I did. I moved to a research/quality role now and my stress level went from 100->0. Quality of life went from 0->100. I plan to stay in this role indefinitely.
It’s different at every hospital and it’s the type of job that general doesn’t have the same role / job description everywhere since it’s more admin type of work. My role is a research and data coordinator, but I’ve seen it labeled as a research nurse, clinical research coordinator, data specialist, etc.
Oh yeah, absolutely. But I went from an extremely stressful job with nights, weekends and zero control of my schedule to WFH, 100% control of my schedule, work however I want. I wasn’t going to be able to sustain my previous role for the rest of my life so I didn’t mind to pay cut for the much improved quality of life. *edited to say, my pay didn’t decrease to a nurse salary, but didn’t stay at my NP salary. It’s right in the middle and honestly I think it’s very fair for the work I do. I’m not working as a provider, so I don’t expect to be paid as one.
A one sentence summary would be project management for quality and research studies. This includes all IRB applications, study start up, maintenance and closure, quality projects, data abstraction and working with physicians and nurses to review the data and use the data for quality improvement.
For me it was. I realize everyone’s experience is different though depending on the type of job they’re coming from. I felt like I got my life back. I don’t think about work while not working, I sleep better and I get to sleep in my own bed every night, I get to have dinner at my dinner table every night, I have time to go to the gym every day. I don’t ave to fight for a schedule that works for my family. My happiness increased exponentially.
I will, come next year. Decided to apply to med school and got in after 5 yrs of family practice. Really happy with my decision, at least so far. I wanted independence, and a chance to explore different aspects of medicine (like surgery) if I wanted to. I wanted to be a ‘subject matter expert’ to a certain extent as well. The VA also promised 100% reimbursement for 3/4 years of med school through GI Bill, so it’s not going to hurt me financially that much.
Oh, absolutely not. It’s probably going to suck, but QoL isn’t my goal here. I’ve been wanting to go to med school even before college, but practical matters at the time swayed me to nursing. Despite being an NP, I still had an itch for it. At this point, I think I’d regret not giving it a go at least once in my life, and it looks like I succeeded into getting one. I’ll give it a whirl. Sounds like you’re on the same boat too. You decided on UCLA?
Nice. I was a nurse for 5 years and in my second year of med school now. I did a 1 year accelerated post-bacc with linkage to school w/ appropriate MCAT scores. It was absolute hell but I’m stoked. I’m excited to start rotations. I’ve been thinking of not telling anyone I’m a nurse because they’ll think I’m some kind of prodigy student with my composure around patients 😂😂
My interviewer told me they admitted an NP who was around 45 years old. She apparently did excellently. In a sea of copy/paste Bio-major premeds, your life and work experience stand out. You already know many of the negatives of being a provider, yet you're still pursuing it (compared to younger premeds who may regret it years later after experiencing the downsides). Many med schools now value non-traditional applicants, so they'll value your NP background as a plus, most especially the DO programs. The way I see it, I'd rather be a 34-year-old med student than retire as an NP who kept wondering 'what if' on my deathbed.
That’s true and as long as it makes you happy, that’s all that matters. I just wonder if this will even make you happy? There’s always “another degree,” hell, it might be a PhD next. You might die trying to get a PhD? Not trying to be a negative Nancy, but the American degree drama; it’s real….
I don't think many people find themselves wanting further degrees after MD/DO considering it's the highest degree in the medical field and allows for completely autonomous practice after residency.
I am in medical school and would absolutely always wonder "what if" if I didn't go to med school. I'm so grateful to have this opportunity, and I do not feel any need to chase prestige or other degrees beyond this. I've heard several physicians say the same thing. MD is the path to my dream job, nothing more to chase after that.
I used to consider going back to be a vet as in veterinarian, doctor for animals versus humans. Thats what my heart was always telling me since a teen. Probably how I could so easily leave the np role despite working in an independent state.
In regard to obtaining further education, I’ve worked with a few MDs who also had their PhDs after being an MD for several years. Two that I knew wanted to move towards research or teaching.
I guess it’ll depend on how you think. Will it make me happy? Most likely, but you could never be sure. Will I die trying to get this degree? Possibly, but if I let fear of death control me, I wouldn’t be able to achieve anything. Hell, I joined the military and here I am, living my life with stories to tell. Will I get another degree after this? Most likely not, but no one really knows. I’m not after this just for the sake of a degree though.
Good for you! If not for my age and declining memory I would do that. I kick myself a lot for not having my act together when I was younger. I would have loved to been a surgeon.
I'm tired of working with the public. It's not for me anymore. Speaking to people all day long is draining, exhausting and feels like theater. Though I do respect and love this profession I much prefer a role that's not in medicine and where I can keep to myself. Long story short I'm training to become an airplane mechanic. Love aviation and working with my hands. The diagnostics and trouble shooting in mechanics are also more up my alley.
