What job do you do?

Futurenurse98 · Jul 17, 2015

Thank y'all so much! I really appreciate all of the insight everyone is giving! And Isabelk you sound like you really love both sides of your job! I love that! Adventure_RN that analogy was really helpful!! Thanks!

PG2018 · Jul 20, 2015

Isabel, I'm glad you found your niche. At risk of offending many fine people, I did not become a RN to be a RN. Nothing about what you described about your nursing duties appeals to me. I don't mind helping anyone out by request, but I have the career I want. The stuff I had to do to get here was just stuff. Did I find ED, UC, and clinic educational as a RN? You bet. But most of the learning came from following docs and referencing what they were doing. Call buttons were an inconvenience, and I didn't like that. I just don't have the constitution for bedside service. Although I have some sense of patience and community I don't have enough to be a nurse.

CocoaLoverFNP · Jul 20, 2015

Isabel, I'm glad you found your niche. At risk of offending many fine people, I did not become a RN to be a RN. Nothing about what you described about your nursing duties appeals to me. I don't mind helping anyone out by request, but I have the career I want. The stuff I had to do to get here was just stuff. Did I find ED, UC, and clinic educational as a RN? You bet. But most of the learning came from following docs and referencing what they were doing. Call buttons were an inconvenience, and I didn't like that. I just don't have the constitution for bedside service. Although I have some sense of patience and community I don't have enough to be a nurse.

I am not offended, PsychGuy! I am actually glad someone shares the same views as I do. However, you are right, you are running the risk of offending someone like how some get offended when I say I really can't do bedside service anymore (in real life... to my friends that are nurses). I just don't have the patience anymore. I am now expected to do housekeeping and waiter services at my hospital as an RN. I also do not see the NPs helping the nurses with patient care. So hats off to IsabelK! I don't think I can ever be like you ;-)

jbell262 · Jul 22, 2015

This has been a very informative thread.

I am interested in a psychiatric DNP. I do not mind medication management/prescription, but what I really want to do is more along the lines of counseling type therapies

(with or without prescribing).

Does anyone mind posting what a typical day is like for a psych NP in outpatient vs. inpatient?

I'm also interested in the well being of my family. Does an NP typically require long hours and interrupted family time (such as during holidays or after hours)?

I'm not entirely sure where I'd focus, but my current interests are anxiety, depression, autism, and addictions.

Thank you!

PG2018 · Jul 22, 2015

I think you're going to find difficulty finding a therapy roles. There are somewhere around 20 ways to become a therapist so there's no shortage of them. If you're interested in therapy then pursue a degree in that. Modern NP programs aren't going to prepare you well (if at all) for psychotherapy. Our focus is rooting out medical causes of mental illness, evaluations, and pharmacotherapy. Additionally, if you take on therapy you'll see less patients overall and thus reach fewer of them.

In outpatient, I come to work at 8am, check emails, look over the schedule and determine what type of visits I'll have, what the diagnoses are, and what medicines I'll be working with. If any of the cases look challenging I'll look over their initial diagnostic and then most recent progress notes. Next, I wait for patients to show up. I love a light day as much as the next person, but an ideal day for me is at least 25 patients. I take lunch, leave the office, go toy around somewhere, and then I come back and repeat. My schedule stays open until 6pm, but I've usually got everyone knocked out a little earlier. I only work Mon - Thur, but I think in the future I may run a couple half day Fridays a month...maybe. It's not a strenuous job, and I love it. Best thing I've ever done. Some days are weird. Today, I had all cancellations through 10am so I'll play around on the internet, read journals, my Kindle, etc. Sometimes I leave and stay gone until the next appt. There are a couple places around I go hang out at. I commute 30 minutes so going home isn't really an option at this point. That may soon change as well. I'm salaried well, and I get bonuses based on revenue in excess of my salary. That's one reason I like high volume. Hope this helps. Maybe Jules or someone will yell you about inpatient - a dark place I'll never go

Riburn3, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Jul 22, 2015

I work as an FNP in a large internal medicine practice. I run my own small clinic where it is just myself and a couple of MA's where I see anywhere from 5-25 patients a day. I operate as a PCP and treat everyone from chronic diseases (DM2, HTN, etc) to more acute issues like sinus infections/colds. I also get to utilize some skills such as abscess removal and suturing.

The last two hours of my day are spent rounding at a couple of PT rehab facilities. I get to work at 9 and usually am home between 5-6pm everyday. I never work weekends, and never take call (although a few nurses have my number if I trust them to use appropriately). Without a doubt, becoming an NP was the best career decision I made. I have a regular schedule and make a lot more than I ever did as a hospital RN, and do it working fewer hours.

Jules A, MSN · Jul 23, 2015

Most inpatient jobs that I am aware of if the NP is acting as a full attending involves some call, rounds on the unit, consult liaison on medical floors and assessments in the ED. I get work at 7:30am, review vitals, labs and admissions. Rounds start at 8:00am and last anywhere between 30-60 minutes depending on the size of my service and how much goofing around we do. :) On average I see 12-15 patients total which usually includes 2-3 admissions and 2-3 discharges.

After that I go see the patients who are going to be discharged, assess them, recheck their labs/vitals, do the discharge paperwork, dictate and order meds. Around 11:30am I usually get to the new patients who were admitted overnight to do their intake, I double check to see what meds and orders were put in overnight if any and often have to either call the pharmacy, OP provider for collateral or check the state narcotic website and clean up their orders. Finally I see the patients for follow up medication checks and mental status exams. I usually have conversations with at least a few social workers, hospitalists and nurses along the way. When I'm done seeing everyone on the unit I head to my office to chart, place orders, make phone calls and hopefully scarf down a lunch its usually about 2pm. I'm normally finished the inpatient unit around 3pm. Note: there is plenty of black coffee and pee breaks along the way.

After I'm done rounding if there are consults on the medical floor or patients in the ED that need to be seen I will swing by and see them before I go home. We take turns and split those tasks so usually there are 1 or 2 each and on some days none. If I'm not on the next day I will do a brief handoff to the physician who takes over my service.

PG2018 · Jul 24, 2015

Jules, you lost me after "Most inpatient jobs..."

:wacky:

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · Jul 25, 2015

There was an RN who worked per diem in rehab at my old job. It really screwed her over when the system went to EPIC because she had to have two different set ups. One as an NP and one as an RN