BSN to DNP help

[Burrhk]

I'm currently a labor and delivery nurse with my BSN. I want to go back to school and get my DNP, but I don't know if I should do the FNP or CNM course. I would love to stay in women's health and specialize with a CNM degree, but I don't know how many job openings there would be.

Is there a way to be certified as a CNM after getting an FNP-DNP degree or would I need to actually get a CNM degree?

I'm also looking into Frontier Nursing University and was wondering if anyone knew how the clinical placements worked. I'm currently in Texas, and the university is in Kentucky.

If anyone has any good advice for continuing education or a DNP program, I would greatly appreciate it.

[terfernay]

If you want to be dual-certified as a CNM and FNP you'd have to either attend a dual CNM/FNP program or get one certification and then get a post-master's certificate in the other, which is usually about 1 more year of school. If you want to go to Frontier then it's fastest to get your CNM first and then get a post-master's certificate for your FNP afterward. Frontier has Regional Clinical Faculty that are in charge of assisting students in arranging clinicals in their state. It's best to do your own networking to find potential preceptors and then your RCF will help you with getting the paperwork completed, so you can do your clinicals at those sites. They also are responsible for doing a site visit to verify that the clinical site will be a good learning experience and help provide training to your preceptors. If you are struggling with finding your own preceptors they can give you a list of clinical sites that other Frontier students have used in your area for you to try to contact. You are required to travel to campus once before you start the program and once before you start the clinical portion of the program. Everything else can be done in your home community.