Nowadays, California is believed to be a state with a high demand for Family Nurse Practitioners (FNPs) and many job opportunities. Big cities, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, are places where FNPs receive the highest salaries. Moreover, California intends to open new jobs in the near future, which will lead to an increase of employment in this field. Due to new policies and strategies, California is predicted to have about 10% of FNP jobs in the United States. Thus, California may be called one of the most promising places for FNPs with specific benefits regarding the demand for specialists. Furthermore, the authorities’ plans on creating new places on job markets increase not only the employment rate of FNPs in this state but also the employment of the whole country.
However, California does not only have one of the highest rates of demand for FNP specialists, but it is also a rather beneficial region because of high salaries. The FNPs’ labor in California is considered to be the most highly-paid in America. The surveys conducted in 2011 demonstrate that the average salary of the specialist ranges from 100 000 to 124 000 dollars. Despite the fact that benefit packages depend on different aspects and vary among employers, there are some most expected benefits for FNPs. For example, after applying for the position, each FNP specialist receives retirement, dental, and medical benefits, and they can also rely on vacation, vision, and life opportunities, which are provided by local employers. Therefore, California gives FNP specialists necessary healthcare, education, and career opportunities, which raises the life quality of these specialists in general.
There are many challenges that need to be overcome by FNP specialists due to a variety of patients and unique character traits. In order to build contacts with patients, which is extremely important for a specialist in medical care, FNP needs to have excellent communicative skills and empathy. In addition, most of FNPs have to work with complicated situations so these specialists need vital skills such as rationality, patience, self-organization, and be ready to endure much stress. Sometimes, stress levels can be rather high, and in this case, it is crucial not only to tolerate it but also to remain humane and never show their irritation with some patients’ behavior. Since patients can have diverse ethnicities, races, and cultural backgrounds, it is essential to be aware of some particular features in different ethnic groups of patients, which could help to avoid offense or misunderstanding.
Considering various challenges in the profession of FNP, one can find the job very challenging, strenuous, and not the type of work which everyone can do. Although the work of FNP is rewarded with a high salary, it requires many qualifications, efforts, education, and courses in order to become a successful specialist in this field. However, I believe that in spite of its difficulties, the career of FNP is an excellent choice because it provides an opportunity to help people. Despite the fact that there are no promotion opportunities in this field, and some FNPs can gain more responsibilities from their supervision physicians, there are still opportunities to open a practice and build clientele. By gaining essential education and gaining work experience, I hope that in the future, I will be able to create my own practice and follow the recent technological advancements to provide high-quality service.