinking about it. I spent a year working extremely hard (stayed full time at my flight RN position working 48 hours a week and did full time clinical hours) thinking there would be a pay off in the end. But all of the work and school dollars spent.... for a significant pay cut.

Thank you for any advice.

54 Answers

I am in the exact same boat as you.  I make REALLY good money working in the bay area as a travel nurse, I just graduated from NP school and I'm now looking for an NP job.  The only difference for me is that I moved to California to be a travel nurse and I'm bored and lonely because I don't know anyone here.  Something that I'm not sure you've thought about is the fact that legally, you can't continue to be a travel nurse in the same region for longer than a year.  So technically, after one year of working in that city/region, you'd have to move. You could try to get away with not doing that, but if you ever got audited you'd likely get in trouble with the IRS.  So, basically what I'm saying is that, the travel RN thing is not sustainable unless you want to keep moving around every year. I need to live in a place where I can put down some roots. I don't enjoy worrying about a new job/finding a new place to live every 3 months (or even every year).

For me, I'd prefer to take the pay cut (and receive better benefits as a previous post noted), and have better quality of life, live in one one location.  I also feel like I will enjoy the work I do as an FNP more than what I do as an RN, but that's just me. I'm excited for a new career path. Just some things to think about!! Good luck!

Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).

You have to decide what is more important to you:  short term $ or long term career prospects, plus a job you will like better.

Do some research on FNP earnings in Texas for experienced NPs, so you get an idea of your long-term earning prospects.  After at least 1 year of FNP experience, you might want to specialize, and specialty NPs typically make more, so explore some specialties of interest.

Also, don't just look at gross earning.  Travel NPs have no benefits.  Benefits like vacation, insurance, etc., are worth something!  Employer-paid health insurance is worth $330 to $700 per month that you don't have to pay!  In addition, employes pay for additional training, like CME.

I'm going to assume you are young, so let's say you pay $500 per month for decent health insurance as a travel RN.  If your employer paid $400 per month of that, that is $4800 per year!  Also if you get 2 weeks of paid time off per year, what is that worth?  So you can actually do some math.

The real estate market is hot now.  So you can consider refinanching to a 30 year mortgage or even relocating.  I suggest you do research on where NPs can make the most $ in Texas and elsewhere in the US.   

Good luck.

Specializes in Rheumatology/Emergency Medicine.

I’ve seen travel RN here in WA state advertising $130 an hour, I’ve been an NP right at 5 years now and I work for a federal agency and just got a pay raise to $60/hr, $46 he when I first started in 2017, I work in Rheumatology, my RN pay rate would be $54/hr here which is less but the only thing I would have to do is take vitals and a few IM injections at my outpatient clinic 

Financial going NP vs RN travel, expect to make less than you are now. 

I worked PRN in the ED as an NP for my first few years here, I made as much on the weekend 2 days with OT and differential as I did all week in my regular job, saved up quite a bit of cash that way

Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).

Something else to consider is that it is not good to wait too long from graduating to actually becoming an NP.  Employers generally won't like that.  You also have to consider losing your NP certification after a certain period.  I would say travel nursing is OK for up to 1 year, but if you really want to be an NP, I wouldn't do the travel RN for more than 1 year unless you just want to go back to being an RN.

Ah yes the crux issue of wanting the big bennies but also the title of provider. You won't have both right now. NP pay sucks especially considering what travel nurses get. In my job, I am interchangeable with an MD with little oversight and I make far less than a travel nurse. Nice...

This travel nurse gravy train won't last forever. It is not sustainable. But the farther out you get from NP the less desirable you will be.

NPs are in overstocked supply, so you are going to have to deal with allll those burned-out nurses who went to NP school thinking it would be easier. You will NEVER make that 130 an hour travel money some are getting.

You are going to need to decide what you want. I will say if you choose to work as an NP, get used to a lower salary. Negotiating for something close to traveler pay is not going to be fruitful. They will go with someone else every time.

Specializes in Former NP now Internal medicine PGY-3.

Well to bring it back on topic. Personally I would do traveling as it pays more than being an NP at least right now. By a lot at most places. I doubt traveling money will last but there seems to be a surplus or NPs right now and it will only get worse for them. Whether it's ground in logical basis or not a lot of patients want to see a physician. Hence why we get offers for 300+ for the same outpatient pcp workload as an NP making 80-130ish. 

No idea where the future will head but I wouldn't work for 80-130k as a provider. Not worth it after all the work and time we put in. 

Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).
Tegridy said:

People realizing there are better jobs out there in non healthcare sectors. Most healthcare jobs are just a protracted and expensive education to do something less than glamorous for a mostly unappreciative and uneducated  population. 

Numenor said:

This. I have been in healthcare for 10 years and every year I see more entitlement and unappreciation. Quite often I question why I do this as my tech friends essentially have a much higher QOL and aren't slaves to a pager or a hospital all the while "working from home".

The grass is always greener . . .   I used to work in high-tech.  I worked my way up to become a Director/VP equivalent at very large, leading firms such as Oracle, Accenture, PWC, as well as working for a number of start-ups.  I literally lived in Silicon Valley.  Let me tell you, the lifestyle SUCKS.  I worked incredibly long hours, as well as traveling a great deal.  (I mean literal travel - flying all over the country, even internationally).

