FNP vs AGPCNP?

[JDougRN, BSN, RN]

I just recently began trying to decide what school and certification I'm going to do. I'm an ED nurse now, and I'd like to stay in emergency medicine, possibly transition into EMS flight care. Does anybody know what, if any, capacity NPs can function in that area? I seem to remember working a trauma that got diverted to our ED when the pt. coded. The NP on the flight team was very impressive, and threw in a central line while we were working on the patient. I'm wondering how to get to do that when I grow up? :)

I spoke with a counselor this week who told me that in order to work in the ED, I would need my AGPCNP cert, that I would only be able to take care of patients age 12 and up. I explained to her that where I live (Eastern TN) that EDs and minute clinics seem to be hiring FNPs who see a fair amount of pediatric patients. She told me that they were acting outside of their scope, that FNPs were trained for primary care in an office type setting. I always thought FNPs were able to do emergent/critical/emergent care for the entire life span? I'm a travel nurse, and I've never worked in a place where the midlevel couldn't care for peds patients. Could someone please shed some light on this for me please?

[BCgradnurse, MSN, RN, NP]

FNP prepares you for outpatient primary care. It will not give you the didactic or clinical knowledge to work in a critical care environment. Most FNPs work in an office or clinic setting, but some do work in hospitals. I know a few FNPs that work in ERs, but they do primarily fast track. Minute Clinics are similar to fast track and do not treat high acuity patients. You will need to do an acute care or ER NP program to best prepare yourself for the work you say you want to do.

[db2xs]

I know several NPs who specialised in primary care and then switched to acute care and vice versa, so I doubt you will be locked down to anything. I would think that for ED work doing family would make more sense, but I have no ED experience so I cannot comment on what would be best for your path.