Direct Route from BSN to FNP?

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 11, 2015

Any nurse practitioner program worth attending is going to require in person clinicals. There is no such thing as a 100% online program. Look for schools that are approved by your state BON- list should be available on its website as well as accreditation agencies.

Nurse Leigh · Oct 11, 2015

And I personally would not wish to knowingly see a Nurse Practitioner who has ZERO experience as a NURSE. Nothing "advanced practice" about an inexperienced nurse.

synaptic · Oct 11, 2015

They have a few where u can pay the money and they ship you a degree the next week

i almost think this is a troll. If so. Hats off to you. If not, helmets on for the future patients of this provider

Desi_Princess · Oct 11, 2015

Synaptic NP,

I can assure you that I am NOT a troll. I have done some research and it has shown that it is in fact possible to do this, but more common with accelerated programs. Although I was accepted into an accelerated nursing program, I chose to do the traditional route because I did not think that I would actually learn anything in 1 year vs 2 years of nursing school.

Desi_Princess · Oct 11, 2015

Hello,

I just EDIT'd my original post. Of course the clinical portion cannot be done online, but I referenced that, I was speaking purely from the didactic portion of things.

anh06005, MSN, APRN, NP · Oct 11, 2015

The program I went to did not require RN experience to be accepted but did require a couple of years experience before it would allow you into the clinical portion. I went straight into it and did 1-2 classes each semester. I started with the policy/procedures, nursing research, etc. The couple of semester before clinicals I did my pharm and patho and by the time I started clinical I had about 3 years RN experience. Took me a total of 4.5 years to complete but, hey, I did it without having to absolutely kill myself.

You might clarify with schools you're interested in if they want experience before the program or before the clinical portion. I got my MSN from the school I got my BSN from. It is brick and mortar state school but the MSN program was mostly online with 2-3 on campus meetings for each class each semester. I chose to return to the school because I knew the instructors and knew how they felt towards the students.

chacha82, ADN, BSN · Oct 13, 2015

Why would you want to be an FNP if you haven't yet practiced as an RN? I'm not trying to be snarky, just sensible. Would you want a school principal to know nothing about teaching? (I guess that happens). Nothing wrong with online school but nursing school is very different from working as an RN. People could make the same argument about doctors, but that's why you have to do a residency once you finish med school. Your practice needs to be supervised. You don't get to automatically be a doctor. Also, what will you say in interviews when they ask you what your nursing background is? A school preceptorship does not provide the same type of training as working as a nurse. You won't be able to say ICU, tele, med-surge, or L&D. You will have to say....nothing. Why not work as a nurse for five years and see if you still want to be an FNP? You may not like family medicine at all. Then what would you do? And what are we in good faith supposed to tell you to do?

PG2018 · Oct 13, 2015

I finished RN indoctrination and immediately paid into the state's U. Med school. I started the core stuff before I worked a day as a RN maybe. Idk. I try to block out that period of my life. The smelly horrors were quite traumatic. Nonetheless, by the time I got the diploma I'd worked as a nursey. Actually, I took 10 weeks off and spent two of those at Disney World trying to forget nusedom.

Now I'm a NP, pretty good at it by all metrics, and I never worked psych. I don't think any med durg job, which I had, is going to help at all with FNP. May as well be comparing dentistry to chiropractic. Very little commonality.

NPFLlo, APRN · Oct 15, 2015

That's quite frankly bordeline dangerous. Becoming a prescriber without patient care experience is scary. How confident are you to be up to this challenge? It's exciting to "finish fast", but you don't want to loose your license and maybe end up hurting someone because you could not be patient enough to take some time to accrue experience. I'm quite frankly appauled that any program would let you do that in the US. In Canada, the requirement is 2 years, no exceptions. Let's be real here we are dealing with human lives, and it needs to be taken a bit more seriously!

allnurses Guide · Oct 15, 2015

I have done some research and it has shown that it is in fact possible to do this, but more common with accelerated programs.

Just because it is "possible" doesn't mean it should be done, and you will find there are a lot of nurses out there that will voice their opinion that is should not be done.

I think many NPs have concerns when we see the "just graduated looking for cheap online fast and easy NP program" posts, myself included.

From my experience there are individuals that can go directly through to the NP role and be excellent providers given a quality program and a devotion to their education and preparation. For each one of those there are many more that can not. Honestly, most of those looking for the cheap/online/fast options are not the ones most dedicated to their preparation, but every individual is different.

Best of luck.

bestjobRN · Oct 17, 2015

That's quite frankly bordeline dangerous. Becoming a prescriber without patient care experience is scary. How confident are you to be up to this challenge? It's exciting to "finish fast", but you don't want to loose your license and maybe end up hurting someone because you could not be patient enough to take some time to accrue experience. I'm quite frankly appauled that any program would let you do that in the US. In Canada, the requirement is 2 years, no exceptions. Let's be real here we are dealing with human lives, and it needs to be taken a bit more seriously!

Well, in my perspective (working as RN for about a year), I would think NP students with no RN experience will have enough training as NP to practice safely. I believe it would be helpful to have some clinical experience as RN for few years to have more confidence to practice as NP but the knowledge they require to be NP and skill set would be so much different. I've met some FNP saying the RN experience is just quite different from what you practice, so you shouldn't be scared to see FNP who doesn't have RN experience. They are NOT threat to the community they serve.