Developing Your Own Practice Style and Independence-Developing Your Own Practice Style and Independence

Video Transcription

Video Summary

A nurse practitioner and independent practice co-owner from Bismarck shares her journey from uncertainty about her career to deep professional fulfillment in urogynecology. She recounts being asked to keynote on scope of practice, only to find that other experts declined because the topic felt too controversial. That led her to reflect on how scope is more than a legal definition—it is also about using education fully, collaborating across disciplines, and finding purpose.<br /><br />She describes formative mentors who taught her to think clinically and like a business owner: asking whether a treatment is right for the patient, efficient for her, helpful to physicians, and good for the practice. She also discusses navigating changing scope battles in healthcare, including tension around nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physical therapists.<br /><br />Using three metaphors—shoveling, dancing, and knitting—she encourages clinicians to dig deeply into a niche, move flexibly within changing systems, and bring teams together. Her central message is that embracing a specialty niche within scope can reduce burnout and increase professional satisfaction. She closes by praising AUGS as a place where APPs can learn, connect, and feel supported.

Keywords

nurse practitioner

urogynecology

scope of practice

independent practice

professional fulfillment

interdisciplinary collaboration

burnout prevention

specialty niche