Do you feel more people are entering nursing only to become APRN's?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am not a nurse yet, but I'm an EMT, have worked in and around the hospital, and I am currently finishing my last two prerequisite courses before applying for ABSN programs. It seems like 90% of my current classmates in nursing prerequisite courses, along with other prospective nurses I've worked with, are entering the nursing profession with the goal of become a Nurse Practitioner or CRNA.

Do you, especially those already working as nurses, feel a lot of new graduate nurses are entering nursing for the sole purpose of becoming an APRN? I feel like since APRN's are gaining more popularity, people are entering the nursing field to become an APRN and not a "nurse", in lieu of becoming an MD/DO or PA. I'm not saying more education is bad, but it seems like people want to be an NP, not a nurse, if that makes sense. Which leads me to believe (and I know it's been discussed before) a huge over saturation of APRN's is in the near future.

Thoughts? Again, I'm not a nurse yet, so I could be completely off base.

Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
And I don't think people are treated poorly on the floor. I think many of those new grads aren't used to a situation in which they aren't coddled. Asking a new grad to work nights, weekends or holidays is not poor treatment, yet I've been on the receiving end of phone calls from their parents demanding that they be given "better schedules" because "working nights is cruel and inhuman treatment." Being corrected when you goof up is not poor treatment. Yet I've had orientees who will not accept ANY negative feedback as anything other than "bullying."

People who go looking for poor treatment, bullying or NETY will always find it -- even if it isn't there. Nursing schools and even forums like this one prime new grads to go looking for it.

Their PARENTS are calling to complain about their schedules? Shouldn't you have to be an adult to be a nurse? That is the most pathetic thing I've heard in a while.

Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Not kidding; not even a little bit. My manager had a call not long ago from an irate father who threatened to "have your job" if Susie wasn't given a pass on working the holidays because it was very important to HIS career to have a hostess for all of his holiday entertaining, and since his divorce, Susie was his hostess.

Then maybe Dad should just support little Susie so someone else could have her job.

Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
I guess they don't teach sarcasm in ADN school.

They must not, because I missed it too. My reaction was the same as Susie's.

Specializes in Med Surg/ICU/Psych/Emergency/CEN/retired.
CNA school is actually really easy to get into. I am surprised she worked as a RN then CNA, very interesting career choice.

CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant) school is not the same as a CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesia) program. All CRNA programs are extremely competitive graduate nursing programs. It is highly unlikely that any licensed RN would enroll in a program to become a CNA. This is not to disparage any CNAs, also valuable members of the healthcare team.

CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant) school is not the same as a CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesia) program. All CRNA programs are extremely competitive graduate nursing programs. It is highly unlikely that any licensed RN would enroll in a program to become a CNA. This is not to disparage any CNAs, also valuable members of the healthcare team.

I am aware of that, that's why I thought it was an interesting career choice to go from RN to CNA.

Specializes in PACU, Critical Care, Hemodialysis, IR.
I am not a nurse yet, but I'm an EMT, have worked in and around the hospital, and I am currently finishing my last two prerequisite courses before applying for ABSN programs. It seems like 90% of my current classmates in nursing prerequisite courses, along with other prospective nurses I've worked with, are entering the nursing profession with the goal of become a Nurse Practitioner or CRNA.

Do you, especially those already working as nurses, feel a lot of new graduate nurses are entering nursing for the sole purpose of becoming an APRN? I feel like since APRN's are gaining more popularity, people are entering the nursing field to become an APRN and not a "nurse", in lieu of becoming an MD/DO or PA. I'm not saying more education is bad, but it seems like people want to be an NP, not a nurse, if that makes sense. Which leads me to believe (and I know it's been discussed before) a huge over saturation of APRN's is in the near future.

Thoughts? Again, I'm not a nurse yet, so I could be completely off base.

