100 Reasons

  Advance for NPs&PAs puts out their job outlook for 2012. There is a supposed bright future for nurse practitioners and PA’s. They state that there is “cause for celebration,” but could they be “speaking too soon?” There are plenty of projected job openings for 2012, but where are they? We keep hearing about Obama’s affordable care act and the projections on the shortages for physicians, Nurse Practitioners and PAs, but I do not see anything actually changing.

I feel like I have a better chance of getting traffic to my new blog than actually uncovering that hidden enigma of the “average salary for an Nurse Practitioner” of which this newsletter speaks. I would love to hear how others are faring out there. I remember my professors coaching us and saying not to settle for “less than…” When I actually got out there on my own, it seemed like the people hiring were not quite sure what to do with me, or what the exact duties a nurse practitioner should consist of, never mind what my actual salary should be.

I just found this website advertising schools for nurse practitioners and it listed 100 reasons to become a nurse. Each time I scroll down the page I ask, “are these 100 good reasons to become a nurse?” I need something to help me crawl out of this funk and learn to appreciate my profession the way others say that I should. Where is this prosperous, wondrous, fulfilling field they call nursing? And what am I missing?

"You want to make a positive contribution," and you want to "do something that matters." I would say those are two good reasons most of us become a nurse. Those are the top 2 reasons on the website list too. After about 6 months of nursing at the bedside that you realize, you are grumpy and over worked. There is nothing positive about your contributions and if feels like nothing you do matters. Now that you have established feelings of unhappiness with the health care system, you find the drive to become something more. Here is where the nurse practitioner starts to penetrate your thoughts and leads to the illusion of an escape.

There was a time when I was starting my classes for the nurse practitioner program when I would ask the nurse practitioners how they felt about their jobs. They loved it. They were so happy and they were motivation for me to keep going even when things were really tough. I was balancing school, work and home, and it was not easy. That's how most nurse practitioners do, though. It is not an easy process. I think that most people perceive nursing easier to get into than medical school and maybe it is. I will tell you that most doctors do not complete their schooling while working full time and raising their families. So, one would think that the end results would consist of mutual respect and understanding for one another. Where are those nurse practitioners that kept me ticking and where is the fountain that they drank from?

References

The 2012 Job Outlook for NPs and PAs.  Advance for NPs&PAs. http://nurse-practitioners-and-physician-assistants.advanceweb.com/Features/Articles/The-2012-Job-Outlook-for-NPs-PAs.aspx.  Accessed January 6, 2012.

100 Reasons to Become a Nurse.  Nurse Practitioner Schools, 2009. http://nursepractitionerschools.org/100-reasons-to-become-a-nurse/.  Accessed January 7, 2012.