A couple of questions from a nursing student.

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First and foremost, I would like to say hello to the community. My name is Tomas and I will be turning 20 in March. I am currently attending a junior college where I am hoping to get my associates in nursing degree.

My overall goal is to become an NP and I got a few questions related to it.

1. Was it a mistake to start at a junior college? I read that a masters degree is required to become a Nurse Practitioner; should I have went straight to a University?

2. I am under the impression that a NP is similar to a family doctor? Would I be able to open my open practice freely or would I need constant supervision from a licensed doctor?

3. After I do get my associates degree, what then? What are some of the recommended steps I should take to become a NP?

4. What are the daily duties of an NP (both hospital setting and private practice)? How similar are they to a family doctor?

Thanks again for all the help, it's very appreciated!

Tomas

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the NP forum for more appropriate responses

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Welcome to allnurses! :balloons:

1. No. Lots of ADN grads go on to advanced practice nursing. You will need to either complete a BSN degree after you're graduated and licensed, as many, many nurses do, or find one of the nursing graduate programs that take ADN-prepared people without requiring a BSN (there aren't a huge number of those out there, but they do exist).

2. NP practice is often similar to a "family physician" practice, although some specialize in more acute/high-tech specialties. You have a lot of freedom in making the choice that best suits you. The rules about NP freedom of practice vary significantly among states -- in some states, you can practice completely independently; in others, you have comparatively little freedom/autonomy (and most states fall somewhere between the two extremes). However, even in states where physician supervision/collaboration is required, there is a lot of variation among states about what that means in day-to-day life, and many NPs open their own practices and hire a physician to provide the required supervision/collaboration.

3. As I noted above, you can either look for a BSN completion program and complete a BSN, or look for a graduate program that doesn't require it. It's worth shopping around -- there's a lot of variation in graduate programs, both in cost and in quality. There is a big controversy now, which I won't go into here (there are plenty of other threads on this site discussing it ad infinitum), about whether nurses will be required to get a doctoral degree (DNP) to go into advanced practice nursing instead of the currently required MSN. Nothing is definite about that yet, but the date being discussed is 2015. There is also a lot of debate about whether one should have some amount of clinical experience as a generalist RN before going into advanced practice. Some programs require you to have two or more years of clinical experience, others don't. There are also lots of threads here discussing that. You'll need to decide which "flavor" of NP you want to be before applying to programs (family NP, adult NP, pediatric NP, gero NP, acute care NP, psychiatric NP, women's health NP, etc.).

4. There's a great deal of variation in what different NPs do on a daily basis. For an FNP or PNP in an outpatient practice, yes, their daily routine would be v. similar to that of a "family doctor" or pediatrician. Other NPs have v. different roles. There are a lot of possibilities out there.

Best wishes for your journey --

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Thanks for the great answers! I got one more though.

You mentioned that some states allow NP's operate freely while others require heavy supervision. Where can I read up more on that?

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Great info. thanks for asking this!

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Thanks for the great answers! I got one more though.

You mentioned that some states allow NP's operate freely while others require heavy supervision. Where can I read up more on that?

I would imagine you would have to check each individual state website and see what it states on there

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I believe that some of the NP journals publish articles every couple years or so, summarizing the practice situation in each US state -- I'm not sure about that, because I'm not an NP. It shouldn't be too hard to find out, though. I know that question has been asked and discussed in other threads on this site in the past -- you may want to browse through the NP forum (if you haven't already) and see if you can find anything.

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Thanks for the great answers! I got one more though.

You mentioned that some states allow NP's operate freely while others require heavy supervision. Where can I read up more on that?

The Pearson report summarizes the practice environment in each state:

http://www.webnp.net/downloads/pearson_report09/ajnp_pearson09.pdf

David Carpenter, PA-C

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The Pearson report summarizes the practice environment in each state:

http://www.webnp.net/downloads/pearson_report09/ajnp_pearson09.pdf

David Carpenter, PA-C

That is exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

One more question though. Is it true that some states don't allow NP's to be addressed as Dr.?

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Specializes in CT ICU, OR, Orthopedic.
The Pearson report summarizes the practice environment in each state:

http://www.webnp.net/downloads/pearson_report09/ajnp_pearson09.pdf

David Carpenter, PA-C

Thanks David, you are always so helpful :)

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Specializes in CT ICU, OR, Orthopedic.
That is exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

One more question though. Is it true that some states don't allow NP's to be addressed as Dr.?

This is an ongoing debate, and I believe there is a thread on this subject. Obviously you would have to have your doctorate to be called "Dr" at all, but there is a lot of controversy over patient confusion. I'm not going to get into it here, bc this is a never ending debate...Search for it on this site...you will find plenty.

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Specializes in CT ICU, OR, Orthopedic.
This is an ongoing debate, and I believe there is a thread on this subject. Obviously you would have to have your doctorate to be called "Dr" at all, but there is a lot of controversy over patient confusion. I'm not going to get into it here, bc this is a never ending debate...Search for it on this site...you will find plenty.

For more info http://www.webnp.net

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