It has become apparent in the last 2 years to almost everyone on earth that nursing is a career that more people need to get involved with.
If you have considered becoming a nurse, you may already be undertaking your training or you may be thinking about your long-term career prospects in this field. In turn, this may lead you to consider becoming a family nurse practitioner.
Many things prompt registered nurses to pursue a path to becoming a family nurse practitioner, one of which is that this career choice offers a wider area to grow in, along with a higher level of personal satisfaction at a job well done. It also allows you to have more responsibility and flexibility in the nursing profession, meaning that you will likely be able to balance your work and your life better than you would be able to when operating as a nurse.
It is worth noting that it is predicted within the next 5 years that nursing as a profession is going to grow as much as 25%, as the demands for registered nurses and nurse practitioners become more prevalent. This makes 2022 a great time to invest some sort into training as a family nurse practitioner.
In this article, the 5 top reasons why nurses choose to become family nurse practitioners will be discussed, so you can assess if this is a job option that you want to pursue.
1. Flexibility
Nurse practitioners, especially family nurse practitioners, rarely work in ERs. They typically operate out of hospital clinics, schools, urgent care centers, and even private doctor’s practices. This means that you will have a greater degree of flexibility in the hours that you work, allowing you to have a better work-life balance. This is also the case with the training as well, as you can now undertake family nurse practitioner training easily via an online FNP MSN program from the comfort of your home.
When you become a nurse practitioner, you can even operate your own medical practice, in which you will be able to choose the hours that the practice is open, and you will be able to choose how regularly you work or don’t. The same applies if you train as a nurse practitioner and decide to pursue a side venture into teaching. You are more likely to be offered flexibility in this role than you would be in a registered nursing role.
2. Earning
A family nurse practitioner will earn more than a standard registered nurse. The pay you receive will vary greatly depending on your area of specialization, the years of experience that you have, and which state you are in. In addition to receiving higher levels of pay, these positions in senior nursing often also come with bonus packages. So, you may even be able to receive better rates of holiday pay, longer holidays, or pension-related benefits.
3. Prospects
There is a shortage of primary care physicians which, as mentioned earlier, was highlighted in 2020. So, family nurse practitioners and general nurse practitioners are being encouraged heavily with programs and funding to take on additional training. However, if you already have a nursing degree and are considering becoming a nurse practitioner, you have a greater range of prospects ahead of you, which may include training other nurses, working in an educational setting, or even starting your own medical practice.
4. More Responsibility
Few people consider more responsibility to be a good thing, but if you are a nurse, you can probably handle taking on a bit more. You will be required as a family nurse practitioner to treat patients with a range of illnesses and will be responsible for assessments, diagnostics, the ordering of tests, and even the admission of patients to a hospital if necessary.
You can even opt to open your own practice as a nurse practitioner. This will allow you to be a head clinician, which will put you in charge of the performance of the nurses under your care, meaning you will also be held to even more of a leadership role than you would have had on the wards.
5. Autonomy
If you have ever worked on a ward as a nurse (and you will have), you will realize that the nurses on the ward are almost a hive entity, as you are all working together to provide patient care to the highest level. This means that if there is an error, it can be hard to track and identify the cause, impacting negatively on patient care. A benefit of becoming a family nurse practitioner is that you can be more self-governing, and self-directed, and have a wider range of choices towards patient care and you will know when you make a mistake, rather than second-guessing.
if you are considering training as a nurse practitioner, you can find a range of options to do so online. This is now a course that can be undertaken via an online platform, which will allow you to fit gaining this qualification around other responsibilities.