Can a new APRN only work PT or PRN?

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Specializes in Education, Skills & Simulation, Med/Surg, Pharm.

Hello! I am currently a RN working in education. I work 24 hours a week and I love my job and hope to always stay here. My long term goals are to earn a DNP as it will be very beneficial to my current position. I hope to eventually do research on interprofessional teamwork/collaboration and interprofessional simulation.

To get my DNP, I need to become an APRN. Most of the DNP faculty I work with, work around 4 hours a week as an APRN. I would definitely like to do that, but probably more like 8 hours a week. Is that even remotely feasible to do as a new graduate?

I don't want to graduate, have to leave my current position to get a few years full-time experience, and then not be able to go back (I work in a small department with only 3 nurses and low turnover - the other two nurses have been here for 8 years and 13 years).

Any thoughts on how to get to my long-term goals would be appreciated. My plan is to do FNP as I like the whole family and broad aspect of the care. I currently work PRN as a bedside nurse and hope to always continue to do patient care on the side as I both enjoy it and I feel it is necessary to be a good educator.

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Specializes in Education, Skills & Simulation, Med/Surg, Pharm.

bump - any hints, tips, or advice is greatly appreciative!

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Specializes in Cardiac, Home Health, Primary Care.

I'm not really sure how feasible it would be to only work 8 hours a week. You might have to at least work more to get oriented then drop back on hours.

The main thing I'm still waiting on are all of my provider numbers to come in so that might work to your advantage. I'd also think that if you will be teaching NP students they'd want you to have more experience than a year or two of 8 hours a week. At that rate a month would be about equal to a week of full time experience so that (hours wise) would be like 6 months of full time experience. I'm not sure that's enough to really grasp the NP role (judging by my first couple of months lol).

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Specializes in Adult Nurse Practitioner.

I am a little confused. Why do you have to be an APRN before you start your DNP program? Do your research. There are DNP programs that do not require you to be an APRN first. These may be better suited for you as you will be able to maintain your current position and attend classes. Good luck!

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Specializes in Education, Skills & Simulation, Med/Surg, Pharm.

Yes, but it still does not solve the problem of what I do when I graduate from a BSN-DNP program. I don't want to leave my job and I am worried about being able to find a contingent/PRN job as a new grad APRN.

I am a little confused. Why do you have to be an APRN before you start your DNP program? Do your research. There are DNP programs that do not require you to be an APRN first. These may be better suited for you as you will be able to maintain your current position and attend classes. Good luck!
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There are a lot of part-time and PRN NP positions out there, but I don't think too many of them are suited to new grads. You really need to gain experience during your first few years out of school, but I would think that anything is possible.

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Specializes in Emergency.

There are DNP programs for nursing education. That would qualify you as having a DNP and you wouldn't have to work or be an APRN. If you are saying that you want/need both a DNP and to be an APRN, in that case I do not know what the options would be for a new grad, I would suggest talking to the other faculty members and asking them if they were able to do 4 or 8 hr part time when they first graduated, and if they thought their current employer would be open to such an arrangement when you graduated.

Personally, I would think places like an urgent care or walk-in clinic might be interested in someone to cover shifts or do a weekend shift kind of thing, but I don't know that for your area.

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Specializes in Education, Skills & Simulation, Med/Surg, Pharm.
There are DNP programs for nursing education. That would qualify you as having a DNP and you wouldn't have to work or be an APRN. If you are saying that you want/need both a DNP and to be an APRN, in that case I do not know what the options would be for a new grad, I would suggest talking to the other faculty members and asking them if they were able to do 4 or 8 hr part time when they first graduated, and if they thought their current employer would be open to such an arrangement when you graduated.

Personally, I would think places like an urgent care or walk-in clinic might be interested in someone to cover shifts or do a weekend shift kind of thing, but I don't know that for your area.

The DNP programs that are educational based are not CCNE accredited which means my employer won't recognize it, unfortunately.

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Why do you want the DNP? If your interest is primarily in education and research, then it would seem like a PhD would be more appropriate.

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Specializes in Education, Skills & Simulation, Med/Surg, Pharm.
Why do you want the DNP? If your interest is primarily in education and research, then it would seem like a PhD would be more appropriate.

I agree, mostly. But my interest is more so research into the practice application of simulation, not the research behind it. I also have no interest in living off grants. I want to be hands on... Maybe 70% hands on teaching and 30% research. Just not sure the best path to get there.

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