Are you a nurse practitioner without any nursing experience?

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Looking to find "that" nurse practitioner that I keep hearing about from other professions but have never come across that became a NP without any nursing experience. I have already been enlightened that there are programs that accept BSN new grads and direct-entry programs that only "strongly encourage" students to work as a RN during school, but are there really students who don't do it? I am very curious.

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
I earned my BSN at one of the best nursing schools in the world and then straight into the MSN NP program. Many of the top nursing schools such as Hopkins, UCLA, Yale, etc. do not require RN experience before earning an MSN. I graduated with my MSN in Dec 2016 and had a job offer by Feb 2017. During my MSN studies, I did not see any advantage by students with RN experience, even in physical exam skills. In fact, there are a couple of studies on this. One study found that students with RN experience had worse academic performance and were less likely to graduate from MSN programs. Another found that students with RN experience had poorer clinical skills. I am an Adult and Geriatric Primary Care NP. I would say if you want to be an acute care NP, then the RN experience would be valuable. Personally, I really wanted to do Psych and got a job doing that at a clinic and they are providing me with an intensive 6 month training program. So, don't worry about the lack of RN experience. Good luck!

Please cite your source that those with actual nursing experience had worse clinical skills.

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
Please cite your source that those with actual nursing experience had worse clinical skills.

I suspect they are referencing this:

Rich, E. R. (2005). Does RN experience relate to NP clinical skills?. The Nurse Practitioner, 30(12), 53-56.

For those without access, the relevant discussion:

"An unexpected finding was that there was a significant negativecorrelation between years of experience as a RN and NPclinical practice skills as assessed by the NPs' collaboratingphysicians. Longer experience as a RN was associated withlower rankings of NP skills competency by the physicians."

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Sorry I did not post my sources. Yes, Rich (2005) is one. I have two more below. I am not aware of any studies showing NPs with RN experience do better in MSN programs or have superior clinical skills. These are very different jobs.

Assessing successful entry into nurse practitioner practice: a literature review. By: Rich ER, Jorden ME, Taylor CJ, Journal of the New York State Nurses Association, 00287644, 2001 Fall-Winter, Vol. 32, Issue 2

El-Banna MM, Briggs LA, Leslie MS, Athey EK, Pericak A, Falk NL, Greene J. Does Prior RN Clinical Experience Predict Academic Success in Graduate Nurse Practitioner Programs? J Nurs Educ. 2015 May;54(5):276-80. doi: 10.3928/01484834-20150417-05.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
Sorry I did not post my sources. Yes, Rich (2005) is one. I have two more below. I am not aware of any studies showing NPs with RN experience do better in MSN programs or have superior clinical skills. These are very different jobs.

Assessing successful entry into nurse practitioner practice: a literature review. By: Rich ER, Jorden ME, Taylor CJ, Journal of the New York State Nurses Association, 00287644, 2001 Fall-Winter, Vol. 32, Issue 2

El-Banna MM, Briggs LA, Leslie MS, Athey EK, Pericak A, Falk NL, Greene J. Does Prior RN Clinical Experience Predict Academic Success in Graduate Nurse Practitioner Programs? J Nurs Educ. 2015 May;54(5):276-80. doi: 10.3928/01484834-20150417-05.

Thanks for adding these. I misunderstood your point and this is just my personal bias but "academic success" in today's nursing school climate of Admit and Pass Anyone U doesn't mean anything to me. Skillful test taking is overrated, imo.

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Sorry I did not post my sources. Yes, Rich (2005) is one. I have two more below. I am not aware of any studies showing NPs with RN experience do better in MSN programs or have superior clinical skills. These are very different jobs.

Assessing successful entry into nurse practitioner practice: a literature review. By: Rich ER, Jorden ME, Taylor CJ, Journal of the New York State Nurses Association, 00287644, 2001 Fall-Winter, Vol. 32, Issue 2

El-Banna MM, Briggs LA, Leslie MS, Athey EK, Pericak A, Falk NL, Greene J. Does Prior RN Clinical Experience Predict Academic Success in Graduate Nurse Practitioner Programs? J Nurs Educ. 2015 May;54(5):276-80. doi: 10.3928/01484834-20150417-05.

Can they both do well on a test, sure. Usually if you complete four years of college you should be adept at taking tests. The difference comes when you release them to patients. The RN with experience has been exposed to more situations that can be applied to practice dealing with living patients. They learn how to talk to patients. families and other healthcare team members. They have their stuff together a lot more than those without background.

Also, the experienced RN will have seen way more diseases, medications and typical responses to treatment than can be taught in NP programs. It does not mean NPs without experience cannot learn to be efficient and even good, but it is no a great leap of the imagination to see that the benefit of RN experience adds to the betterment of the NP process.

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Hi guys

I am a new member

I am zahraa

A specialist nurse

I must be RN

I just LPN

I AM BChelorea degree

I ask yours help to pass Neclex exam.

Thank you.

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When I meet someone who says they are going to school to become a nurse practitioner and then admits that they are still taking their prereqs for the bsn program I genuinely don't understand their decision making. Why not just become a PA? Why do these people not want to be nurses?

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Specializes in CEN, Firefighter/Paramedic.
When I meet someone who says they are going to school to become a nurse practitioner and then admits that they are still taking their prereqs for the bsn program I genuinely don't understand their decision making. Why not just become a PA? Why do these people not want to be nurses?

Have you ever compared the prerequisite course load for PA school to Direct-Entry NP programs?

That's your answer

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PAs cannot open their own practices, ever. In states with full practice authority, NPs can open their own practices. An NP is at the top of the nursing profession, a PA will always have to work for a doctor. That's why I chose NP.

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Not that you are, but please don't look down on your NP colleagues that don't have any or that much experience as an RN. Although experienced RNs may have an easier time adjusting to the advanced practice role, it is not essential and those without experience can still excel in the field.

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Specializes in Behavioral health.
When I meet someone who says they are going to school to become a nurse practitioner and then admits that they are still taking their prereqs for the bsn program I genuinely don't understand their decision making. Why not just become a PA? Why do these people not want to be nurses?

And maybe they like the nursing model over the medical model.

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Specializes in Neurology, Psychology, Family medicine.

Lol the nursing model huh, for a career implied to be a provider, hmm.

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