DAY 2: Explore a New Specialty
DAY 4: Consider Practice Ownership
DAY 6: Reflect on Your Progress
NP Week KICKOFF
“The days are long, but the years are short”. This saying can be particularly poignant for healthcare professionals. While the daily grind seems endless, your career can fly by in an instant. Wherever you are in your professional journey, you are meeting countless milestones and learning new things. Try writing a letter to the version of you as an NP student, new graduate, or novice clinician. Think about how different life felt back then, the things you’ve accomplished since the start of your career, and where you want to go in the future. Tell your past self that it’s okay to feel discouraged, tired, or conflicted, because all of your experiences (both positive and negative) have shaped you into the person you have become today. When you think about the big picture, the little challenges seem worth it. After completing this exercise, you may find ways to stay motivated and get a boost of self confidence.
Have you ever dreamed of opening your own clinic but not sure where to start? The path to business ownership might be simpler than you think. Fitzgerald offers educational content that guides NPs through the intricacies of the practice startup process. Learn about financial considerations, marketing, legality, LLC registration, budgeting, staffing, and more. Attend the “Opening Your Own Practice: The Elite NP Way” webinar hosted by successful NP and practice owner Justin Allan, or learn from entrepreneurial Fitzgerald faculty members Sally Miller and Wendy Wright in the “Starting Your Own Practice” episode of the NP Professional Series.
After you’ve passed boards and secured a clinical role, it’s easy to get pigeonholed into a specific area of medicine. This year's NP Week is the perfect opportunity to check out new practice areas. Evaluate which body systems or disciplines you know the least about and carve out time to explore them. You’re guaranteed to learn something new, and you may even discover a career path you’ve never considered. It’s also important for NPs to stay on the pulse of which healthcare modalities patients are most interested in. Functional medicine is rapidly gaining popularity. This field both caters to market demand and challenges NPs to think critically about patient diagnostics, treatments, motivational interviewing, and more. Fitzgerald offers a plethora of courses that can help NPs discover their new passion, including the brand new Functional Medicine course.
A Week Well Spent: Make the Most of NP Week The rest of the year is spent caring for patients, but this week is the time to focus on you! Here are seven ways to enrich your professional life in seven days.
DAY 5: Write for a Clinical Journal
DAY 1: Get Some Quality Shut Eye
DAY 3: Try New Types of CE
While this will certainly take more than a day, NP Week is a great time to expand your horizons into medical writing. Getting published in an esteemed journal can bolster your CV/resume, unlock new professional opportunities, and establish yourself as a leading voice in your field. Brainstorm topics you have advanced knowledge of and dive into the editorial process. Options include case studies or clinical pearls from your specialty, opinion pieces on healthcare trends, pharmacology updates, or case-based explorations into the impacts of healthcare policy or regulations. Research journals that best align with your values and practice areas and learn about the application process for each. Get feedback from trusted peers or supervisors, and once your work is fully polished, put yourself out there and submit!
You can’t pour from an empty cup. Sleep deprivation has been shown to severely impact cognitive function and decision making, which can lead to potentially dangerous mistakes or oversights at work. However, not all sleep is good sleep. To truly rejuvenate, you should aim to get between seven to nine hours of sleep per day. To promote a healthy sleep cycle, be sure to put down all electronics at least an hour before bedtime. This especially applies to work devices like cell phones or pagers. If possible, avoid caffeine at least six hours before bedtime in order to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep longer. Getting at least 30 minutes of sunlight per day is a powerful tool for regulating your circadian rhythm. Optimizing your body’s internal clock can facilitate natural sleepiness at appropriate times.
DAY 7: Celebrate You & Your Fellow NPs
Fulfilling CE requirements can feel tedious and repetitive, especially when you’ve stuck to one format for an extended period of time. In honor of NP Week, switch up your CE regimen with new ways to learn. Do you exclusively utilize on- demand courses? Try attending an in-person session instead! By breaking free from your usual routine, you can engage with peers, meet Fitzgerald faculty in the flesh, and allow the information you learn to truly permeate. If you’re looking for ways to save on CE, sign up for some of Fitzgerald’s free continuing education opportunities. Both live and recorded versions of our NP Talks webinar series are available now, and feature hyper-focused topics such as respiratory disease, adrenal health, epigenetics, suicide prevention, and more.
Nurse practitioners come from all walks of life and occupy an array of clinical roles. But all are united in the mission to make the world a healthier place. Nursing can be a thankless job, so it’s important to give kudos to yourself, your peers, and your mentors.
This NP Week, don’t just go through the motions—make it meaningful. Whether you're catching up on rest, exploring a new clinical niche, or finally drafting that journal article, take time each day to invest in you. You’ve earned it, and the impact you make every day is worth celebrating.
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