NP/PMHNP Work Culture

[Iamchasingdreams]

Hello everyone,

I am currently a retail pharmacist and I am seriously considering saving up and switching careers with PMHNP as my final goal. I been scouting the boards and know of others in my profession planning on the switch, but want to know what the day to day looks like for a NP. I live in New York and just have a couple of questions on the job market and the work culture. I see myself graduating and getting credentialed as a PMHNP in the next 6 years. How difficult is it currently to find a job as a new grad in this market, especially if I don't plan on staying at the bedside for long? Would clinical rotations from school be enough? What other opportunities are there to make myself more competitive? Do you get paid for charting time if you are an hourly employee? How do companies treat call outs? Do they call the patients to reschedule their appointment or do you end up getting the other practitioner's patients for the day? Do they pay you extra if you end up going over your normal scheduled work hours in cases like that?

While I would greatly appreciate any feedback from any PMHNPs currently practicing in the NYC area, I am happy to hear all your thoughts! Thank you in advance!

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[DownJonesIndustrial]

Hello everyone,

I am currently a retail pharmacist and I am seriously considering saving up and switching careers with PMHNP as my final goal. I been scouting the boards and know of others in my profession planning on the switch, but want to know what the day to day looks like for a NP. I live in New York and just have a couple of questions on the job market and the work culture. I see myself graduating and getting credentialed as a PMHNP in the next 6 years. How difficult is it currently to find a job as a new grad in this market, especially if I don't plan on staying at the bedside for long? Would clinical rotations from school be enough? What other opportunities are there to make myself more competitive? Do you get paid for charting time if you are an hourly employee? How do companies treat call outs? Do they call the patients to reschedule their appointment or do you end up getting the other practitioner's patients for the day? Do they pay you extra if you end up going over your normal scheduled work hours in cases like that?

While I would greatly appreciate any feedback from any PMHNPs currently practicing in the NYC area, I am happy to hear all your thoughts! Thank you in advance!

Mental health practices vary widely in both culture and importance assigned to the prescribing practitioners (physician or NP). To that end, just about anything you can imagine is likely a possibility in your area. Your practice may be X and that across the street Y. My state also very different from NY in its general culture and persuasions.

If you work in a fee for service you're only going to get paid for the patient visit. Some practices enforce a no show fee that you may get a portion or all of. Some practices may be entirely salary which is lame. Others are hourly which isn't really bad but you can often make more money per "code." My favorite job was salary plus productivity compensation over and above the salary. Inpatient is remarkably different from outpatient. For me the sweet spot is outpatient telemedicine.

 

[pamac]

I'm salary plus productivity in my primary job. I won't discuss my secondary work. I live and work in the western half of the US in a state that has independent practice rights for NP's. I get paid quite well. I agree with the above mention that there is a wide variety of work and compensation arrangements.

Jumping from new grad RN into PMHNP school will hurt you a bit. As the market tightens, new grads will be more successful if they have some experience working in mental health. I won't help out PMHNP students who don't have good mental health nurse experience because so much of dealing with mental health patients involves a skill set that comes from dealing with them extensively. Quality will matter in the future if a job candidate wants to stand out. My job wouldn't have hired me if they wouldn't have seen my ability to deal well with patients. I just haven't seen that kind of acquired talent in folks that were ER nurses, or otherwise didn't have a strong foundation as a mental health nurse. Folks that don't have it often don't think they need it, and they are usually the folks that need the experience the most. "But I worked with mental patients as a medical nurse" doesn't cut it. That used to work when there was such a dearth of PMHNP's, but the landscape now is that there is a dearth of GOOD PMHNP's (or FNP's practicing as PMHNP's).

 

[NPDude362]

I personally don't feel like its worth it. Do your PGY1-2 or switch to an MTM job. I know some former retail pharmacists who got out of the retail setting and are making great money in a clinical role.