Why did you become a NP?

[climbingeverest]

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!

[Oldmahubbard]

I was not ever very interested in the RN role, I only hoped to be able to tolerate it. That was not in the cards.

In my day, we thought people had to be RN's for 8 or 10 years before transitioning to the NP role.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I loved being an RN in the ED. Didn’t love ICU as much but the ED was where it was at for me.

[PMHNP Man, MSN, APRN, NP]

I wanted to come in out of the cold. Never mind the other life.

I was looking for an office job in a role possessing arcane knowledge so my employment demand would be greater than competition supply. That resulted in several choices. Next, I distilled away work that was quantitative in nature as I prefer to produce words over numbers. I removed options that lead to work taken home, calls, after hours emails, etc and I was left with a smattering of healthcare jobs. Psych NP was the best option.

Aside from that, I considered professorial work, but there aren't enough politically conservative universities to work at. I'd like having been a geographer.

[PMHNP Man, MSN, APRN, NP]

1 minute ago, PMHNP Man said:

I wanted to come in out of the cold. Never mind the other life.

I was looking for an office job in a role possessing arcane knowledge so my employment demand would be greater than competition supply. That resulted in several choices. Next, I distilled away work that was quantitative in nature as I prefer to produce words over numbers. I removed options that lead to work taken home, calls, after hours emails, etc and I was left with a smattering of healthcare jobs. Psych NP was the best option.

Aside from that, I considered professorial work, but there aren't enough politically conservative universities to work at. I'd like having been a geographer.

But yes I usually enjoy my work. It's beginning to grow old, however.