Case manager to NP school?

[Mcnurse567]

Hello! I'm looking for advice from NPs/NP students. I am a 27 year old, l am a RN, and have been for only two years. I have my ASN, and currently in school for my BSN. My end goal is to get my masters and become a NP, in the future, not anytime soon. The company I work for (and love) is looking for a case manager. I'm highly interested in this position but I am scared that it will hurt my chances in getting into NP school. I would still work bedside by picking up shifts on the floor every other weekend or so on the unit I work on, or my PRN job which is an ED. (oc I still love bedside), but I'm scared they would see "case manager" on my application and deny me when I apply many years from now? Because it's not considered "bedside?" What are the chances of them choosing another applicant if they have more

"bedside experience" than me? Is this silly to worry about? How did your application for your nurse practitioner program/MSN program work for your college? Did they even pay attention to your past work experience/jobs? Any advice? As you can see I am a worry wart &

thank you!

[barcode120x, RN, NP]

Considering the hot topic of NP diploma mills nearly accepting all applicants, I highly doubt you'll have any issues getting into an NP Program especially since you already have 2 years of bedside experience. While I think it's a great idea to work bedside PD if you do pursue that case management position, what's your reasoning for getting your NP? Why not just go for your NP now instead of working this case management role? 

When I applied, I only applied to one well known university/private school in my area (one I wouldn't consider a "diploma mill") and got in right away. I have a well-versed nursing background and answered all those essay questions and application questions with passion. Later in the program, I heard that they interviewed half the applicants and I guess either I was lucky that I wasn't chosen to interview or my background on paper was good enough to not warrant that interview. Other than that, no one in particular asked me about my background experience except for the 1st day introduction.

In terms of advice, some here may say to get more bedside experience but I feel 2 years could be good enough to start, but as you start the application process and probably work during the program, you'll continue to gain more nursing experience to add on to those 2 years. It also depends on what specialty as an NP you want to go into. If it's a position outside of acute care or primary care, then you may want to consider working in a nursing role that can help you transition to that specific NP role.

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

Full disclaimer: I graduated from NP school in 2003 and I went to an AGACNP program in a state university that only had a total of 6 students in my batch.

I think your chances of acceptance depends on the school and specific program you're applying to. Some AGACNP programs can be selective and sometimes 2 years of bedside experience isn't enough in programs where majority of applicants have strong ICU and ED experience which is the case in the local state university where I have precepted students from. However, FNP and AGNP programs sometimes don't require much experience or any experience at all.

Also, is this Case Management job Mondays to Fridays? I find that students working in this type of schedule have a hard time juggling school and work especially when clinicals start. In my current job, I work with RN Case Managers and their job is not clinical at all but they do have a lot of knowledge in terms of community resources for discharge planning so I think that is experience that might be useful in a future NP career.

[FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP]

2 years experience is plenty.  And the Case Manager role provides a different kind of experience, which is good.

Contrary to what some folks on this forum say, you do NOT need bedside RN experience to get into NP school.  I did an ABSN and went straight on to earn my AGPCNP at Johns Hopkins (not exactly a "diploma mill").

The evidence indicates RN experience does not really provide an added benefit for NPs.  Sorry, but that is the evidence.  You can search on my name and read my mini evidence review posted on this forum.