How I Almost Went Perm

When I realized I only had 1 more month left of my year long assignment, I found myself becoming sad. I was close to my co-workers and I truly cared about the 250+ patients in my panel. I began to wonder if I could see myself working anywhere else.

I mentioned to one of the physicians that it was bittersweet that the end was near. She replied that I should consider becoming permanent. She told me that I wouldn’t have to stay there forever, but could commit to 1 or 2 years. I laughed because I never even thought a permanent job would be an option for me.

Yet, I started to ponder over the idea of staying there permanently. The clinic wanted me to help them open one of their new clinics in Florida afterwards. I thought about how I would have to start all over. I would have to get to know 250+ patients from scratch, in comparison to already knowing my current patient panel pretty well. The most challenging time at my job were the first 6-9 months becoming familiar with the patients and helping them become stable. Afterwards, my patients improved so much, that their frequent visits with me became a breeze.

My patient outcomes were really good, that I could have easily become on track for partner status. Becoming a partner with the firm meant an automatic raise, quarterly bonuses, and some other perks such as an easier referral process.

Although there was a permanent physician starting right after my assignment was ending, I knew me staying would really help the clinic. I could continue to carry my current patient panel, while the new physician accepted all of the new patients. Our clinic was growing very quickly, about 50 new patients per month, and there was no provider for them to go to. Nurse practitioners at my site have a panel of about 250 patients, where as the physicians have a panel of 400 patients.

This meant that I could continue with my current panel since I was already maxed out. I wouldn’t even have to take any new patients. Or the physician gave me the idea that if I agreed to stay permanently, I could discuss with the medical director that I would stay with the possibility of giving a handful of my most complex patients to one of the partner physicians. Since those partner physicians have been there for years, their panel should be really stable since they have a long-term relationship with their patients, and could afford to acquire a few more complex patients to their panel.

This all sounded pretty great, but my next posting will be about the reasons why I did not choose to stay permanently.

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