What made your first year of NP difficult?

Specialties NP

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Specializes in Step-Down Vascular, Renal, ESRD.

What things made your first year difficult? From your experience, what can I tell myself, ok this is difficult but it will come with time and more experience? Thank you for your responses. ;)

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I've had a great first year. I would say something that has made this first year "different" (but not difficult) is not understanding how much of my day would be "invisible" time i.e. not direct patient care: referral calls or letters, phone calls, going through labs and making decisions based on the labs and reports.

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Specializes in ED, Cardiac Medicine, Retail Health.
I've had a great first year. I would say something that has made this first year "different" (but not difficult) is not understanding how much of my day would be "invisible" time i.e. not direct patient care: referral calls or letters, phone calls, going through labs and making decisions based on the labs and reports.

Is your present job more satisfying than floor nursing (if you ever did floor nursing).

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Is your present job more satisfying than floor nursing (if you ever did floor nursing).

Oh heavens yes!! I get to pee (!!) AND take a lunch, LOL! Seriously though, I love having the knowledge to make the decisions and I love NOT having to deal with the hospital bureacracy and all that jazz.

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This beats floor nursing to hades and back! I should have done it years ago.

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Specializes in ED, Cardiac Medicine, Retail Health.
This beats floor nursing to hades and back! I should have done it years ago.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread, but thanks for the input, I start NP school in 10 days (FNP track) :eek:

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Specializes in Step-Down Vascular, Renal, ESRD.

Thanks for the comments. Any other NP with 2-3 years experience want to chime in?

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Specializes in ER, Informatics, FNP.

Hi,

There were a few things which made my first year difficult.

I accepted a position as an NP where I'd worked as an RN.

The position was for a contracted physicians group and they paid very late. Supposed to paid monthly but it ended up being 6 weeks or more. I didn't think to ask if pay days were usually on time.

I was the only NP among the physicians and it was tough. I learned a lot but I'd say find a position with other NPs to mentor you.

My latest lesson....

Make sure you have your salary in writing before accepting the position and think twice before accepting a bonus. You could find yourself with a one year commitment to living in a trailer with no insulation 7500 feet above sea level, frozen pipes, miles away from medical care and most important, no Starbucks!

I'm at 3 years of experience now and love it. Much better than floor nursing. All the stress and school are well worth it.

T

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Specializes in Cardiac.
Oh heavens yes!! I get to pee (!!) AND take a lunch, LOL! Seriously though, I love having the knowledge to make the decisions and I love NOT having to deal with the hospital bureacracy and all that jazz.

Thank You! I was hoping to hear this.

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Specializes in Step-Down Vascular, Renal, ESRD.

Great comments. Keep them coming seasoned NPs !!!!

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Specializes in Peds Urology,primary care, hem/onc.

I have been a PNP for 6 years and am still in the job I started right after school. I was very lucky to work with great physicians and another NP that loved teaching and taught me everything I know ( I work in a specialty that I had no prior experience with). The most difficult thing for me that first year was getting used to that feeling of knowing nothing

(you know they one you have when you are first out of nursing school?). I was a nurse for 5+ years before I went to grad school so I was seasoned, confident in what I knew and good at my job. I had to get used to that panicky, beginner feeling again. Luckily, everyone I worked with told me to relax and give it a year before I was comfortable and that is exactly what happened. It also took some getting used to ordering labs, writing scripts etc. I used to check my med calculations (I work in peds so it is all weight based) multiple times with every script I wrote b/c I was so scared of writing the wrong thing! I had some parents not want to trust me because of how young I look. My NP colleague is my Mom's age and been at my hospital for 15+ years and is known to be the expert. They eventually learned to trust me. :)

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Specializes in Step-Down Vascular, Renal, ESRD.

thanks. Another NP advised the same thing. You will need to give yourself a year. What about working independently. My possible new position will give me plenty of independence. What advise do any of you have for this?

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