Please note this content was originally posted in 2020 and contain dated information
Location is a key factor in selecting a nurse practitioner residency or fellowship. If you’re interested in a primary care post-graduate program, you may need to relocate for the opportunity. Uprooting your life, particularly after you’ve just graduated from a masters or doctoral program, isn’t always convenient. So, just where might you be expected to move if you think a residency will help you meet your goals as a nurse practitioner?
We reviewed the current primary care and family nurse practitioner residency and fellowship options for to get a better big-picture idea of just where these opportunities are located. If you’re interested in living on the East Coast or West Coast, you’re in luck. Primary care post-graduate opportunities seem to be concentrated in just a handful of states. Washington, California, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and North Carolina feature the greatest number of opportunities for NPs looking to build on their skill sets.
If you can’t relocate or aren’t interested in living in locations currently offering residencies/fellowships for NPs, there are some post-graduate programs for primary care nurse practitioners that mimic the residency experience and can be completed in facilities that don’t currently offer a formal post-graduate program. Our ThriveAP curriculum, for example, allows NPs to complete the didactic portion of a residency during the workday no matter where they’re employed.