Now I finally get why nursing experience can prove invaluable in NP school, yet actually means nothing. It appears that nursing experience gives a valuable base from which to relate but does absolutely nothing for helping one think through a disease process as a provider. I may be simply stating the obvious, but I am amazed at how different the two roles are. I am be no means an old pro, but some conditions I can take care of in my sleep - as a nurse. As a potential provider though, even a simple cold is not so simple. It is amazing how a myriad of disease processes and conditions can present with mostly the same symptoms, only differentiated by some seemingly obscure item in their history. I can see how some are making a mistake in pursuing a NP degree though. Listening to them, what they really want is to further their bedside nursing career. A degree as a NP CHANGES your career, not furthers it. The confusion manifests itself in the struggle to move away from the bedside nursing thinking process, to that of a provider. We all have that struggle, but some seem to not realize that their struggle is not with the material, but the role itself. All that being said, I love NP school. I can see one why, generally, a couple of year's experience nursing is good but also why decades of experience is not necessary. It truly does come down to the individual.
