Welcome to my crazy new life as a new Family Nurse Practitioner. Actually, I have been practicing now for a little over a year. So let's say I'm fairly new but with more confidence than that first day on the job. Let me give you a little background on myself: I'm in my 40's, happily married with two teenage boys. I was an ER nurse for way too many years before I decided to jump ship and try my hand at being a healthcare provider. I attended a prominent university and after 5 grueling years (I worked full-time while going to grad school) graduated at the top of my class. Early on as an FNP I realized that while I may have been an expert ER nurse (I was freaking awesome at my job!) I didn't know shit from shinola about being an FNP (we will talk more about my epiphany)! While I had read many NP blogs during grad school, they were mostly about the dry content of the job - you know, disease processes, new meds, healthcare reform, blah blah blah. Now don't get me wrong, all of that is vital to being able to perform your job well, but that isn't what I needed to read about in my darkest hours as a new FNP. I needed to hear that others had felt the same way I was feeling, that I wasn't alone, that I had made the right decision to take this career path. I needed words of wisdom that would quell the pit of fire that seemed to be burning incessantly in my gut. I did find one blog that was great, and it made me feel a little better, but it was a few years old and there weren't any new updates. So that brings me to my blog. Because I was feeling inept, dumb as hell and scared shitless when I started, I hope this blog will give you reassurance that these feelings are normal...and it will get better (it may take a while, and slowly but surely you will start to have those "aha" moments and realize that you know more than you ever thought you did)! Since I don't want to look like a giant run-on sentence, I will break down my first few initial posts.