Choosing to Work in Colorado

I have always wanted to go to Colorado, especially to visit the parks and go hiking. So, I decided to get licensed there. I am only interested in working there during summer months since I hate the cold. Unfortunately, Colorado doesn’t always have a plethora of locum tenens job options.  So, when a family practice opportunity became available starting in July, I jumped on the opportunity.

The site is in a small town called Limon, which is 1 hour east of Denver. I have worked rural health before, but lately I prefer being within 1 hour of a large city. One benefit of working rural health is that you aren’t swamped with patients the way you are in urban areas. For instance, at this site, patients are scheduled in 30-minute intervals. The average amount of patients seen per day is 10-15 per provider. This means, I won’t get burnt out.

Working in rural areas means there is a limited supply of housing options. The site has a house they use for their locums, but it is currently in use. Thus, I will be staying in an extended stay hotel for at least the first month. This isn’t my normal preference. Especially, because none of the hotels in Limon have a kitchenette.

They secured a Holiday Inn Express for me to stay in. I am provided with a suite which is nice, so the room is spacious. It does have a microwave and kitchenette. The hotel also has free breakfast as an option.

I asked for my agency to send me a hotplate so I can at least cook some things on a frying pan. They did not hesitate and sent me a $50 amazon gift card to purchase the hot plate and frying pan which I appreciated. Just a reminder – that you don’t get what you don’t ask for. I don’t mind staying at this hotel because I actually need to accumulate some points for this hotel brand, so I can use when I travel to Asia later this or next year.

It’s the first time I am working outside of Florida and not with the geriatric clinics in 2 years. I have to admit that I am a bit nervous about the transition. I am looking forward to working in a new state and having some new experiences.

Interviewing for Locum Tenens Positions

Before Covid, interviews for locum tenens positions were so casual. The site would call you for a brief phone interview. They just wanted to talk about the site, ask you a few questions, and answer any questions you may have. These phone calls were often merely 15-30 minutes long.

In the past, I have taken these phone interviews while on lunch break at work; driving on my way home; or cooking dinner. In fact, the geriatric clinic I normally work for, has an extensive interview process for their permanent providers. It entails 5 or 6 interviews with different leaders, shadowing one of the other providers, touring the clinic etc. Ironically, my phone interview for them as a locums ended up only being 10 minutes while I was laying at the pool. And I ended up working with them on and off over the past 7 years.

Fast forward to now, and it seems like ever since Covid happened, many sites realized they can do interviews by video now (instead of just phone). As a result, many of them are requesting video interviews. This was annoying to me while I was in Europe recently, because I had to make sure I was home and looking sharp when it was time for the video interview. I couldn’t just answer my phone on the fly like I am used to.

In fact, I was so mad at myself for moving forward with a video interview for the California job (as I mentioned in my previous post), that I didn’t really want. I remember I was traveling in Luxembourg, and had to make sure I was at the hotel in time for the interview. And guess what?! The interview took 1.5 hours! I was like ‘are you serious’?

They ended up asking me tons of questions as if I was a permanent hire. They said they had to fill out a questionnaire for HR, which is why they had so many questions. I was even more annoyed because deep down I knew I didn’t even want to work there. And here I was wasting 1.5 hours of my life when I was visiting a new country for the first time. I had to apologize to my friend as well, because I thought the interview would only take 30 minutes.

During my recent job search, I was reminded of a pet peeve of mine. Normally, the agency schedules the phone interview, then provides our phone number to the site, and then someone from the site will call us for the interview. Yet, I was reminded that Barton Associates doesn’t do it this way. They are the only agency that I know of that has one of their lead recruiters do a three-way call between you and the site.

So, the lead recruiter is listening in during the entire interview. I personally do not like that. It seems sketchy and as if I am child being supervised by my parent. I am not sure why they listen in, if it’s because they want to make sure you don’t talk numbers with the client or to see how the interview went etc.

I don’t think they even pay attention because one time the Medical Director was saying why they were so interested in me (I worked with a previous company many times that they are very familiar with). Then they spent the remainder of the interview explaining the site and how things would work. At the end of the interview the Lead Recruiter told me to explain to the site why I would be a good fit for them. Which proved she wasn’t listening because the Medical Director had already spent 5 minutes saying he knew I was a good fit since I had worked at a similar company.

