Why you shouldn't become a nurse practitioner

There are many reasons why people should not become nurse practitioners. I will outline a short article stating why YOU should NOT pursue a nurse practitioner degree, EVEN if you already have a bachelor's degree. Nursing Students NP Students Article

You may not be able to work in your favorite specialty.

Currently, work in the ER as an RN? Do you love it? Good, well your first job out of school may not be in the ER as you have lingered during your nursing career. Love the ER? Well, recruiters love experienced NP's in the ER, so you may be out of luck for a few years.

You may take a big pay cut.

WHAT, A PAY CUT???? I MAKE 45 DOLLARS AN HOUR AS A LOCAL TRAVEL NURSE AND MY STARTING NP PAY IS LIKE ONLY 38 AN HOUR, DUHBULL YEW TEE EFF. Yeah, that's right, your first job might land you in a local community health center making less money with a masters degree, than with an associates degree.

You have to learn an entirely new trade.

The term "advanced practice nurse" is really misleading. We don't practice in any way as an RN does. Our role more so mimics physicians. "Man I have been an ICU nurse for 12 years and an ER nurse in a level trauma center at 16 different Mayo clinic locations, I GOT DIS BRUH." No, you don't get dis. What you have is a new steep stepping-stone into a new trade. You are on the other side of the brick wall now writing the orders for your old self to follow. Welcome to "advanced practice nursing."

Another 30-70k in loans and other fees.

Running short on change due to having to support a family, bills, expensive hobbies, or for some other reason? Well, the solution sure isn't to take out another student loan. Becoming a nurse practitioner costs A LOT OF MONEY. Yeah, it isn't medical school, but we also don't make what physicians make either. Count your coin prior to becoming an APRN.

Time

Looking for a 1 day a week online nurse practitioner program that requires no travel graduates in 5 months, 10 clinical hours, and a 2.1 GPA to get into? Looking at some of the online programs that exist, I wouldn't doubt there are at least a few of these. I am sure there are some great online programs out there, but trying to take the easiest shortcut probably won't pay off in a competitive market such as todays. A good program will require a decent time commitment. Should getting a master's degree not at least be as much work as your associates? Some seem not to think so, they seem to believe that once you have your RN you should instantly be crowned Dr. Nurse with the wave of a magic wand and the writing of a few 'nursing policy' papers.

Labels and role confusion

Get ready for this one... Labels. The patient walks in the room. "WHAT A NURSE, I WANT TO SEE A DOCTOR, WHAT IS THIS NURSE DOING HERE." All that extra school and you still get called a nurse. Where did the word practitioner go? Oh, that's not in a good amount of people's vocabulary. Nurse is a nurse is a nurse is a nurse nurse nurse. Don't think that big white coat with the MSN FNP flashing around is going to make people bow down to Dr. Nurse. You will need to present yourself well to avoid this dilemma.

Poor support from licensing agencies

This is a big one. Look around online and I see adds all over the place stating garbage such as: "EASTERN FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY OF PHEONIX GOVERNERS UNIVERSITY is now taking applications for their CNA-to-DNP program. Please apply online, no GRE, college education, high school diploma, or GED required." Wow. Good job ANCC, AANP, or whoever credentials these places, you sure do make sure that only the highest, and I mean HIGHEST standards of education are upheld in the prestigious field of nursing. I am sure the AMA would rather get kicked in the balls multiple times before they would allow the credentialing of a fully online medical program from a fully for-profit university with teachers posting online quizzes and tests from their garage. And people are lobbying for less nurse practitioner restrictions? I know there are great nurse practitioners and programs out there but PLEASE, let's be real.... Until some limitation is put on the quality of these bed-bug ridden basement nurse practitioner programs, we will never have the support for unregulated practice.

Now I am not saying that become a nurse practitioner is terrible, but these are some things to consider. I am sure this is going to be rather controversial, so I have put on my jock strap and am ready for low blows to the land down under.

Thanks for reading, if you made it past the 3rd paragraph without cursing me under your breath, we may be able to be friends.

