Four Months In
So, I have been officially been practicing as an NP for 4 months. I guess all of the sudden it dawned on me that I am one-third
of the way through my first year. It seems pretty paltry in the grand scheme of things, but I do feel like I have collected some valuable experience already. Here are some reflections.
1) Ask, ask, ask. When job hunting, ask as many questions as possible about a potential offer. For example, in my contract it said "health benefits after 3 months." I did not ask exactly what those benefits were, how much I would be responsible for paying each month, or how much my employer would pay. I was functioning under the assumption that every healthcare job has good healthcare benefits. WRONG! If I had explored this further with the right questions, I might have made a different job choice.
2) Practice your professional communication skills. Remember the call schedule fiasco? Not all conflicts will be that dramatic, but they will pop up in the workplace as much as they do anywhere else in your life. The difference is that you can't scream and yell (or you can, and get fired). You must prepare yourself to practice assertive, professional communication with staff and colleagues. Don't become one of those people that say nothing and inwardly stew, or someone that is always verbally abrasive and draws everyone's ire. It's not good for you personally or professionally.
3) There is still so much to learn. I am longing to go to a lecture on renal failure, or seizure disorders, or orthopedics, or chronic pain. These are problems I see all the time and feel like I know a thumbnail's worth of knowledge. My next goal this year is to get myself into some CE classes stat. You can't afford to not update your skill set constantly. In primary care, the breadth of what you need to know is vast.
These are topics that many graduate programs discuss in some form. But it is an entirely different perspective from the other side! I wonder what the next four months will bring.