Do any of you have any recent interesting interview experiences you would like to share?

Financial Coaching – TheWealthyNP

I’ve gotten really into finances over the last 4 years. Luckily I was already doing everything right before that, such as investing in my retirement accounts and in real estate. I have been helping my close friends and family work on their financial goals over the past few years – such as paying off student loans, investing in the stock market, and increasing their savings. I have really enjoyed it and decided to take the next step and become a financial coach.

I created a new account on instagram called TheWealthyNP (follow me there!) to help educate other people on personal finance. I’ll be posting fun financial topics and offer opportunities for 1:1 coaching.

I became a millionaire in my early 30’s, while only working 8 months or less each year. I paid off $50k in student loans in 3 years. I invest in the stock market for my future and retirement. And I own 3 real estate properties.

Follow me on instagram @thewealthynp if you also want to reach financial freedom!

Working as a Nurse Practitioner Abroad

Locum Tenens for Nurse Practitioners in other countries isnt as prevalent as it is for physicians. I wrote an article about which countries abroad recognize nurse practitioners for full-time positions. The salary for NPs is significantly lower abroad than in the USA (this is also true for physicians). Check out the article below:

https://www.npschools.com/blog/working-in-nursing-abroad

The Benefits of Acupuncture

I recently wrote an article sharing my thoughts on the benefits of acupuncture. A lot of providers are not aware of its effect on illness and health. I have plenty of experience having patients do acupuncture with great relief. Especially elderly patients that cannot take most prescriptive pain medications or anti-inflammatories.

https://www.npschools.com/blog/benefits-of-acupuncture

Searching for an Assignment after my Mini-Retirement

When I started my mini-retirement this summer, I wasn’t exactly sure how long I would be gone for. I figured it would be 3 months at a minimum, but I didn’t want to commit to any jobs until last minute. Finally, at the end of May I decided I would go back to work at the beginning of July. From my previous experiences, searching 1 month ahead of time in a state I am already licensed in, is more than enough time.

I had interviewed with a few sites that I liked, but then found out the credentialing could take 60-90 days. I was surprised that this ended up being more common than I thought. I didn’t want to wait until August or September to start working.

So, my search criteria priorities quickly became:

-Credentialing in less than 30 days

-Site needs to be in a state that is currently warm for summer but normally too cold for me to visit outside of summer

-Patients need to be all ages

I was initially nervous when the majority of the sites seemed to have the longest credentialing. It had been a while since I was the one actively searching for an assignment versus sites just pursuing me. Since I am a family nurse practitioner, I needed experience working with pediatrics to keep my credentialing active. It had been 2 years (outside of telemedicine) since I had worked with any children.

Thus, I couldn’t work at the geriatric clinics I normally work with. I felt like I was a newbie traveling nurse practitioner all over again. I didn’t stress out because I knew that job opportunities can change day to day.

There was an assignment in Florida I really wanted but they wanted me to start the following week, and I still had plans to travel in Europe for the remainder of the month. Therefore, they went with someone else.

Soon after, I had 3 solid options to choose from. I ended up prioritizing location. One of the options was in Maine. I had worked in Maine before and really enjoyed it, so I didn’t mind returning there. The facility seemed very fair as far as scheduling and workplace culture.

The other option was in California, right outside of San Francisco. This was honestly just my backup option. I didn’t really want to work there, especially because as a locums now you have to be paid as a W2 employee in CA, and I wanted to get paid as a 1099 contractor (because you can take home more of the pay). It was my backup option because CA is always desperate for traveling nurse practitioners.

I ended up choosing my 3rd option which I will share in another post. I just found it interesting that many sites seem to be looking for coverage way in advance than they used to be. I remember in the past, the sites wanted someone that is available to start within a couple of weeks or the same month. Now, a lot of the listings are for positions 3 months from now. I am sure many people like knowing what they are doing in advance, but I have gotten used to being a last minute planner when it comes to choosing an assignment.

