Confused on subspecialties for (pediatric) nurse practitioners???

[marty22]

Hi, I am a rising senior in high school who is looking to go to nursing school and then hopefully become a nurse practitioner in the future. I am particularly interested in going into pediatrics, but I got myself a bit confused when I went on the website for the American Board of Pediatrics. I went on the site and looked up all of the different pediatric subspecialties available, the two that interest me the most right now are adolescent medicine and child abuse pediatrics. Of course that may change after I start studying medicine, but anyways the website often mentioned that the way to pursue one of these subspecialties was through med school and completing a residency, etc...I never read any information pertaining to nursing school. So, my question is, can nurse practitioners also go further into the specialty of pediatrics and specifically work in areas like child abuse pediatrics or adolescent medicine? I have asked a few nurse practitioners (who did not specifically work in pediatrics), and they told me that I could not really specialize further than general pediatrics. However, I researched my own PNP and found out that she has "extensive specialty training" in asthma treatment/management, etc... This confused me even more! I just want to make sure that after I studied pediatrics that I could subspecialize in my specific areas of interest. I am applying to colleges, which means nursing school, this week, so I need to make sure beforehand that the NP route is still right, or if it would work out better for me to become a MD. (I have researched the differences between the two.) If any one could clarify the training options for NP after they have chosen their specialty, that would be so incredibly helpful!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!!!!

(Also, sorry if I didn't post this question in the right place, I am brand new to this website and didn't realize I could've posted it under specialties....thanks for the help.)

[poppycat, ADN, BSN]

You won't find information about nursing on that website because it's for doctors who want to become board certified in pediatrics. Try doing a Google search for "pediatric nursing organizations".

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

I know you said that you already researched the two routes (MD vs NP) but I would just like to review the options in order for me to paint a clearer picture of the pros and cons, and this is purely my opinion:

Physician route:

- undergraduate degree + medical school + residency +/- fellowship

- for pediatrics, that means you have to enter a pediatrics residency after med school and if you wish to specialize in adolescent medicine or child abuse pediatrics, you apply in an ACGME approved fellowship in those fields.

- in the end, you are going to be a physician with no practice barriers in all the 50 states.

Nurse Practitioner route:

- any possible combination of undergraduate degree (BSN or BS/BA) + graduate degree with specific NP track (MS, MSN, or DNP) +/- post-graduate training that is currently not organized or regulated by a governing body like ACGME does for physicians. Note that non BSN graduates will have to complete extra courses towards BSN completion prior to graduate portion of the program regardless of whether BSN is conferred or not.

- NP tracks have some parallels to physician tracks:

AGPCNP = Primary Care Internal Medicine

AGACNP = Hospitalist/Critical Care/Acute Care Internal Medicine

FNP = Family Practice

WHNP = General OB-Gyn

NNP = Neonatology

PMHNP = General Psychiatry

PNP-PC = Primary Care Pediatrics

PNP-AC = High Acuity/Critical Care Pediatrics

- for your scenario as someone interested in adolescent medicine or child abuse pediatrics, your best option is completion of FNP or PNP-PC. Both are primary care focused NP tracks though FNP allows you to provide care to patients across the lifespan not just pediatrics.

- in the end, you are an NP subject to scope of practice restrictions in the state where you work although 20+ states allow NP's to practice independently now.

- as I've mentioned above, the availability of post-NP fellowships are not as prevalent as those for physicians and that they are still in various stages of development, are also unregulated (unlike physicians), thus, inconsistent in quality and not mandated as a rule by the states in terms of being required prior to practice. That's not to say that completion of NP fellowships, if available, is not helpful.

- there are actually training programs for NP's in adolescent medicine that you can find on this link: http://www.adolescenthealth.org/SAHM_Main/media/Training-and-CME/Fellowships%202014/Training_Opportunities_in_Adol_Nursing_2017.pdf. However, I can not guarantee the accuracy of that content as I have no first hand knowledge of those programs.