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.

[treeye]

I am now a NP for almost 4 years and did not miss a minute of bedside nursing. I enjoy the responsibility and rewards of being a provider. Being exempt is also nice. I was never very good at procedures and so I find specialties without a lot of procedures fit me better. I envy your RN background. why not try ICU NP? they do 3 12 hr shifts and does tons of procedures. I am sure you could travel after a few years and make even more money.

[RN/WI, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

I would like to try that . I just wonder if I could get a hospital to train me .

[RN_SummerSeas, MSN, APRN, NP]

I will say to you what I say to anyone questioning NP as a career-you need to do it because you want to, you want to be in the role of the provider because you like that level of knowledge, because you enjoy it.  Many folks take a pay cut because you are essentially brand new again. You need to decide what is more important the money from being a traveler or the excitement of starting a new career with so much to learn and the ability to grow.  If that doesn't excite you and make you eager to start this new path, maybe it isn't for you?  Unfortunately, this role, especially when new can't be about the compensation, it has to be about the role.  Did you research NP salaries prior to starting down that path?  You will end up making similar money, but salary often depends on where you live, and I don't think TX is on the high end of pay scales.  Whatever you decide I wish you all the best!

[FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP]

How can anyone on this forum tell you if going from travel RN to FNP is worth it?  The answer is that it depends on what you are looking for.

Financially, a travel RN is probably making a lot more than most FNPs.  Even now that COVID is over, travel RNs are able to make $200K to $300K here in California, at least.  Very few FNPs are making that kind of money.

However, for most people, money is not the only consideration in a career.  Travel RN probably is not the best role for someone with a family, for example, as it likely will require a lot of travel out of the area.  Because travelers are not permanent employees, they don't have an employer willing to invest in them - training, tuition reimbursement, etc.  And travelers are not going to get promoted into supervisory or executive roles.  Finally, traveling can be tiring after awhile - constantly having to learn a new workplace, type of job, etc.  Being an RN can be very physically taxing, so it can just get to be too much for some people.  Workplace injuries are common and can lead to chronic pain.

I'm tired of the attitude that NP is somehow just a promotion from RN.  It is not.  It is a completely different role.  RNs that want a promotion have many options that have nothing to do with becoming an NP.  RNs have a full management path in nursing, up to Chief Nursing Officer.  In the military, RNs can become Generals or Admirals.  There are RNs that open their own business.  Some RNs earn their PhD and become researchers, academics, including up to Dean of a nursing school.

NPs are PROVIDERS who assess, diagnose, and development treatment plans.  In other words, they essentially do what an MD does, at least in primary care.  The vast majority of NPs work in primary care, not in hospitals.  So if that is what you really want to do, then yes, become an NP.  

Guess what?  Just because you were making $300K as a travel RN does NOT entitle you to big bucks the minute you become an NP.  You are starting a new career and have to start at the bottom, just like everyone else.   That is because you do not have NP experience!  So it is quite common for RNs with a lot of experience to take an initial pay cut if they become an NP.  

Finally, since the vast majority of NPs work in primary care, the vast majority of them are working 4 ten hour days or 5 eight hour days per week.  A lot of former RNs complain they miss their 3 12-hour days per week.    

Can NPs make a lot of money?  Yes.  But in a different way than RNs do.

So if you are a travel RN making a boatload of money, and can't afford a pay cut (likely temporary), then do not become an NP!  The ONLY good reason to become an NP is because you truly want to do the kind of work that NPs do, instead of nursing.

 

[FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP]

Mae_W said:

Meanwhile, he's racking up more frequent flyer miles than Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. I've told him, "You know, your hourly rate is starting to look like my spare change." I may not earn as much as he does, but my quality of life is higher than a giraffe on stilts. We don't spend extravagantly, and I'm convinced that what I make is enough to live our best lives.

I used to have to travel a lot - a "road warrior" - when working for high tech consulting firms.  It got so bad that sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and panic because I didn't know where I was!

Totally agree than when the actual hours worked is considered, high tech doesn't pay so great.

Toward the end, I began to fear I was going to have a heart attack or stroke.

Now, as a PMHNP, I work my 8 hours and I am done.  Well, more like 8.5 hours, but that's fine with me.  I am done.  No on call.  I check my email over the weekends out of the goodness of my heart, in case a patient has an urgent matter, but it is not required.  I have a life now!  And my stress level has gone way down.

 

[Sprinkles1204]

I am also a nurse practitioner as well as an ER trauma nurse. I have been doing travel nursing for the past 8 years and have yet to work as a nurse practitioner and have had my license for 2.5 years. I have been offered multiple jobs for nurse practitioner. However many of them do not provide benefits. You may get good hourly pay but no hours or vice versa. To go to school, you go into debt and I feel as though you should be able to make at the minimum at least what you paid to get that degree.

And to clarify, as a travel nurse depending on the agency, I work for AYA, we have full medical, dental and vision insurance that is actually cheaper than what I paid with staff nursing and it is anthem bcbs. I also have retirement that they match 100%. And as travelers we can take off as often as we want. 

Furthermore, the one year is only a thing when it comes to taxes. You can stay in the same area and get housing and food stipends, the only difference is after one year you have to pay taxes on that money. I have been doing this for the past 8 years and this was how I was able to buy a house as a travel nurse, because after a year all of the money gets reported. 

There seems to be a lot of misinformation with some of these responses. As a nurse practitioner, industry is over saturated and at this point, I may just go back to school for CRNA or join the air force reserves and be a flight nurse and allow them to pay back some of my student loans that I took out for my nurse practitioner.

Good luck in whatever decision you make. Being a travel nurse and transitioning from that life is extremely hard. 

[Lipoma, BSN, RN]

Sprinkles1204 said:

I am also a nurse practitioner as well as an ER trauma nurse... As a nurse practitioner, industry is over saturated and at this point, I may just go back to school for CRNA...

Good luck in whatever decision you make. Being a travel nurse and transitioning from that life is extremely hard. 

Crazy how life changes. I was in an ENP program and withdrew to pursue nurse anesthesia school...