Direct-entry NP program participants - where did you come from?

[dp1200]

I am posting this thread to solicit responses from people who have taken a direct-entry NP pathway from an unrelated background. With an engineering BS degree and 20 years wasted working in IT, I now have an opportunity to do something else that has been in the back of my mind for a long time.

I'm currently working as an EMT and I absolutely love it, and now I am pondering what comes next. Since I already have a BS, I have the option of a 3-year, direct-entry grad school NP program, and this is my first choice. I love being back in school and have a straight 4.0 in all the prereqs I would need for either the NP or BSN program.

But I am discouraged by the posts I see here disparaging these direct entry NP programs and claimed unrealistic goal of becoming an NP without already having spent many years working as an RN, hense the purpose of my post: I would like to hear from other present or past students of direct-entry NP programs to get a sense of where you came from and what your experience was like taking this step from an unrelated background.

[lvICU]

One other thing to consider is if you do a direct entry program you are limited in which specialty you can chose, because acute care programs require RN experience. If you like the intensity of being an EMT, you might not be happy working in a clinic. Just one other thing to consider.

Not necessarily true. I know of several direct-entry ACNP programs that do not require previous RN experience.

[Le-Lee_FNP, MSN, RN, NP]

doing a direct entry program essentially is no different than a person who got a bsn or asn and then went straight to graduate school without working first. the direct entry programs still require that you obtain your RN license first so i don't see what the big deal is and why people are so against it. nursing is my second career also. but i took the long road instead of being smart. after obtaining a bachelors in a different field, I then went back for my ASN (3 years) then BSN (1 year RN to BSN) and now i am finally in my MSN program. when all is said and done i will have a total of 10 1/2 years of school. If i could do it all over again i would have done direct entry and skipped the whole ASN and BSN. This would have saved me 3-1/2 years of school. I would be an NP already. The only good that has come from my route is that i have been able to work as a RN the entire time i have been in school since i obtained my ASN. so when i graduate i will have 5 years of nursing experience. but most jobs care more about NP experience than RN experience.

[Annaiya, NP]

Not necessarily true. I know of several direct-entry ACNP programs that do not require previous RN experience.

You may be able to get the experience while going to school, but I am not aware of any programs that don't require it at all. For example, my program requires 1 year full-time AC RN experience. But since I'm part-time for school, I just have to complete my year of experience before I could start clinicals.