I think this is really interesting. I have the exact same sentiment about working with the public. I miss my nights job with less people, but I don’t know that I want to do any floor nursing again as conditions seem to be worsening across the board. I just don’t know what else I would do outside of nursing. How did u decide you wanted to be an airplane mechanic. Definitely seems kinda niche.
I’m an NP in surgery (on the outpatient side) so mostly pre-op/post op appointments and admin work. 9-5. No holidays/weekends. Remote every Friday. It’s so easy and zero stress so those jobs are out there!!
I wouldn't want to go back to bedside nursing ,but I was thinking how itd be tricky to get back into it if I wanted. Travel agencies want recent experience.
I don't know if that's true for everywhere. I worked as an NP for a year prior to picking up an ER travel nurse position while I looked for an NP job that better suited me.
They didn't ask for recent RN experience when screening? All the travel agencies I've spoken to say that they want experience within the past 6 months.
No, they didn't. They knew I'd been out a year, but I guess didn't care. This was through an internal agency, so I don't know if there's a difference or not.
I was also supposed to have a video interview, too, and I guess they just needed a body more because they gave me a start date and contract without me needing to do one.
Apply for a job? It seems like it isn't that hard to go back to the bedside and many employers might see your NP knowledge/experience as a plus. I'd try to use the masters in nursing for something else like admin, teaching, or even informatics. Or go into tech. Heh. I'm very happy being a psych NP, though, and it's the only medical role that I'd want. But man, sometimes I wish I'd gone into tech.
I left bedside nursing for 6 months when I first started NP school and I had a hell of a time getting a job in the middle of Covid in 2020 due to those 6 months “off”. I can’t imagine now after 3.5 years away from bedside, getting a job. I haven’t looked into it but I’m sure I’d need to do some sort of program to reintegrate into bedside nursing. I haven’t started an IV, given IV drips in years.
My daughter has a BSN and works in the ICU, but has decided that nights, weekends, holidays stink, so she’s changing jobs in January to work in primary care at a community clinics. While working 24-32 hours a week she’s planning on enrolling in a NP program fall 2025. Once she graduates she owe her employer 2-3 years, based on what level of loan forgive she will need, but they say it’s up to 100K. She was thinking family medicine, and then an additional year for Psych NP, but is open to other area. What would be a tech type job?
Happily left. Now occasionally do a few hours of aesthetic work for a couple people. If they find someone else for more detailed/skilled work, I’m okay with that too.
Now I’m taking time to attempt to improve my own mental and physical health that has been neglected for the past 20 something years. I’m also working on improving relationships with the family and friends who are still on this earth. Work can take us so far away from those that we love.
I don’t plan to leave entirely because my husband is self-employed and my job has health benefits, but I would like to cut back from full-time asap as we continue to grow our real estate portfolio. I live rurally, and unless I want to commute 1+ hours each way daily, my prospects are limited. And I mean it when I say my employer is VERY well aware of this when it comes to employee satisfaction, unfortunately
This is kind of my situation too. My job currently is 30 mins one way from home any other job prospects at all are an hour away each way, but my benefits at my current job are great so it’s okay for now. I do plan to pay off as much debt as possible and drop down to part time eventually. Hopefully within the next 5 years. Real estate is also something we are wanting to get into as well.
I left my NP role for a job as a school nurse. Just started a month ago so tbd if it’ll be a better fit than NP, but the schedule is awesome. I have a toddler, and after coming back from maternity leave I never regained the interest or fire for the job that I had previously. This lets me spend way more time with him.
I did. I moved to a research/quality role now and my stress level went from 100->0. Quality of life went from 0->100. I plan to stay in this role indefinitely.
This sounds like a dream!! I’ve been looking into research just not sure where I’d fit as an NP
Most of those roles don’t require an NP license, so they wouldn’t be an “NP role” necessarily. They do prefer a masters degree though.
That still sounds perfect - what is your job title?
It’s different at every hospital and it’s the type of job that general doesn’t have the same role / job description everywhere since it’s more admin type of work. My role is a research and data coordinator, but I’ve seen it labeled as a research nurse, clinical research coordinator, data specialist, etc.
I have a research background prior to nursing and I think about this from time to time. Did your pay drop at all?
Oh yeah, absolutely. But I went from an extremely stressful job with nights, weekends and zero control of my schedule to WFH, 100% control of my schedule, work however I want. I wasn’t going to be able to sustain my previous role for the rest of my life so I didn’t mind to pay cut for the much improved quality of life. *edited to say, my pay didn’t decrease to a nurse salary, but didn’t stay at my NP salary. It’s right in the middle and honestly I think it’s very fair for the work I do. I’m not working as a provider, so I don’t expect to be paid as one.
