Holy Moly! Today this blog celebrates one year of age, and what a year it has been!!! Although I am on the verge of shipping out to Mauritania, I wanted to take some time and reflect on the past year, and the blog as a whole.

Obviously quite a bit has changed over the last year. I started this whole thing to articulate the hiring process into the US Foreign Service from a medical perspective, and in that time, I did indeed get hired (mission accomplished). As a result, the blog has transitioned more into what happens after you get hired, and all the adventures that entails. I’m still a baby in the Foreign Service career timeline, but it’s surreal thinking back to myself a year ago, where I was, and where I am now.

As I started writing, I wanted to be as informational as possible. This is still my primary goal. Although the State Department, and specifically the Bureau of Medical Services, has done a better job of outreach on social media and in person, the fact remains that there really isn’t a ton of info out there for prospective hires in the medical field. As a result, I continuously assess my original posts related to the hiring process, and try and update them to info that is accurate today. I also continue to publish a series of Q&A’s that can be conveniently found on the home page tabs (which has been one of the more popular places on the site to visit). Finally, I continue to try and write new posts to contain as much information about the logistics of living this lifestyle as I can.

I am so pleased to say, that one year later, this blog has been a smashing success in providing information to those of you that are thinking of applying, in the process of applying, in clearance purgatory, hired, or just interested. Within a couple of months of going live, the site became a top hit on google if you search “Foreign Service Medical Provider”, and shortly thereafter, the questions started rolling in. The blog has had thousands of unique visitors from over 30 countries, and each month yields more visitors than the month before it.

Now, let me slow my roll a bit and define what I mean when I say “smashing success”. Thousands of visitors seems cool, but it’s not exactly high traffic, and more importantly, In the last year, nearly 2 dozen individual providers have reached out to me through the AMA page as a result of this blog. I realize I am preaching to a very niche audience out there, but it is incredibly gratifying when I realize I’m not just writing out into the void, and someone out there finds this website useful. Very cool.

Lastly, through this site, I have had the privilege of getting to know some wonderful people that I am pleased to say will be my colleagues (literally sitting in orientation right now!). MED is a small world at State, and the more people you know, the better (plus, if I can learn your weaknesses I can outbid you for that sweet Maldives assignment that doesn’t actually exist!). It’s been great getting to know some truly terrific people, even if just virtually.

Going forward, it’s more of the same. More information. More what it’s like to live life in the Foreign Service, and more questions answered. I can’t stress enough, please feel free to leave comments or email me at nursepractitionerworldwide@gmail.com. I’m sure many readers can attest that I do indeed check my inbox, and I am happy to shed whatever information I can. There are obviously limitations from a security perspective, but I try and be as helpful as possible.

I can’t thank everyone enough for reading, here’s to many more years of writing! –Nick