what experience needed for a new Adult NP to be hired?

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Hi all,

I am in Adult NP trac about half way through. I have been an RN in acute care (NON critical care) for a few years prior to NP school, but right now I am not working. Thinking ahead about finding work after getting my ANP degree. General primary care, cardio, or gero are the possible areas of interest. Currently, I have an opportunity to work as an RN in home care but have my doubts about whether it'll look good on the resume come time to get the job as an NP. So, does hospital sounds like a better idea?

Thanks for your input!

grnNP:confused:

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I wouldn't recommend home care if you are going to be an NP unless you would do it very part time. I would recommend working in a hospital. I just really think that the things you learn in the acute care setting are very valuable and will give you some good experience. You have some good ideas in mind. I would just work in a setting that interests you the most. If cardio, then maybe a tele floor. If primary care, then maybe ER. If gero, then maybe a med surg floor. Even just 1-2 years in a hospital does help to lay some foundation of good clinical practice. By caring for patients who are acutely ill will help differentiate patients who are not acutely ill and it will make practicing so much easier.

I work in the outpatient setting as an adult NP and was seeing a patient last week who had an acute condition. She was hypoxic and confused for one week. I was able to order some interventions for her that I learned when I worked up on tele floor. If I hadn't worked with such acutely ill patients, I may not have known what to do. Now, we don't always see acute cases in the outpatient setting, but what I'm saying is, having that hospital experience better prepared me to be a more experienced NP. Hope that helps!

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Specializes in Emergency, Cardiac, PAT/SPU, Urgent Care.

I agree with the above poster; however, if you truly think that you would want to do home care as an NP, then it could be beneficial. I know that here in my area (mid-Atlantic), there are several jobs for NPs to perform assessments on patients at home, so this could be a job option for you in the future. However, I do agree that you will get a much better, well-rounded background (helpful for future employment) if you stay in the hospital setting.

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Hi,

thank you for your responses:)!!!!

It looks like hospital makes sense. I had worked there before on tele floor and had amazing experience although a while ago. Coincidentally, I got to like cardiology and am planning to find work in this area.

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Specializes in ER, Critical Care, Paramedicine.

Find the highest acuity unit you can do while in school and work there... The sicker the patient, the more you'll learn and be able to apply where-ever you end up...

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Thank you all for your input!:p

Now, probably a silly question.... While I am trying to get myself hired as a hospital RN , do I mention in my resume that I am in grad school and announce it proudly at the interview, or better keep my mouth shut....

In recruiter's eyes it might look like I might desert them comes graduation day...

What do you think?

Thanks!

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Specializes in Emergency, Cardiac, PAT/SPU, Urgent Care.

I never had a problem when I applied for nursing positions having my MSN school listed while I was a current student. However, I had over 10 years of ED experience when I applied to the EDs I was interested in, so I think they probably looked more at that than me being in school. I also made sure to mention that I did plan on working throughout my time in grad school (with 3 years left to go), so that seemed to appease them.

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