Clinicals in urgent care...what to expect?

[Pachinko]

I'm in an FNP program. My clinical coordinator said that she plans on placing me in an urgent care setting. While we will rotate through several kinds of clinical sites, we will have a "home" site where we will do a larger part of our clinical rotations. It looks like urgent care will be mine, unless I request a switch.

My questions:

1. Will urgent care provide me with good preparation for primary family practice? Or is it more similar to acute care, in terms of the disorders seen and treated? My concern is that, like ER nursing, this experience may prepare me for a specific kind of NP practice and not for a more general preventative care/ ongoing primary care practice.

2. What kind of clinical setting would give me the widest variety in terms of patient population and disorder while keeping within the scope of FNP practice?

I've already determine that I will probably not be happy in my NP career unless there is variety and a slightly faster pace. I like the idea of being autonomous, provided that I've received adequate training. I'm in California, so total autonomy is not an option at present.

I really appreciate any insight!

[nitasarn]

I'm in an FNP program. My clinical coordinator said that she plans on placing me in an urgent care setting. While we will rotate through several kinds of clinical sites, we will have a "home" site where we will do a larger part of our clinical rotations. It looks like urgent care will be mine, unless I request a switch.

My questions:

1. Will urgent care provide me with good preparation for primary family practice? Or is it more similar to acute care, in terms of the disorders seen and treated? My concern is that, like ER nursing, this experience may prepare me for a specific kind of NP practice and not for a more general preventative care/ ongoing primary care practice.

2. What kind of clinical setting would give me the widest variety in terms of patient population and disorder while keeping within the scope of FNP practice?

I've already determine that I will probably not be happy in my NP career unless there is variety and a slightly faster pace. I like the idea of being autonomous, provided that I've received adequate training. I'm in California, so total autonomy is not an option at present.

I really appreciate any insight!

Oh my goodness how great is it that your school has provided clinical sites for you!! :) Urgent care will give you a good experience with acute low maintence/management type illnesses..ex. sinusitis, cough/cold, gastroenteritis...scabie, lice....that type of thing. If you looking for variety AND more practice on ongoing CHRONIC preventative type stuff: HTN, hyperlipidemia, CVD, COPD. Find an Internal Medicine practice. I did a majority of my clinical hours there and you will get all and more of what your asking for. Also the NPs I was with had a great deal of autonomy, with support from the MDs staff there. Good luck to you!

[Pachinko]

Oh my goodness how great is it that your school has provided clinical sites for you!! :) Urgent care will give you a good experience with acute low maintence/management type illnesses..ex. sinusitis, cough/cold, gastroenteritis...scabie, lice....that type of thing. If you looking for variety AND more practice on ongoing CHRONIC preventative type stuff: HTN, hyperlipidemia, CVD, COPD. Find an Internal Medicine practice. I did a majority of my clinical hours there and you will get all and more of what your asking for. Also the NPs I was with had a great deal of autonomy, with support from the MDs staff there. Good luck to you!

This is great, thank you--the recommendation makes a lot of sense. Yes, I'm very lucky that my clinicals are set up for me; it's a rarity, from what I understand. I've already emailed my clinical coordinator for her opinion on the internal medicine idea. Thank you!