Best of luck to you all!

why-you-shouldnt-become-a-nurse-practitioner.pdf

Specializes in Internal Medicine.

Sorryiamanaprn, out of curiosity, where do you live? Your situation sounds absolutely terrible. Was there no inclination that this was the job environment before you started NP school? Or even during your education?

I find it almost unbelievable that NP job offers in your area are for less than what new RNs make.

Agreed futureeastcoastnp ... I feel the same way.

Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.

This is what happens when a group doesn't control it's numbers by making admission standards and program requirements so lax that anybody can do it and create a glut of practitioners. Tighten up admission qualifications, make the programs more rigorous (none of this looking for your own monitor in clinical settings, for instance) and the problem will go away. My personal experience is that even the CRNA programs are churning out people that are incompetent because they farm them out to numbers of hospitals where no one instructor is following any one student's progress. And now, even the CRNA journals have a minute number of job listings, the recruiters don't call anymore and salaries are leveling off or going down.

Hm.. interesting... my experience through the NP education and becoming an NP has been wonderful. Brutal program though. In retrospect, I would have made the same decision. Wasn't happy as an RN and very happy as NP. And pay was MUCH higher... Everyone just has to make the decision to do what's best for them and do what makes them happy, regardless of title.

Hm.. interesting... my experience through the NP education and becoming an NP has been wonderful. Brutal program though. In retrospect, I would have made the same decision. Wasn't happy as an RN and very happy as NP. And pay was MUCH higher... Everyone just has to make the decision to do what's best for them and do what makes them happy, regardless of title.

Thanks Aniva! Love hearing positive story. Yeay!!!

I think this is a good thread discussing what to think about when becoming a nurse practitioner. I agree with some of the points discussed. I live in California and have been working as a RN for over 18 years. I definitely took a pay cut, starting as an NP. However, I was working a lot more hours. You have to become an NP because you want to provide that level of care to your patient and be able to teach them and provide support like an RN as well. The NP role is not clearly understood, but you will be called a "Doctor" just as often as you will be called a "Nurse", lol. Overall, I'm happy with my decision to obtain my MSN and become an NP because i love nursing.

This is a great post. It is very true that many nurses should not become NPs. A lot of people seem to think that it is just a cushier job with more pay and better hours. Sorry this is not the case. I work much harder as an NP. And guess what else? it takes much much much more brain power, self study time, dedication, CME, and concentration to do our job. I don't say this in an elitist way, but being a nurse was pretty simple, mentally anyway. You follow orders. You are calling the shots now and most nurses are not ready for that. How do I know this? because I've worked with hundreds of nurses. Of course it isn't a totally accurate rep of all nurses, but most are not cut out for it. The knowledge, skill, and concentration gap is very wide between being an RN and an NP. I also believe that most of the NP graduates on this forum who complain about not finding a job are unable to find one due to a lack of skill. If you show you know what you are doing you will be hired. Nut many of the graduates that come from these silly online for profit programs are not prepared to call the shots for anything.

Just my two cents though, take it for what it is worth, but if you don't expect to have to put in dedication, you will NOT succeed.

Specializes in psychiatric, corrections.

Thanks OP, there's a lot of literature saying why you SHOULD be a NP, but not why you shouldn't. It will help people make an informed decision.

As long as the hospitals and academic medical centers have standards of education for their NP hires, it will be difficult for those that went to quick online programs to get hired. As an APP director in a major healthcare system, we have put hiring standards in place to address just what you are talking about.

Sorryiamanaprn, wow $50,000? what state do you work in

Specializes in CTICU.

Great post, thank you for sharing this. I'm currently in school for my ADN and have always seen myself going the more diagnostic route to advanced practice. Food for thought!

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

If you work in a pain clinic you earn every bit of that money. Tough job.

After following a pain clinic NP for only 3 days, i gained a different level of respect for them.... 5 to 10 mins per pt? And all the stress that comes with pain management? Plus psych issues that goes along with some of the visits? For $80 per hour? No, thank you ;-)

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