Know your worth.

golden eggs

Do you know how many patients a nurse practitioner sees on average per hour?

57.4% of NPs see 3 or more patients in an hour.

Is that a surprising stat or what?!

It’s extremely important in the interview process when looking for a job as an NP to ask what the patient load is like in that specific work environment.

If you only have 15-20 minutes with each patient, this can lead to burn out and the quality of your care (and life) may suffer. 

This statistic of seeing 3, OR MORE, patients per hour should fuel you in recognizing your value and worth as an NP, whether you’re new or experienced. 

You are providing significant revenue-generating services for your organization. 

Not only that, but you are contributing to quality care outcomes too… 

Exhibit A: Compared to MD-assigned patients, NP-assigned patients incur fewer total and ambulatory care sensitive hospitalizations. 

Exhibit B: A systematic review of 10 randomized controlled trials found that NPs “demonstrated equal or better outcomes than physician groups for physiologic measures, patient satisfaction, and cost”.

Exhibit C: NP independence increases the frequency of routine checkups, improves care quality, and decreases emergency room use by patients with ambulatory care sensitive conditions. 

It’s important to know your value as a nurse practitioner. 

Know that you provide revenue-generating (and cost saving) services. 

Know that you contribute to the greater utilization of health care. 

Know that you help reduce medical costs. 

Know that you help improve health delivery outcomes. 

With this knowledge, know that you are more valuable than your prospective employer wants you to ever know. During your first (or any interview) make sure you are interviewing them as well. You need to decide if this job will be a good fit for you. 

Ask questions that get a sense of your caseload and how many patients you are expected to see per hour. Ask about non-compete clauses that may limit your future employment. Ask about sign on bonuses. You have options when you recognize the value you are bringing to a company. 


If you want to delve deeper into interviewing and negotiating offer contracts, the next step is to sign up for my NP for NPs: Unsure to Unstoppable course. Click the link below to learn more!

Get the Psychiatric Templates Bundle!

Your reference for creating clear, high quality notes (for Psych NPs!)

psychiatric evaluation template bundle contents