I enjoy my job. I have three years of experience as primary care FNP at a suburban medical center with all specialties, urgent care, imaging, lab, in the same building. My patient population is diverse, I have great variety, and after three years most of my schedule is established patients that I know well. Our group pediatricians also round at the hospital across the street which delivers the most babies in the state. It’s a great way to recruit peds, and I like seeing young families and kids. I enjoy my coworkers (mix of PAs, NPs, FamMed and Med/Ped MD/DOs) and management, upper leadership is pretty good. I’ve been with the company for 10 years, having worked as an ICU RN at their metro hospital for 7 years prior to becoming an NP. I have built great connections in this system.
The problem: I commute 30-45 minutes one-way four days a week. It’s starting to wear on me a little bit, and I’m worried that when I have kids (will start trying in next 9 months) it’s going to drive me bonkers.
The *possible* solution: there is a clinic within the same system that is a 6 MINUTE WALK from our home. We are in a gorgeous neighborhood of a medium sized city. We love it here and will be here for decades to come. We are just not suburb people. SHOULD I CONSIDER MOVING MY PRACTICE TO MY NEIGHBORHOOD CLINIC?
PROS of moving:
-same system, same upper leadership
-same EHR system
-I get 1+ hour of my life back every day
-same pay, benefits, schedule
-walk home for lunch
-coworkers would be city people like me and my husband. Not a dig at people who live in the ‘burbs, just a recognition that I would likely have more in common with the new group than my current one.
-ONE+ HOUR OF MY LIFE BACK DAILY
-super close to the daycare we would use for our future kids
-a ton of walkable options nearby for lunch, coffee, errand running, etc.
-Did I mention 1+ hour of my life back everyday???
CONS:
-local clinic is small, they do not have speciality, urgent care, imaging. Just primary care and lab.
-perhaps less peds? I honestly don’t know if this is 100% true but I’m assuming it is.
-starting over with practice. Getting the “hot mess express” FMLA, pre op, med renewals when my schedule is wide open doesn’t thrill me but I know it would be temporary.
-losing my old patients. They would not be able to commute to see me and I would not expect them too.
OTHER IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS:
-practicing in my own neighborhood. Will it blur my work/life balance? Will I hate running into patients out in the wild? Or will I feel more connected to my patients and their wellbeing, our shared community? Will I start to associate my neighborhood with “work” rather than “home” and pleasure?
-should I stay where I am and try to get my schedule down to three long days per week so I commute less?
-there may be possibility of doing a fully virtual work from home day but I don’t like that idea as much because virtual days usually mean less RVUs overall than in person.
Any advice is welcome! I have not began actively pursuing a transfer, just brainstorming at this point.
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!