Don't like kids...ANP best bet?

Look at you local market and talk with perspective employers. You may want to contact the local school(s) to find out about how the job market is swinging.

The job market is what its all about - it does no good to have oodles of degrees and not be able to get a job.

Totally agree. It all depends on what the market will bear in your area. Sure, you can move to another area and it be different, but you must (especially if you have no plans to relocate.....ever) see what your area's demands are.

In my area (as well as most of immediate surrounding areas), the FNP is the most marketable.

I, too, do not enjoy the peds aspect of healthcare. I do it, but do not enjoy that part. One can secure a position as FNP and peds not be a part of their healthcare delivery.

And, many do like I did......obtain one certification (OB-GYN NP) and then add a post-grad certificate (FNP) to increase marketability (like traumaRUs stated).

Again, research adequately before making a decision.

Just my 2 cents.....I just graduated as an FNP....virtually all of the FNPs had jobs before graduation, but not many of the other specialties did. I don't know if that is specific to my area of the country, but that's how things turned out. I work in the Urgent Care dept. of an urban community health center and I only see adults, as we have Pedi in the building.

I am in Pittsburgh, and I know that the pendulum at my hospital has swung well and truly towards ACNPs in most inpatient positions, which is where I want to be. I also felt that concentrating on adults gave me the opportunity to do more varied specialty clinicals, rather than spreading the clinical time between adult and peds.

Strongly agree to ask around your area. You could call the local NP association and ask them what trends they are seeing.

I feel like a broken record here, but once again I have to vote FNP. I have just known so many NPs that completed a program only to find out they weren't qualified for a great job that they really wanted. Who knows where you may end up and what-if that place occasionally sees kids. Not enough kids that you don't want to work there, but enough that the employer wants someone that can see all ages. Maybe someplace like Derm or Endo. With girls menstruating as young as 8, it is possible that they could need derm intervention for acne before they reach an age that is appropriate for an adult NPs scope.

I am a new FNP that struggled for months with this decision and then afer I had finally decided on women's health NP, I transferred to the FNP program at the last possible moment. Since graduation, I have had job offers in Internal Medicine, OB/GYN, and Peds. If I so desired, I could have accepted any one of these. I don't think there is another NP specialty that would qualify me to do all of the above.

I agree with the other poster that mentioned a good pediatric preceptor could mean the difference between loving and hating Peds. I never in a million years would have ever wanted to work with screaming, whining, brats all day before my clinical rotation. Well, of the job offers, I accepted the peds position because I absolutely loved it once I tried it!!!! I know it isn't for everyone, but hey it may not be as bad as you thought and may break up the monotony of one overweight, hypertensive, Hypelipidemia patient after the next!

For someone whose goal is to practice in primary care fields and non-acute care specialties (derm, endoc, palliative care), definitely, FNP is the best route. However, I would have to say that no other program could prepare the NP for the complexity of acute and critical care patient management more than the three age-specific acute care NP programs: ACNP, AC-PNP, and NNP. You may still find FNP's working in critical care in some states but chances are, these individuals were hired at the time when there were not many acute care programs around. I've talked to many colleagues who are involved in hiring NP's in acute and critical care settings and many have stated they prefer hiring grads of acute care NP programs to fill their vacancies.

I'm voting for dual certification: ACNP and either PNP or ACPNP. Then - you have choices.