FNP

[mrshunt]

Ok fellow nurses I need advice! I am currently in the WSU nursing program in WA state and thinking about post grad. I would like to get my FNP degree but am unsure what kind of education/work experience I will need to be successful as a FNP. I am interested in working as a practitioner at a local clinic to serve community members and not so much into working at a hospital. Would I still be successful as a FNP if my first job was not in the hospital after nursing school?? I am thinking of working at an eye surgery center after graduation. Thanks in advance!

[anh06005, MSN, APRN, NP]

There seems to be a general concensus that there is no right job or wrong job to prepare you for FNP. Each job and area provides a different skill set and knowledge base for NP school.

[mrshunt]

Thank you!

[justin100784]

I agree that there is no right or wrong job for FNP. Schools require 2000 hours before applying to program, although I have heard of some schools allowing nurses to get their 2000 hours while in school which I feel is crazy. The big thing is to get as much exposure as possible. I worked in the ER/ICU/tele

for my 2000 hours so I was able to exposure in the care as well as a large variety of medications, but I was not exposed to the way family clinic ran and all the preventative aspects that the clinics implement. Other nurses that worked in a clinic said that the opposite, they didn't get the in-depth exposure to medications and procedures like i did but did get the workings of family care.

I will have to say working at an eye surgery center will limit the exposure to general medicine. You still can be successful just study and when choosing clinical sites find ones that offer a wide variety of patients. I personally looked for low income population and did specialties in cardiovascular and Gastroenterology/hepatology due to these areas being the large majority of problem.

Wish you luck hope this helps