Health Insurance – Part 2

See here for my original post on obtaining health insurance as a Locum Tenens Nurse Practitioner:

Health Insurance

Over the past few years, I found myself working mostly with Comp Health because they have the contract with the geriatric clinics I typically work with. Since Comp Health pays traveling nurse practitioners as W2 employees, one of the benefits they provide is health insurance.

While having this health insurance, I make sure to get all of my preventative care and labs done while on assignment. I always take some time off during an assignment to go back home. At this time, I will schedule appointments with my Dentist and Primary Care Provider. Since I am still on assignment, then these appointments are all covered by my employer provided health insurance.

Last year, I even had a minor surgery. I decided to plan it while on assignment so I had good insurance to cover the majority of the expenses. I took a week off after the surgery and then returned to my assignment.

When I am not working with Comp Health, I get a high deductible health plan from the Marketplace (Affordable Care Act health insurance options). My premium is low ~$200/month. I just keep this insurance in case of a medical emergency.  

The reason I am sharing this is because if you know you will need some type of medical procedure soon, I recommend you taking on an assignment with a W2 agency that provides health insurance. Then schedule your medical appointments in the middle of your assignment so that it can be covered by the health insurance provided by the agency. Most sites do not mind if you take some time off as long as you let them know ahead of time.

European Mini-Retirement

I spent 6 weeks in Europe during my latest mini-retirement/sabbatical. The first 4 weeks were spent with my boyfriend traveling around Spain. A new city for me was Alicante. I really liked it there because it’s a  small town that is on the beach. It’s very walkable and has a cute city center. The beach is beautiful and meets m Florida standards.

I went to Seville again because it was my boyfriend’s first time. It ended up being better than I remembered. We stayed in the old town area which has a very nice vibe and architecture. I also went to Valencia again but it wasn’t as enjoyable as my first time. Interestingly, I almost spent my 3 month sabbatical there last year instead of Barcelona. Thank goodness I went with Barcelona, because there isn’t much to do in Valencia and it isn’t as walkable as Barcelona. There are way more things to do in Barcelona and I like the diversity there too. We concluded the trip by spending a week in Barcelona, so we could just relax and be somewhere familiar.

I then met up with a friend in Belgium. I had been there before but went to the Atomium for the first time which was pretty neat. The Belgian chocolate was better than I had remembered. We spent a day in Luxembourg which was interesting. There isn’t much to do there and it’s actually pricey. I did enjoy the free public transportation including trams and buses.

Afterwards we spent a week in London. This was my second time visiting there. Last time we did a more historic tour, going to the tower of London, Henry VIII palace, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Shakespeare’s globe etc. This time it was more of a local, artsy, culinary tour.

We went to Borough marketplace and had some yummy food there. We went to Chinatown, Covent Garden, and other cute areas. We visited Windsor Castle which I really enjoyed.

Then I met up with my mom in Scotland. We had both wanted to go there after watching the show Outlander. Scotland did not disappoint. My favorite part was the Scottish Highlands. We had perfect weather and got to drive through mountains of green landscape. We got to feed Scottish Cows (called Coo). I also enjoyed Edinburgh castle, as I have always been quite fond of Mary Queen of Scots.

Afterwards, we went to Stockholm, Sweden. It ended up being more diverse than I expected, with many Africans, Arabs, and Asians. I went to the Viking Museum and saw my first Viking ship which was actually huge!

On our way back to the USA, we made a quick stop in Paris for 2 days. Paris is one of my favorite cities and any opportunity to spend extra time there is a plus. Since I have been to Paris several times already, this time we spend the day right out of side of Paris to visit Chateau Malmaison. This is the home of Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte. It ended up being better than I could have imagined!

Even though you can easily find Napoleon in Paris (at the Louvre, Hotel Invalides, etc) I have never seen so much of his stuff in one place. They had plenty of his original furniture, paintings, busts, swords, china, clothes, and even boots. Since I have been Napoleon’s #1 fan since learning about him as a child, I felt like I was in an adult Disneyworld. I have hundreds of pictures to look back on.

I had a great time again in Europe but have to admit that I am exhausted. I might have to take a break from going back to Europe for a while.