This week is for you, NP! Demanding schedules and heavy workloads may kick your brain into survival mode—keeping you from slowing down and taking stock of the true impact you make on the world. This year, we invite you to savor this celebration of the skills, work ethic, and unrelenting empathy that allow you to deliver quality care.
America Trusts You
People don’t just pick their provider out of a hat. They deliberately seek care from those they believe are educated, skilled, and experienced. According to the most recent Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, patients frequently rate their experiences and interactions with nurse practitioners statistically higher than, or equal to, their physician colleagues.
In primary care settings, over 90% of poll respondents who received care from a nurse practitioner were willing to see the NP again. Overall patient satisfaction (in multiple sectors) reached 75%, compared to 68% for MDs. As NPs continue to occupy new niches in the healthcare sector and more patients interact with nurse practitioners in diverse settings, positivity and loyalty rates are projected to rise.
You Chose the Right Path
There are two sides to this coin: emotions and practicality. Not only is the NP profession right for you because of your big heart and wealth of knowledge, you’re also travelling down a career path rife with opportunity and job security. The NP profession has been ranked as the number one job in America for three years in a row, including both healthcare and STEM overall.
This designation is based on critical factors, including salary, mobility, quality of life, and autonomy. With yearly compensation averaging in the mid-six figures across the nation, the NP profession strikes a great balance between required education and earning potential. Jobs continue to open up in a wide variety of fields, meaning there is most likely space for you in any specialty you decide to pursue. NPs regularly report satisfaction with their earnings and work-life balance—with even more self-reported contentment among those who own their own practice.
Tip! Take a deeper look at the current state of the NP profession with Fitzgerald’s Salary Guide & Report.
You’re Allowed to Rest
In aircraft emergencies, adults are instructed to put on their oxygen mask before assisting others. Your career is no different. You can’t pour from an empty cup, and you must help yourself before you can help anyone else.
Rest is imperative for satisfactory patient outcomes and reduces the risk of critical errors. Sleep deprivation has been shown to significantly impede cognitive function, dampening your ability to accurately absorb information, follow protocols, or perform intricate clinical tasks effectively. So, this NP Week, give yourself permission to rest. Your patients are counting on the version of you that’s had a chance to refuel.
You’re Someone’s Safe Space
Though they may not vocalize it directly, at least one patient has had their fear or worries eased by your professionalism and positive presence. Patients come to your office seeking a healer and confidant all in one, and the non-judgmental, confidential care you deliver fulfills these crucial needs. Whether they walk into the exam room for a well visit or during crisis, being truly listened to and treated with respect makes a big difference.
A substantial portion of the population has had a negative experience in clinical settings, which can lead to anxiety or avoidance in seeking care altogether. Your kindness and competency can flip the narrative, helping a patient address longstanding concerns, keep up to date with preventative medicine, or develop more trust in providers overall. Everyone deserves an advocate for their well-being, and you rise to the challenge every day.
Don’t Fear, You’ve Got This.
Think back on a time where you thought, “there’s no way I can figure this out”. Odds are, you did. There’s a reason boards are so difficult to pass: they are designed to weed out those who do not yet possess the critical thinking and problem-solving skills necessary to competently practice medicine. But you passed, and you’ve earned your place in the competitive healthcare sphere. You’re here for a reason, and that means no hurdle is too large to overcome.
Maybe it means seeking extra help or going back to the basics, like confiding in a more experienced colleague or dissecting the problem under the lens of clinical theory. Fitzgerald offers this hybrid approach to clinical problem solving, connecting you with our robust network of expert faculty and providing access to the most up to date guidelines on diagnostics, pharmacology, functional medicine, and more.
As a huge thank you to our thriving community of NPs, we’re offering special sitewide savings!
Use code NPWEEK for 25% off all CE + Review, MEMBER28 for 28% off Memberships, and CERT33 for 33% off Certificate Programs.
