post masters certificates and NPs scope of practice

Specialties NP

Published

Specializes in Med/Tele.

Hi, I have 1.5 years experience on a busy med/tele unit and am ready to go back to school!!! So my question is can adult health NP's get a post masters certificate/ further training in something such as peds and be allowed to care for children while still caring for adults??? I am starting NP school in fall or 08' for adult health NP and would possibly like to go on and get a post masters certificate in peds so that I would be able to care for children also........or can an NP only care for one group (peds,adults) at a time. I guess a FNP can care for all. Also is the job market better for adult NPs?:idea: Thanks for your input.

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Specializes in Acute Care - Cardiology.

hi there,

congrats on starting an np program, btw. :) as for your question, yes... you can get a post-masters certificate and as long as you keep up your state requirements (certain number of clinical hours/cmes) for both np certificates, you can treat children and adults (assuming you do adult/pedi).

however, if you already know that you would like to do both... what is it that is keeping you from doing the fnp program? is it that the fnp is generally outpatient-focused and you'd like to have the ability to take care of acute illnesses? if it is a job market issue, then by all means... do adult... and see if that's enough to satisfy you. if it isn't you can always go back. :) that is what i may do as well... if i miss taking care of kiddos. i would suggest thinking about what your goals are... and once you have identified what it is you'd ultimately like to do with your degree... you'll be better able to recognize which program is better suited for you.

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Specializes in Med/Tele.

hi there,

congrats on starting an np program, btw. :) as for your question, yes... you can get a post-masters certificate and as long as you keep up your state requirements (certain number of clinical hours/cmes) for both np certificates, you can treat children and adults (assuming you do adult/pedi).

however, if you already know that you would like to do both... what is it that is keeping you from doing the fnp program? is it that the fnp is generally outpatient-focused and you'd like to have the ability to take care of acute illnesses? if it is a job market issue, then by all means... do adult... and see if that's enough to satisfy you. if it isn't you can always go back. :) that is what i may do as well... if i miss taking care of kiddos. i would suggest thinking about what your goals are... and once you have identified what it is you'd ultimately like to do with your degree... you'll be better able to recognize which program is better suited for you.

thanks for the response! the program here only has adult np and psychiatric np.so i chose adult.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Sure, you can do a post-Masters. I did that. Was OB-GYN NP and went back for post-Masters FNP.

Good luck!!!

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