Advice on which route to take as an NP

zmansc, ASN, RN · Feb 13, 2015

Hi all, I am fairly new to this site but have been reading for quite some time and would really appreciate some advice. My ultimate dream job would be to work as an NP at a med/spa in the likes of Ideal Image (with an FNP license). I am anxious to start my journey but don't know the best/most efficient/most realistic way.
I work on a step down floor right now, I am very dissatisfied with this job and know it is not for me. I essentially cannot wait to get off the floor and I know where I want to be so it makes it even harder to come in to work every day. I have two options in my head
1) Get into ideal image now, work a little, go to FNP school and already have the "in" at the place I want to work as an NP.
2) Stay on the floor that I don't really enjoy, find a good school to go to first, THEN start looking into med/spa jobs.
Considerations:
-In my opinion (based on little knowledge) I think NP schools would find the acute care setting more appealing, including better critical thinking, refined nursing skills, medical/nursing knowledge than a med/spa when applying
-If I would go to a med/spa first, I would lose some high quality recommendations (nurse manager, my original hiring committee member who I've kept in close contact with-both who have their masters) for future unknown recommendations
-It is incredibly hard to get into med/spa being it is a highly sought out work environment, so who knows how long I would be looking
With all these considerations, I would still LOVE to get out of the acute care setting ASAP, but unfortunately I'd be willing to stay if it would benefit my future as an APRN. As a result of staying in acute care this would lead to me applying to NP schools right now, as opposed to down the line. In addition, I would love to get experience at a med/spa as an RN before I do NP, but with my concerns above, I worry that would not be the best idea and that maybe I need to continue to suck it up in the acute care setting until I get into an NP program.
Sorry for it being so lengthy, advice/thoughts/concerns greatly appreciated!!

First as a disclaimer, I don't know much of anything about Med/Spa, so I can't really give specific advice on that side of things.

My gut would tell me that your perception that you would be considered more seriously by the admissions committee if you were working in the acute care setting is probably correct for some/many programs. I doubt that all programs would close their doors to you because you were working in a Med/Spa field, but it would probably limit the number of programs for you to choose from.

As for references, would there not be providers/managers/etc at the Med/Spa job too? Would they not also be likely references?

Finally, I don't think it has to be an all or nothing thing (unless that is what you want), could you not work full time at one job and PRN at the other for a bit? Would that not keep you current enough with each to be able to keep your references from both and gain experience and networking withing your chosen area?

I agree with you that if Med/Spa is a very tight community, that gaining experience and more importantly references within the community would be vital, so if you are sure that is where you want to end up I would at least suggest networking within that community, even if it is just to shadow the providers, gain a personal relationship with them, etc. They may also be able to tell you what has worked for them in this regard.

Good Luck with whatever you choose!