Future NP Career?

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So I will be starting nursing school soon and as of now, I'm interested in either the NICU or OR after I graduate. I know that they are kind of specialized areas in nursing but eventually I would like to become an NP. In Ontario, many of the NP programs require at least 2 years of full time nursing experience, but I haven't seen any requirements for having worked in a particular specialty.

My main questions are 1) if working in any particular area will make one more competitive when applying to NP school and 2) if you worked in a particular area (ie, peds) then switched to focusing on a different specialty (ie, adults) in NP school, would you still be sufficiently prepared upon graduating?

Much appreciated!

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Neither NICU or OR will help hone history taking or physical assessment skills.

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Slow down. You have no idea what you will like, want to be, etc Get experience in it, then see.

Besides, Depends on what kind of NP you want to be. If you want to be a NNP, then you should work in a level 3-4 NICU for at least 2 solid years. At least. Working in the OR is not going to help much with NP....lots of other areas would be better - med surg, for example.

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Specializes in NICU.

In the NICU we utilize NNP's a lot. There is a specific neonatal NP program at one of the universities in my province (the only one), and it requires you to have at least 2 years of NICU experience before applying. I would not narrow down on such a specific path early in your career, you will need good assessment skills of both adults and peds to get into an NP program to start.

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Which areas do you suggest would be most useful?

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Yeah, I've been told that's its best to be open minded and keep my options open. I do have fields that interest me now, which could change later on, but I guess I look too far ahead in the future sometimes.

Along with med surg, do you think working in public health or the ER would provide a good foundation?

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I dont think public health would be super helpful for your goals and any ER that takes a new grad is not an ER I'd want to be a patient in. There is no point on planning all of this right now ....you are just starting nursing school. You dont realize that getting a job, any job, can be hard once you get out of school - years from now. For now, concentrate on school. Then get a job - preferably a med-surg in a hospital which is a foundation for so many things related to assessment, time management, scope, etc. Put in at LEAST a year there....THEN start thinking about where you could possibly transfer after that....and do some job shadowing because right now you have no idea what these jobs are even like. It really doesnt matter "where your interests are" after you graduate - you need experience, and sometimes its really hard to get it as a new grad. Patience! Good luck :-)

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Makes sense. I rechecked the NNP program (McMaster) and it isn't even running this year due to low enrollment. Could be due to a number of things but I guess that's another thing to consider with pursuing an NP career.

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Are you aware that the job market is saturated with applicants and new grads are having a hard time finding jobs?

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So I've heard.

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I dont think public health would be super helpful for your goals and any ER that takes a new grad is not an ER I'd want to be a patient in. There is no point on planning all of this right now ....you are just starting nursing school. You dont realize that getting a job, any job, can be hard once you get out of school - years from now. For now, concentrate on school. Then get a job - preferably a med-surg in a hospital which is a foundation for so many things related to assessment, time management, scope, etc. Put in at LEAST a year there....THEN start thinking about where you could possibly transfer after that....and do some job shadowing because right now you have no idea what these jobs are even like. It really doesnt matter "where your interests are" after you graduate - you need experience, and sometimes its really hard to get it as a new grad. Patience! Good luck :-)

Wow!

New grads are hired into Emerg in Canada. My health service gives a very intense and thorough orientation.

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I've seen some new grads start in the ER, and also ICU - granted they were American but not sure about here in Canada

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