Tips for New Nurse Practitioners

While I’m no expert NP, I do know what its like to be a new one! After all – that was just a little over a year ago! Being so fresh in my mind – I have some valuable tips to share with new NPs or NPs to be. No matter what setting you start in, utilize the resources you have available to you, work your butt off, and constantly be open to learning – and you will succeed! But to help you on your journey – here are 6 of my best tips for clinical practice!

1. Use UpToDate Religiously

If you haven’t heard of UpToDate – I don’t know how you made it through NP school! This medical reference database is the GOLD STANDARD of medical information for Providers. While I’m working, I often use this to quickly reference drug dosing information and renal dosing considerations. On the spot, the algorithms are SUPER useful. You can just scroll down to the bottom, check out the algorithm section, and viola – suddenly you know just what to do for your patient with hyponatremia of unknown etiology. No but really – there is SO much useful information. If you have a bit more time on your hands – you can read through articles more in-depth related to literally whatever medical topic that is relevant to your clinical practice. Keep a list throughout the day of symptoms and diagnosis that you don’t feel 100% comfortable with, and make a habit of reading up on those topics on UpToDate at the end of the day.

Unfortunately, UpToDate is expensive, but most hospitals provide free access for it’s providers. If you create an account, you just have to login once every 3 months on the hospital’s network to maintain access – and you can download the easy-to-use app for your smartphone.

There are other reference apps out there – but UpToDate is by far my favorite and the gold standard. Check out my top 5 medical reference apps for more information!

2. Templates, Templates, Templates

When you’re a new NP – you are going to be overwhelmed – especially in a new hospital or office environment. You are going to forget to ask basic questions to the patients, and you are going to feel dumb plenty of times. You likely won’t have the most confidence when conducting you’re history and physical. That’s why templates are SUPER important in being your back-up. Find templates such as History/Physical or SOAP note templates, and use them with every patient. This will ensure that you don’t forget to ask about surgical history, family history, smoking status, even something as easy as allergies. If you can’t find a template that works for you – make one yourself! Get a system down, write down information in the same place when you’re doing your chart reviews, and this will help you know where to always find the information you need on your patient – especially in high-stress situations.

Since working as an inpatient hospitalist NP, I’ve been using the same H&P template since I started. I’ve made some small tweaks along the way, but this ensures I don’t forget to ask about anything important, and I always know where to look for the information on my patient. (You can get access to my templates here)

3. Master Verbal Report

As an NP – you will be communicating with physicians and other colleagues much more frequently, and mastering verbal report is essential. Sure – you might have been a nurse for years and know how to give a good NURSING report, but NP-to-Physician report is much different. Physicians are trained specifically to give and get report in a certain way, and unfortunately they can get a bit… testy if we take too long to get to the point or leave out crucial information. The idea it to be concise, but also include the relevant clinical information.

In general – start with their Age, Sex, relevant PMHx, Admission diagnosis, relevant findings, physical assessment, and any recommendations.

Since I work in the hospital, an example of this would be the following:

“86yo Female with a PMHx of HTN, HLD, T2DM, and COPD presenting with cellulitis of right lower extremity calcaneal wound. Initial XR does not indicate Osteomyelitis, MRI is pending, WBC  13, Lactic normal, Blood cultures pending. Patient was started on Zosyn and and vancomycin in the ED.”

After you present the initial basic information, you can specify exactly why you are calling and tailor it to their specific specialty – so obviously if you are calling a nephrologist you would focus on their renal function, blood pressure, electrolytes – etc.

I’m planning on doing a more detailed blog about presenting a patient to another provider whether or as NP or as an RN, so be on the lookout next week!

4. When in Doubt – Cheat!

When I began as a new NP in the hospital setting, I brainstormed the top 20 common diagnosis in my specific specialty. I sat down and made cheat sheets for each diagnosis including information on the etiology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, diagnostic findings, and clinical management. You can use textbooks and online resources to find uptodate information – as I said before I recommend UpToDate!

Making these cheat sheets can really help you narrow down specific need-to-know information for your exact clinical role. Making them yourself can help you retain the information. However, if you can’t find the time, the following books have some pretty solid cheat sheets:

• Inpatient Care: Pocket Medicine, 6th edition
• Primary Care: Practice Guidelines for Family Nurse Practitioners, 5th edition
• Emergency Medicine: Tintinalli’s EM Manual, 8th edition

These cheat sheets are going to help you look up relevant need-to-know information on the spot while you are at work. Personally, my sheets that I made on Acute kidney injury and hyponatremia have been especially handy in the inpatient setting.

5. Follow the Paper Trail

Whether you work inpatient or outpatient, there will be specialist consultation notes for you to read. You can learn a TON from these notes. These guys are literally specialists, and if you’re a generalist –  you’re kind of the jack of all trades and the master of none. Simply following the paper trail and reading up on your patient’s after you have seen them can help expand your knowledge tremendously.

But don’t only read specialist notes. Working inpatient, theres often medical students and medical resident notes which are very detailed and provide rationale – which Attending physician’s notes often do not have. Don’t write them off simply because they are not attendings. They learn so much in school that unfortunately, we as NPs do not. Reading these notes can be invaluable!

6. Have the Right Attitude

As a new NP, you are the new kid on the block. You need to be humble, ready to learn, confident in yourself but willingly admit when you don’t know. Trust your insticts, but check your ego at the door. We are dealing with patient’s lives here and nothing is more important than hard work, communication, and collaboration with our patients and our knowledgeable colleagues.

There are so many more tips to help new NPs, but I wanted to keep this list short and practical – things that will help you succeed in the clinical setting.

Something that I know will help you guys out as new NPs is signing up for my email list and getting access to my free NP resource library! You’ll be sent a folder with my templates for History and physicals (both inpatient and outpatient), Soap notes, and pronouncement notes. I plan on adding more useful information as time passes, so be sure to check back often!