Becoming a NP in an Emergency Dept that you worked as a RN BSN

[sylvestrer]

I wanted to get some perspective on any FNP's who went from a RN to NP role in the same ED? Was there any resistance from the staff, nursing or medical? How do you create the role if there hasn't been any NP's in the ED where you work. We will be getting NP's at some time, they say July, but the administrators haven't interviewed any NP's yet. I am just finishing my first year of FNP graduate school. I still have 2 more years, so we should have the NP role pretty well fleshed out by the time I graduate. I have been a RN for 29 years, 22 yrs in the Emergency Dept. There have been some, how should I say this?, disagreements with fellow RN's while working side by side with them. I am apprehensive that when I become a NP, there will be some resistance from my fellow nurses, when I become the one who is giving orders for patient care. I dislike conflict, don't we all?, what experiences have you had, how have you handled any similar situations?

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

I wanted to get some perspective on any FNP's who went from a RN to NP role in the same ED? Was there any resistance from the staff nursing or medical? How do you create the role if there hasn't been any NP's in the ED where you work. We will be getting NP's at some time, they say July, but the administrators haven't interviewed any NP's yet. I am just finishing my first year of FNP graduate school. I still have 2 more years, so we should have the NP role pretty well fleshed out by the time I graduate. I have been a RN for 29 years, 22 yrs in the Emergency Dept. There have been some, how should I say this?, disagreements with fellow RN's while working side by side with them. I am apprehensive that when I become a NP, there will be some resistance from my fellow nurses, when I become the one who is giving orders for patient care. I dislike conflict, don't we all?, what experiences have you had, how have you handled any similar situations?[/quote']

I have no advice for you but wanted to say I am jealous. I am finishing my FNP next year and my ER refuses to hire PA's or NP's. We only use attending and residents. A shame, cause we have RN's become NP's every year from our ER and they would make great ER NP's.

[Annaiya, NP]

I think you will find this attitude among RNs anywhere you go, especial when you're talking about ICU or ER nurses. And I think the transition can be difficult when you're switching roles in the same unit. You need to find what works for you in terms of getting your former peers to see you as a new resource and valuable team member. There weren't any jobs in my unit for me, but I did do a lot of clinical hours there. I found a lot of the nurses to be really supportive of me and were asking me questions even though I was only a student. There will always be a few haters, but that just means you have to win them over by subtly demonstrating that you do know what you are talking about and that you can make their life easier. The best thing you can do now is to make sure that your fellow nurses really support the NP role once they've hired a few people. If they get used to the role, then you just have to work on convincing them that you are capable of doing that role as well. (An NP needs to be a leader and a role model, so you will have to separate yourself from the RN staff, while still working closely as a team. Some people seem to have no problem with this and others struggle with it.) There really doesn't need to be any conflict, and there shouldn't be if the unit truly works well as a team.