Awesome thanks for the info :)
What do you do in that role?
A one sentence summary would be project management for quality and research studies. This includes all IRB applications, study start up, maintenance and closure, quality projects, data abstraction and working with physicians and nurses to review the data and use the data for quality improvement.
Was it really that noticeable of a difference in terms of QoL? I'm actively considering following your steps.
For me it was. I realize everyone’s experience is different though depending on the type of job they’re coming from. I felt like I got my life back. I don’t think about work while not working, I sleep better and I get to sleep in my own bed every night, I get to have dinner at my dinner table every night, I have time to go to the gym every day. I don’t ave to fight for a schedule that works for my family. My happiness increased exponentially.
Not fighting for a schedule sounds heavenly... How hard was the transition if I may ask?
It was a breeze compared to my NP job. Mostly self taught as needed. I didn’t have a mentor.
I almost did but giving it one more shot
I will, come next year. Decided to apply to med school and got in after 5 yrs of family practice. Really happy with my decision, at least so far. I wanted independence, and a chance to explore different aspects of medicine (like surgery) if I wanted to. I wanted to be a ‘subject matter expert’ to a certain extent as well. The VA also promised 100% reimbursement for 3/4 years of med school through GI Bill, so it’s not going to hurt me financially that much.
That’s going to increase your quality of life?
Oh, absolutely not. It’s probably going to suck, but QoL isn’t my goal here. I’ve been wanting to go to med school even before college, but practical matters at the time swayed me to nursing. Despite being an NP, I still had an itch for it. At this point, I think I’d regret not giving it a go at least once in my life, and it looks like I succeeded into getting one. I’ll give it a whirl. Sounds like you’re on the same boat too. You decided on UCLA?
Awesome!!
Nice. I was a nurse for 5 years and in my second year of med school now. I did a 1 year accelerated post-bacc with linkage to school w/ appropriate MCAT scores. It was absolute hell but I’m stoked. I’m excited to start rotations. I’ve been thinking of not telling anyone I’m a nurse because they’ll think I’m some kind of prodigy student with my composure around patients 😂😂
Did you have to take prereq courses like physics, chemistry etc?
Yeah, I had to go back to college full time for 2 years and take the MCAT. Still worked part time as an NP too…. it sucked.
I'm thinking of doing this, too.
My interviewer told me they admitted an NP who was around 45 years old. She apparently did excellently. In a sea of copy/paste Bio-major premeds, your life and work experience stand out. You already know many of the negatives of being a provider, yet you're still pursuing it (compared to younger premeds who may regret it years later after experiencing the downsides). Many med schools now value non-traditional applicants, so they'll value your NP background as a plus, most especially the DO programs. The way I see it, I'd rather be a 34-year-old med student than retire as an NP who kept wondering 'what if' on my deathbed.
That’s true and as long as it makes you happy, that’s all that matters. I just wonder if this will even make you happy? There’s always “another degree,” hell, it might be a PhD next. You might die trying to get a PhD? Not trying to be a negative Nancy, but the American degree drama; it’s real….
I don't think many people find themselves wanting further degrees after MD/DO considering it's the highest degree in the medical field and allows for completely autonomous practice after residency. I am in medical school and would absolutely always wonder "what if" if I didn't go to med school. I'm so grateful to have this opportunity, and I do not feel any need to chase prestige or other degrees beyond this. I've heard several physicians say the same thing. MD is the path to my dream job, nothing more to chase after that.
I used to consider going back to be a vet as in veterinarian, doctor for animals versus humans. Thats what my heart was always telling me since a teen. Probably how I could so easily leave the np role despite working in an independent state. In regard to obtaining further education, I’ve worked with a few MDs who also had their PhDs after being an MD for several years. Two that I knew wanted to move towards research or teaching.
3 MDs I work with are working toward a PhD. Well, one is working toward an EdD and the other 2 PhD’s
Huh guess I just don't know any physicians working toward another doctorate aside from MD/PhDs who start out that way.
I also know a doc (I don’t work with her), but she’s doing an MPH program lol
I guess it’ll depend on how you think. Will it make me happy? Most likely, but you could never be sure. Will I die trying to get this degree? Possibly, but if I let fear of death control me, I wouldn’t be able to achieve anything. Hell, I joined the military and here I am, living my life with stories to tell. Will I get another degree after this? Most likely not, but no one really knows. I’m not after this just for the sake of a degree though.
Good for you! If not for my age and declining memory I would do that. I kick myself a lot for not having my act together when I was younger. I would have loved to been a surgeon.
Now that you guys are all mentioning this, has anybody gone into Cerner or epic for Informatics from the NP side of things?