1.  I ALWAYS worked late, average 10 hours per day and I also worked on weekends EVERY weekend.

2.  When a deadline approached, those hours went way up - 60 to 70 hours weeks typical.

3.  I was almost always "on," 24/7.  That means I was expected to respond to emails, texts, phone calls at all hours of the day/night all the time.

4.  Given all the hours worked, those big paychecks work out to a low hourly rate.

5.  No job security.  In high tech, you always have to be ahead of the curve and constantly learn new things or you are out of a job.  That means retooling every 3 years or so.  And I mean learning completely new stuff.  In addition, high tech firms constantly re-org and lay people off, usually at least once per year, regardless of company performance.

6.  Very abusive management.  I literally got PTSD multiple times.  I was a top-performer, exceeding goals, yet was constantly yelled at, belittled, and threated with termination!

7.  Purposeful work.  Most high-tech work is meaningless B.S.  I got no intrinsic satisfaction from building a faster website, helping people buy more crap or consume more idiotic content.  What dreck.

Now, I am a PMHNP and work from home via telehealth.  No one bothers me.  I work 8 hours a day and seldom work more than 8.5 hours per day.  No on-call.  When I was in primary care, the same was true (except for telehealth).

As a provider, you are generally treated with respect and are not viewed as an easily replaceable widget.  

Yes, I make a little less money, but my quality of life is incredibly higher now.  I have absolutely no regrets about switching to healthcare.

More importantly, at least to me, is that I am truly helping people and making a meaningful difference in helping them to lead a better life.

Specializes in Internal medicine.

I think it matters what your long-term goals are. I did the DNP-FNP route because I knew that I wouldn't be able to physically do bedside nursing forever and I never was interested in administration. Starting salary of $105,000 is actually pretty good. I'm in the Midwest and just started my first FNP position last year and I make $85,000 a year. Yes, that is a drastic pay cut, but you also have to take in to account the extras-- money for CEUs, incentive bonuses, as well as the work environment. I work in a LTC setting and I am free to set my own hours and my supervising physician is awesome and pretty much lets me take care of my patients as I see fit. I don't have administrators breathing down my neck and I don't have to punch a timeclock. My long-term plan is to eventually transition into education in which a doctoral degree will be beneficial. I think you need to decide what your long-term plan is-- it might be necessary to make financial sacrifices now to achieve your long-term goals. One caveat I will say, if you decide to not pursue a NP position at this time, you may find it more difficult in the future to secure a position because generally the market (depending on where you live) is oversaturated.  Also, depending on which licensing exam you took, you may need to have a certain number of practice hours to renew your NP license. Whatever you choose, I wish you the best of luck!

Specializes in Nurse Practitioner.

I currently make $90/hour running a monoclonal antibody clinic in the Northeast.  I was a floor nurse/telemetry/stepdown at major hospitals there for 11 years and hated every minute of it. As an NP I found less stress. I hated IM, but there was so much to choose from being an FNP. I've done Women's Health with an Indian population, Urgent Care in beautiful AK and so many other wonderful jobs.  The first15 years or so I stayed put, but the last 8 travel only. And yes, I make at least $70/hour which includes bringing my cat, all my airfare, full furnished housing with bill pay and sometimes groceries. I pick my own schedule, never work summers and now stay close to family and still find lots of work in my home state. 

Specializes in Nurse Practitioner.

I wanted to add that with current inflation, my pay rate usually starts at $80/ hour, in addition, a free new car is included in the assignment, and I get many offers a week, so I'm pretty happy.  The most important reason for me though, is that I always work days, no weekends, no holidays, and I am so much less stressed, but that may be my personality, as outpatient, which I choose, is less stressful.  Part time is also an option.  I do not know what things are like with less experience, but I think they're pretty good? 

Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

My hospital recently initiated a couple incentive programs for the nurses. We have a crisis surge incentive of $100/hr plus base pay that will probably last about a month. Then we may go back to a 2x hourly structure until if/when staffing improves. So right now I'm doing great as a RN. However, this week I start my new position as a hospitalist NP. It might be a paycut on paper ($48 an hour to start), but it's a state job with outstanding benefits and the potential for tuition reimbursement for two of my kids. And, it's the job I want. I love my bedside nursing job and I'll still be there per diem, at least for a while, but I'm ready and excited about making this move to the provider role. I think I have a reasonable understanding of the expectations and responsibilities after my clinical experiences and it's what I want. There are many more important things than money, but it's not wrong if you do prioritize money for yourself given your circumstances. Best of luck with your decisions!

Specializes in 5 years/med surg.
Numenor said:

Ah yes the crux issue of wanting the big bennies but also the title of provider. You won't have both right now. NP pay sucks especially considering what travel nurses get. In my job, I am interchangeable with an MD with little oversight and I make far less than a travel nurse. Nice...

This travel nurse gravy train won't last forever. It is not sustainable. But the farther out you get from NP the less desirable you will be.

NPs are in overstocked supply, so you are going to have to deal with allll those burned-out nurses who went to NP school thinking it would be easier. You will NEVER make that 130 an hour travel money some are getting.

You are going to need to decide what you want. I will say if you choose to work as an NP, get used to a lower salary. Negotiating for something close to traveler pay is not going to be fruitful. They will go with someone else every time.

I will say I know NPS making 140K-150K salary in Ny.

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