Everyone is in NP school !

smileyfacefee · Aug 22, 2017

I think it is the area because there are a lot of jobs for NPs available where I am. I am wondering though...our medical college recently got the acute care and adult Gerontology programs. .pretty soon the area will begin to follow and begin requiring the specific specialty which may make it more difficult for some NPs to find work depending on the specialty.

Lavie30 · Aug 22, 2017

The problem is that a majority of the people I know in NP school are doing it because they want to get away from bedside however there are SO many different specialties in nursing that does just that (public health, case management, school nursing, etc). Most of the people I know in NP school go to for-profit schools and are taking their exams at the nurses station while running from room to room attending to patients which is absolutely INSANE to me.

I myself am currently in NP school but I have a very unique long-term career goal and I knew years ago in order to achieve that I would have to go back to school. I made sure to only apply to top universities (Hopkins, Duke, Yale, Emory, UPenn) because I knew that in order to get to where I want to be and to have a better chance of making the income I want I would need a strong name to back me up.

Owlgal · Aug 22, 2017

The problem is that a majority of the people I know in NP school are doing it because they want to get away from bedside however there are SO many different specialties in nursing that does just that (public health, case management, school nursing, etc). Most of the people I know in NP school go to for-profit schools and are taking their exams at the nurses station while running from room to room attending to patients which is absolutely INSANE to me.
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I find this odd. Because all of my online exams are either proctored and timed or simply timed. Are they really taking exams between going into patient rooms? -- that seems highly exaggerated to me.

Bob Loblaw · Aug 24, 2017

I would also say about 75% of RN's I work with are in NP school- mostly all online and go a week or 2 in the summer. There are also online NP schools now that go straight from ADN to NP without stopping @ BSN. And fast track direct entry that go straight to NP without stopping @ RN. NP's now are quasi-physicians @ my hospital. They are the hospitalists in every department except surgery (I think that is last specialty to still require MD/DO). If I was younger I'd do the online also- NP is "clean" work and I don't really think it actually has much to do with nursing, maybe @ onetime but no longer. It's physician lite, and theres nothing wrong with that. MD/DO's aren't entering family practice, new medical school openings aren't keeping up with demand. Everything is always supply and demand. Population growing exponentially with birthrate and immigration, people living longer requiring alot more interface with medicine. I work ED, people used to have 1 doc, now they have gaggle (or whatever a group of docs is called) on their line-up. My state NP is independent and many hang their own shingle, so basically they are docs. I was speaking with someone getting out of NP school and she was telling me there were 22 y/o's getting out that have zero RN or any previous PT care experience except preceptorship. Schools (all schools) are in the education business and the demand is for quicker, faster, easier everything and NP is no exception.

Lavie30 · Aug 28, 2017

I find this odd. Because all of my online exams are either proctored and timed or simply timed. Are they really taking exams between going into patient rooms? -- that seems highly exaggerated to me.

When I worked night shift some of my co workers would be taking exams during the shift..while tending to patients. I even remember clearly one of my coworkers in particular who would ask other people for help with her questions and would have her textbook out as well. I'm not sure if the quizzes/exams were timed or proctored (I'm going to assume it wasn't) but I'm just stating what I saw. I have no reason to exaggerate.

Troll_Patrol · Sep 4, 2017

I absolutely see this and I get asked at least 2x a day by nurses about NP school. My area is saturated with FNPs because 5 more local universities started FNP programs ... luckily I am dual certified as an AG-ACNP/FNP which gave me an advantage since there are no ACNP programs in my area. I am also seeing extremely low salaries being accepted by new NPs (like lower than what I made as a CCU RN) and seeing FNPs being used as nurses that can do MD *****-work (i.e. Write all the H&Ps and progress notes while the MD does all the actual patient care and dictate orders for the NO to put in the EMR). It's sickening and I was extremely discouraged when I graduated after seeing this being an acceptable practice.

JellyDonut · Sep 4, 2017

i was a bedside nurse for more years than I can wrap my he'd around. It wore me down and made me hate going to work. Horrible families, obese patients, rude physicians and ignorant mid-levels. Throw in lazy administration who paid more attention to me clocking in three minutes early than thy did to how short staffed we all were...and yes I see the appeal of the NP route. However, I do not think all the current glut of students understands the stress and pressure that comes with the position. It is not all fun and games. I m constantly reading and trying to understand why this does that and why it doesn't. i worry that i may miss something that a physician would not and I double check everything. I am not as well educated as the specialists I work with and it makes me work harder not to let them or my patients down. As a nurse i could just pass the buck, but nobody to pass to now. Sure my physicians will answer questions but they want me to figure it out and take care of it. So, it is not all easy peasy and I do not think all those rushing to the NP role fully understand that.