FNP or ACNP

At the top of this website is a link that says "Specialties". There's a link to the Advance Practice forum, you may get better feedback there where the advance practice nurses chat

What field do you have experience in and which area do you see yourself working in? I'm from a critical care background and never want to work in an office or do primary care so it made sense to do the acute track. I'll be able to work in the ICU, surgery, or some specialty if I choose. However, be aware that in order to get into most acute programs you usually have to have 1-2 years of acute experience, preferably ICU. Do you want to work in a hospital environment or in an office Mon-Fri?

Hey

I worked in med surg and recently started working in peds ICU.

Some ACNPs work in a specialty office-type setting, but will also round on patients in the hospital. So as an ACNP, you're not just limited to hospital settings. If you're interested in ACNP, would you rather work with adults or children? There is the AGACNP (adult-gero) as well as the PACNP (peds). I've heard for some programs you need a PNP first before you can go through a PACNP program. You will also need at least 1-2 years of ICU experience before being eligible for an ACNP program.

FNPs are mostly primary care/physician office/outpatient settings. Most are Monday-Friday, 8 to 5 type positions. FNPs have more flexibility because we're essentially trained to see from womb to tomb so you can work with a pediatrician or an OB-GYN. The problem, though, is that there are PNP and WHNP designations, so those speciality practices may prefer those NPs over an FNP.

FNPs can also work in retail health (like CVS MinuteClinic, Walgreens, etc) which sees a lot of sick visits with a little bit of primary and preventative care thrown in between. In some areas, you can work in the ER as an FNP if that is what interests you. Not all FNP positions are 5 days a week.

Think about what you really want to do as an APP. I see you just got hired in PICU. Maybe PICU will become your passion, and you really want to become a PACNP. PACNP may also open doors to work in a pediatric ER depending on your area.