Why did you become a NP?

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Hi everyone,

Why did you make the decision to become and NP and more importantly has reality met your expectations? Is what you are getting to do what you thought you'd be achieving when you went back to school?

I have this desire to know more and provide really great comprehensive care. I guess I'm concerned that in the real world I might be saying, "what in the world was I thinking!?" Thank you for your reflections!

Specializes in FNP.

I became an NP because I feel that it was what I was supposed to do, if that makes any sense. At that time in my life several doors were opening and several "coincidences" happened that made me feel that I was being led there. That's the way I live my life, there are no coincidences.

After being an NP for 4 years, the best part is being able to help people without waiting to get orders. And, working with them in regards to treatment options. I was getting tired of hearing about other providers (almost always MD/DO's) were not giving any options, it's my way or the highway mentality. In many cases, yes there may be only one option, but most of the time, there's good, better, best.

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DJ matte- yes it's a luxury to work in urgent care from that perspective. In urgent care you can give short term and send to PCP but if you are in family practice -it becomes a huge stressor- because everything depends on patient satisfaction. and this chronic narcotic issue is a huge ordeal.

This is definetly not as much of an issue in urgent care.

to FNP and beyond- I am considering working in specialty as well..which specialty did you chose and how do you like that compared to primary care?

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Specializes in Adult Primary Care.

I was an ER / CCU / ICU nurse for 15 years before going back to school. I'm an Adult NP. When I went back to school for my NP it was knowing I would be working with my husband in his solo practice. I absolutely love primary care, I have been at it for 12 years now. I have the luxury of working how I want to work, follow up appointments are 30 minutes / physicals are one hour. I'm sure I would get fired if I worked somewhere that required I see a patient in 15 minutes. I even make house calls when needed!

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
19 hours ago, AnnieNP said:

I was an ER / CCU / ICU nurse for 15 years before going back to school. I'm an Adult NP. When I went back to school for my NP it was knowing I would be working with my husband in his solo practice. I absolutely love primary care, I have been at it for 12 years now. I have the luxury of working how I want to work, follow up appointments are 30 minutes / physicals are one hour. I'm sure I would get fired if I worked somewhere that required I see a patient in 15 minutes. I even make house calls when needed!

That sounds awesome!

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Great topic

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First off, I never wanted to be a RN - it was a means to an end. I wanted the NP/provider role from the beginning. I wanted to diagnose, order diagnostics, prescribe, etc. I didn't want to take orders, I wanted to give them. I have a great job where my time is split between the OR, rounding on inpatients from ER to GMF to ICU, and seeing patients in clinic.

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On 4/9/2019 at 10:24 AM, Power2020 said:

DJ matte- yes it's a luxury to work in urgent care from that perspective. In urgent care you can give short term and send to PCP but if you are in family practice -it becomes a huge stressor- because everything depends on patient satisfaction. and this chronic narcotic issue is a huge ordeal.

This is definetly not as much of an issue in urgent care.

to FNP and beyond- I am considering working in specialty as well..which specialty did you chose and how do you like that compared to primary care?

I wasn't necessarily looking into working in specialty, it sort of "found" me. I was applying for jobs and came across a psych mental health outpatient position. In my previous primary care clinic, I was doing quite a bit of mental health screening, diagnoses, and prescribing, and found good satisfaction in helping people get better. I haven't started my new position yet, but I will be doing all the follow up care and treatments. The psychiatrist will do all the initial intake as I am not a psych NP, which I can understand her logic. I'll give myself about a year to determine if I truly like this field before going back to school to obtain my psych cert.

I may take a very part time position in primary care just so I don't lose my skills. I really do like primary care for the most part, and if there was an ideal position such as the one described above, I'd be staying. But for right now, and with my green experience, there aren't any positions readily available for me, and I needed to get out of my hellish experience before it got really bad and I risked losing my license.

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I became an NP because I had a burning desire to treat acute mental illness. While I utilize non-pharmacologic therapies every day, and I love my social workers and psychologists, there are some conditions that absolutely require drug treatment.

It has been everything I dreamed it would be. There have been some nightmarish scenarios as well, but I would do the exact same thing all over again.

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Specializes in Emergency medicine.
On 4/12/2019 at 2:09 PM, Dodongo said:

First off, I never wanted to be a RN - it was a means to an end. I wanted the NP/provider role from the beginning. I wanted to diagnose, order diagnostics, prescribe, etc. I didn't want to take orders, I wanted to give them. I have a great job where my time is split between the OR, rounding on inpatients from ER to GMF to ICU, and seeing patients in clinic.

I ask this sincerely -- if that was your goal, why didn't you choose medical school, where you'd receive the best preparation for this very important role? Why learn so much "nursing theory" if you wanted to learn medicine?

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On 5/10/2019 at 1:40 PM, TuxnadoDO said:

I ask this sincerely -- if that was your goal, why didn't you choose medical school, where you'd receive the best preparation for this very important role? Why learn so much "nursing theory" if you wanted to learn medicine?

Ugh. Long story. I got my first bachelor's degree, took the MCATs, applied to medical school, got interview invites, all the while I was very sick with a chronic illness, the illness got bad and I was hospitalized for a few weeks and life got crazy, I withdrew my apps for that cycle thinking I would try again next, didn't get better from my illness, decided my first bachelor's degree was worthless and I needed something to fall back on so I did a 1 year ABSN (you can do anything for a year), and as time went by my life changed. I'm still chronically ill and battling it every day with a lot of medications - rapidly approaching surgery. The NP route fit my life better. If things were different, I would have done medical school.

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On 5/10/2019 at 1:40 PM, TuxnadoDO said:

I ask this sincerely -- if that was your goal, why didn't you choose medical school, where you'd receive the best preparation for this very important role? Why learn so much "nursing theory" if you wanted to learn medicine?

Ugh. Long story. I got my first bachelor's degree, took the MCATs, applied to medical school, got interview invites, all the while I was very sick with a chronic illness, the illness got bad and I was hospitalized for a few weeks and life got crazy, I withdrew my apps for that cycle thinking I would try again next, didn't get better from my illness, decided my first bachelor's degree was worthless and I needed something to fall back on so I did a 1 year ABSN (you can do anything for a year), and as time went by my life changed. I'm still chronically ill and battling it every day with a lot of medications - rapidly approaching surgery. The NP route fit my life better. If things were different, I would have done medical school. And I purposefully chose the best NP program I could, little nursing theory, read multiple medical texts and did FT clinical with >3000 hours.

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Specializes in Emergency medicine.
3 hours ago, Dodongo said:

Ugh. Long story. I got my first bachelor's degree, took the MCATs, applied to medical school, got interview invites, all the while I was very sick with a chronic illness, the illness got bad and I was hospitalized for a few weeks and life got crazy, I withdrew my apps for that cycle thinking I would try again next, didn't get better from my illness, decided my first bachelor's degree was worthless and I needed something to fall back on so I did a 1 year ABSN (you can do anything for a year), and as time went by my life changed. I'm still chronically ill and battling it every day with a lot of medications - rapidly approaching surgery. The NP route fit my life better. If things were different, I would have done medical school.

Ah, that makes sense. Best of luck with your health challenges and I hope surgery goes well ?

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