FNP in the Main ED

[matthewandrew, NP]

Are there any family nurse practitioners working in the main emergency department. I know many FNPs working in the urgent care/fast track settings but I wonder if FNPs are allowed to work in the main ED.

[synaptic]

they did at the hospital where i worked as a hospitalist. doc and np or pa in main er and another pa or np in the urgent care section. depends on facility and group that staffs the er but yeah they are allowed to. I mean you have a doc right next to you to bounce questions off of and to manage the codes and other higher acuity stuff that comes in.

[Miss Infermiera2b, BSN, RN]

No NP's in the ER I work in. We do have NP's that work in critical care or as hospitalists but they only come down to the ED to admit patients.

[Jules A, MSN]

No NP's in the ER I work in. We do have NP's that work in critical care or as hospitalists but they only come down to the ED to admit patients.

And my guess would be they are Acute Care NPs. That is how it is in my area.

Even my FNP program was clear that we weren't trained to work in on inpatient hospital units which speaks volumes since they are usually willing to say whatever students want to hear to get their tuition.

[synaptic]

anybodys best bet if they wanna work er is to be an er doc. they need them severely everywhere and they get paid a lot more than nps and pas in the er.it is super strange that a lot of docs don't want to work er, but it seems like a huge percent of nps and pas do.

I have yet to find a good explanation for this but it seems to be the way it goes in a lot of areas.

[twozer0, NP]

It is really facility specific. Where I work, I was offered a job post graduation in the ED as an FNP. Typically they do not allow Acute care NP's to work in the ER due to not having any pediatric experience unless they dual specialize (Peds or FNP). There are programs to certify NP's in emergency training which isnt required to work in the ED (at least at my facility) but it does provide you are competant at ED skills like intubation, central line placement, suturing, etc. It would be a certification post FNP.

[BostonFNP, APRN]

Our local ER uses FNPs and PAs, we don't have enough ACNPs around and they can't see kiddos.

[guest769224]

Several FNP's in my level 1 trauma center ER.

[hunnybaby24, BSN, APRN, NP]

Ive seen at FNPs at many different ERs were I live.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

In the area where I live it's common to have an NP as a solo ER practitioner in rural, critical access ERs, especially at night.

[bethymaester]

In the Level II trauma center I worked in all the NPs and PAs rotated through fast track and the main side. The acuity of patients they took kind of depended on the individual provider. They were not assigned to cover trauma though and one of our seasoned trauma nurses became a FNP and tried really hard to get a position created for NPs in our trauma department but the hospital wouldn't do it. I don't think they would have even if she had the acute care certification though because the trauma surgeons weren't really NP friendly and wanted the residents to cover. So yeah, depends on the specific facility!

[sjalv]

anybodys best bet if they wanna work er is to be an er doc. they need them severely everywhere and they get paid a lot more than nps and pas in the er.

Doctors are needed everywhere, will almost always earn more than a midlevel, and will almost always have better job prospects in any setting than a midlevel. This isn't unique to the ER.