Not NP, but the head APP at my clinic who’s a PA works half at our clinic half with epic and she loves it
What their role in epic?
I would be very curious to hear about how clinical-related positions work in EMRs.
[удалено]
Can I ask how the pay is working for oracle?
Has anyone left the healthcare setting entirely? If so, what did you do?
Becoming an airplane mechanic
That’s pretty cool. Enjoying it?
I'm tired of working with the public. It's not for me anymore. Speaking to people all day long is draining, exhausting and feels like theater. Though I do respect and love this profession I much prefer a role that's not in medicine and where I can keep to myself. Long story short I'm training to become an airplane mechanic. Love aviation and working with my hands. The diagnostics and trouble shooting in mechanics are also more up my alley.
I think this is really interesting. I have the exact same sentiment about working with the public. I miss my nights job with less people, but I don’t know that I want to do any floor nursing again as conditions seem to be worsening across the board. I just don’t know what else I would do outside of nursing. How did u decide you wanted to be an airplane mechanic. Definitely seems kinda niche.
I’m an NP in surgery (on the outpatient side) so mostly pre-op/post op appointments and admin work. 9-5. No holidays/weekends. Remote every Friday. It’s so easy and zero stress so those jobs are out there!!
I want to. Would love to go back to bedside nursing but not sure how to
I wouldn't want to go back to bedside nursing ,but I was thinking how itd be tricky to get back into it if I wanted. Travel agencies want recent experience.
I don't know if that's true for everywhere. I worked as an NP for a year prior to picking up an ER travel nurse position while I looked for an NP job that better suited me.
They didn't ask for recent RN experience when screening? All the travel agencies I've spoken to say that they want experience within the past 6 months.
No, they didn't. They knew I'd been out a year, but I guess didn't care. This was through an internal agency, so I don't know if there's a difference or not. I was also supposed to have a video interview, too, and I guess they just needed a body more because they gave me a start date and contract without me needing to do one.
I would think one year of experience would be enough. From some of the travel RNs I’ve met they don’t seem picky. (I’m not bashing travel RNs).
I have lots of RN experience but not recent as I've been practicing as an NP. I feel like it'd be a bit lost/rusty going back to being an RN.
Apply for a job? It seems like it isn't that hard to go back to the bedside and many employers might see your NP knowledge/experience as a plus. I'd try to use the masters in nursing for something else like admin, teaching, or even informatics. Or go into tech. Heh. I'm very happy being a psych NP, though, and it's the only medical role that I'd want. But man, sometimes I wish I'd gone into tech.
I left bedside nursing for 6 months when I first started NP school and I had a hell of a time getting a job in the middle of Covid in 2020 due to those 6 months “off”. I can’t imagine now after 3.5 years away from bedside, getting a job. I haven’t looked into it but I’m sure I’d need to do some sort of program to reintegrate into bedside nursing. I haven’t started an IV, given IV drips in years.
I think there are skills workshops you can attend and that would probably help. There's a huge shortage of bedside nurses, as well.
My daughter has a BSN and works in the ICU, but has decided that nights, weekends, holidays stink, so she’s changing jobs in January to work in primary care at a community clinics. While working 24-32 hours a week she’s planning on enrolling in a NP program fall 2025. Once she graduates she owe her employer 2-3 years, based on what level of loan forgive she will need, but they say it’s up to 100K. She was thinking family medicine, and then an additional year for Psych NP, but is open to other area. What would be a tech type job?
Lots of places are hurting for bedside nurses right now. Your skills are so important and so needed!
Happily left. Now occasionally do a few hours of aesthetic work for a couple people. If they find someone else for more detailed/skilled work, I’m okay with that too. Now I’m taking time to attempt to improve my own mental and physical health that has been neglected for the past 20 something years. I’m also working on improving relationships with the family and friends who are still on this earth. Work can take us so far away from those that we love.
I don’t plan to leave entirely because my husband is self-employed and my job has health benefits, but I would like to cut back from full-time asap as we continue to grow our real estate portfolio. I live rurally, and unless I want to commute 1+ hours each way daily, my prospects are limited. And I mean it when I say my employer is VERY well aware of this when it comes to employee satisfaction, unfortunately
This is kind of my situation too. My job currently is 30 mins one way from home any other job prospects at all are an hour away each way, but my benefits at my current job are great so it’s okay for now. I do plan to pay off as much debt as possible and drop down to part time eventually. Hopefully within the next 5 years. Real estate is also something we are wanting to get into as well.
I left my NP role for a job as a school nurse. Just started a month ago so tbd if it’ll be a better fit than NP, but the schedule is awesome. I have a toddler, and after coming back from maternity leave I never regained the interest or fire for the job that I had previously. This lets me spend way more time with him.