Career Assistance-HELP

[NYNPMAN]

I had long ago wanted to pursue a career as an MD. I had only wanted to be a house DR or an ER doctor in a hospital. The medical school climate at the time(mid 80's)proved daunting for a poor kid to get into Med School...hence many doctors from that era sought education in PR, Mexico, Grenada etc(my own GP included). I am a retired police officer now and I am in my final semester of an ADN nrsing program. I had intended to continue on and get into an NP program...as either a FP or anesthetist. I recently floated into the ER at my job(cardiac tech)and fell in love again with ER medicine. What should I do? I see the ER doesn't use RN-NPs but instead uses PAs. I would be very content and I believe competent in suturing, dressing and such...how can I make this work. I am in the NYC area. Who are these PAs? Is there more schooling than RNs..less?

PS Don't get me wrong I like many aspects of the "real" nursing of Med/Surg and Critical Care but I love the ER nitch.

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

Many ER's hire nurse practitioners. I would suggest getting an ER nursing job after graduation, and seeing the NP/PA roles at work before choosing a completely different path.

[glenmar3]

ER nursing itself can be pretty exciting. NPs and PAs are mostly used for the "fast track" stuff. Patients coming in for straight forward minor problems and injuries that don't require complex medical decision making or advanced supportive care. That frees the MDs and ER nurses to handle any critical problems that roll in.

I agree with SteveRN21. Get out of school, get some experience under your belt and then decide. The nice thing about being an NP though is that you can do other things like teaching perhaps somewhere down the road since you have to have a Master's degree to be an NP. Not so with a PA.

[The_Squid]

My ER uses NPs in our urgent care/fast track area. While they are obviously technically part of the ER service that type of position may not be what you love about ER medicine.