From RN to NP

RN-APNstudent · Dec 2, 2015

Getting a few years of RN experience is definitely beneficial and will make you a better NP. I have been a nurse 4 years and just started the NP program and I'm so happy I have the knowledge I do from my 4 years of nursing

Breh_118 · Dec 2, 2015

Getting a few years of RN experience is definitely beneficial and will make you a better NP. I have been a nurse 4 years and just started the NP program and I'm so happy I have the knowledge I do from my 4 years of nursing

Is it possible to work and get experience as an RN while at the same time going to school to become an NP? Would that work as well?

PG2018 · Dec 2, 2015

I think you'll find varying responses. I RN'd for three years in jail, ER, and urgent care. That was enough. I don't care to do it otherwise. I think my own life experiences, as a second career guy, have lended themselves well to my role in psychiatry as a NP. I never really worked in psych (and wouldn't) as a RN. I really enjoy what I do, and I seem to do it well. I've found my niche by happenstance. If I had it to do all over again I'm not sure I would, however.

Responses and successes will vary. If you like what you want, if your interests are circumscribed enough to make learning about it a life pursuit, and you dedicate yourself to it you'll do well RN experience or not. Those who have been RNs have found it helpful. Those who come from other backgrounds find that helpful. There's really no bad experience unless you become conditioned to being a generally bad student and worker.

Good luck.

Breh_118 · Dec 2, 2015

I think you'll find varying responses. I RN'd for three years in jail, ER, and urgent care. That was enough. I don't care to do it otherwise. I think my own life experiences, as a second career guy, have lended themselves well to my role in psychiatry as a NP. I never really worked in psych (and wouldn't) as a RN. I really enjoy what I do, and I seem to do it well. I've found my niche by happenstance. If I had it to do all over again I'm not sure I would, however.
Responses and successes will vary. If you like what you want, if your interests are circumscribed enough to make learning about it a life pursuit, and you dedicate yourself to it you'll do well RN experience or not. Those who have been RNs have found it helpful. Those who come from other backgrounds find that helpful. There's really no bad experience unless you become conditioned to being a generally bad student and worker.
Good luck.

Thank you for shining light on the issue.

KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN · Dec 2, 2015

It really depends on what you are and where you get experience, if any. There are plenty of programs which will take academically-strong students directly from BSN, and not all of them are for-profit online diploma mills.

The thing is, provider role and RN role are two completely different animals and, at least for some, it is better to go directly there instead of developing and polishing customer service skills and acquire other bad thinking patterns. It kinda looks funny when in grad pharm class you are given a problem like "patient has x, y and z, takes a, b, c, d, what is wrong and what you are going to do?" and 75% of class correctly identifies the problem (a and c are incompatible and need to be either changed or taken in different time) but anyway answers "call the doctor" as the first and single solution, but in reality it is not laughing matter. It is not ok when people consider thinking and critical analysis as someone else's job while being on their way to decision-maker role. By the professor's opinion, it was not hopeless just yet but we were given a kinda stern lecture anyway:writing: :lurking:

Personally for me, the only absolute positive of working for two years before NP school was the fact that now I have enough money to pay for it. Another positive was that now I know more about how the system works. Maybe with time I will value the latter thing more, but it still doesn't do anything with endless humiliations, hatred, anti-intellectualism and just pure human evil I endured during that time.

Breh_118 · Dec 2, 2015

It really depends on what you are and where you get experience, if any. There are plenty of programs which will take academically-strong students directly from BSN, and not all of them are for-profit online diploma mills.
The thing is, provider role and RN role are two completely different animals and, at least for some, it is better to go directly there instead of developing and polishing customer service skills and acquire other bad thinking patterns. It kinda looks funny when in grad pharm class you are given a problem like "patient has x, y and z, takes a, b, c, d, what is wrong and what you are going to do?" and 75% of class correctly identifies the problem (a and c are incompatible and need to be either changed or taken in different time) but anyway answers "call the doctor" as the first and single solution, but in reality it is not laughing matter. It is not ok when people consider thinking and critical analysis as someone else's job while being on their way to decision-maker role. By the professor's opinion, it was not hopeless just yet but we were given a kinda stern lecture anyway:writing:
Personally for me, the only absolute positive of working for two years before NP school was the fact that now I have enough money to pay for it. Another positive was that now I know more about how the system works. Maybe with time I will value the latter thing more, but it still doesn't do anything with endless humiliations, hatred, anti-intellectualism and just pure human evil I endured during that time.

Do you know of any direct entry programs you mentioned in California?

Trauma Columnist · Dec 2, 2015

Moved to prenursing forum