Acute Care Nurse Practitioners

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Dec 10, 2016

Hello, first time posting here!
Im considering going the route of an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner rather than FNP and I have a few questions regarding this, particularly regarding the future job outlook of the ACNP.
Im currently working in a med-surg & cardiac ICU and am looking to advance in that setting to more of a hospitalist role. Later on I will probably be looking to work in specialty clinics- probably cardiology. One question im pondering is if this would be the best NP specialty to achieve these things?
I have heard that the ACNP specialty is relatively new and that FNP is started to get weeded out of inpatient care in some areas. Similarly, I have heard that the job market for FNP is potentially going to be/already is becoming oversaturated. The last thread ive seen regarding this topic is a few years old, now that it is essentially 2017, does ACNP in your opinion still look like it has a solid future?

Based on your career goals (Hospitalist, Cardiology Clinic), ACNP would be your best bet in terms of getting the didactic portion of learning in those fields and being able to plan your clinical rotations around those specialties.

Adult ACNP as an NP track is not that new anymore. The certification program began in 1996, eight years before I received my own Adult ACNP certification in 2004. The newcomer is really the Pediatric ACNP certification which only began in 2005. That said, ACNP programs are not as widespread as FNP - there are probably states that don't have programs at all.

Now that these varied NP educational tracks and certifications exist and widely recognized, the move is towards aligning roles to the NP's distinct education, training and certification. Many states are slow with adopting such changes but the national conversation has moved to this standard and it would benefit any NP to make sure their role matches their training and certification for various reasons, legal implications being the most important.

Employment trends for ACNP's appear to be stable but the trajectory is entirely different compared to FNP's because it's not primary care focused which depends on primary care provider shortage that exist in some communities more so than others. The limitation to resident work hours which began in the 90's is one of the reasons ACNP's (and PA's) have become popular but you will see ACNP's working in institutions that do not have residency training programs.

I think the reason for that is the increasing complexity of hospitalized patient care requiring more manpower and the move toward metrics and data gathering that measure the quality of patient care in hospitals. Having NP's on the team does improve patient outcomes no matter how people politicize that issue. Whatever the reason is, I and my classmates have not had problems finding a job as an ACNP.