What you think is never off base. You're making an opinion statement based on your observations. I've been an RN for over 40 years. Just an RN, doing what I love which is bedside nursing. I noted this trend long ago and wondered how someone who's never been "in the trenches" could acquire enough gut instinct, which we all get with time. My neice just graduated and is on that track right now. Everyone has to follow their own path. I wish you luck in your education, never let anyone with more education put you down. I've been told I was "just a nurse" by a doctor who paralyzed a vented patient who was set to breath 4 X a minute by the machine, he was being weaned, and I had to ask the MD to raise his respiratory rate, and he sincerely apologized to me. We are all valuable especially doing what we do. I sense a very good future RN who will touch many lives. Dianne

Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
Actually I just noticed this. I worked on CCU and everyone there had plans of going somewhere else. It is fine and all, but I remember one new grad that was terrible with foleys at first and always needed (me, the tech) to help or take over. Within months she is being accepted to CNA school. I had no clue they could get in that quickly... But she did, and suddenly she was the holy queen God, correcting everyone as if she was so exceptional and talented... You can manage to handle putting a tube in a bladder how you gonna manage putting one in lungs?

Hmm...foley, endotracheal tube.....it might be a toss up on which is easier to place in some patients! Especially if one is sedated in the OR and the other is awake on the floor...

This thread is so discouraging. May the AMA not come across it.

There are nurses who rather get years of RN experience before becoming NPs; however -

With more employers instantly siding with whiny patients and would not hesitate to replace a RN with another (thank in part to the HCAHPS scores), the constant changes to the NP programs (for example - converting from MSN to DNP programs), and mother nature...

Can one blame a nurse for wanting to get into a NP program as soon as he/she can?

Also - Would you rather have a nurse get NO nursing experience before becoming a NP? Yeah, it gets aggravating to keep teaching a new scrub, especially if that new scrub is a know-it-all, but, imo, it keeps one on one's toes. Plus, not all new scrubs are ingrates.

Obviously this is happening.

New nurses know that all you need is some experience and few years of grad school to get a comfortable 9-5 job with no nights, holidays, and weekends. Most pay even better than bedside care.

Only in nursing is there a culture that decries people for wanted to improve themselves professionally. Accept the reality that there will be a huge decrease in the number of experienced bedside nurses. Young people don't want to deal with the nonsense of being a shift worker.

Specializes in Emergency.
1. I don't know why you would pay so much for a BSN. With tuition reimbursement, it can be done a lot cheaper than that in my neck of the woods.

2. We require new employees to go back to school for all RN jobs, not just the ones in ICU -- unless they have significant experience in pediatrics. They don't need to complete it before hire, but they have to be working towards. So it can be done cheaply if you take a few years to do it using tuition reimbursement. (I work for a children's hospital.)

I was taking a broad-jump guess on school costs and also including the cost of time, supplies, incidentals and lost wages. I will happily get my BSN if someone else pays for (at least) most of it.

Unlike a lot of new grad RNs, I'm not looking for the fabulous teaching hospital job either. I will prefer to be in a smaller hospital where I may get to know my community better. Also, although I lack the formal instruction of teaching patients and formal community health classes, that has been effectively my career up to this point. The facility I work in now recognized that not all knowledge and ability comes from the classroom. Of course this experience isn't available in the 22 year old new grad, it comes with wrinkles and grey hairs. (Jeez, I sounded snotty and defensive, must be the night shift drowsies talking.)

I was taking a broad-jump guess on school costs and also including the cost of time, supplies, incidentals and lost wages.

All the BSN completion programs I've known of over the years are organized around the premise that the students are working full-time. There are no "lost wages" to include in your calculations -- unless someone is accustomed to working a lot of overtime and might want to cut back on that to free up time for schoolwork. But there is certainly no need to stop working, or even cut back to working part-time, in order to complete a BSN.

Specializes in Critical Care.

Yes many more nurses are planning on using bedside nursing as a paid residency and going on to NP. It is a viable alternative to medical school if you don't want to specialize, saves time, money and student loan debt. Also working conditions at the bedside are also leading many nurses to flee and pursue other options like NP and I don't blame them. They are really the smart ones as things are unlikely to improve with corporations running the show and trying to squeeze profit at the expense of patients and healthcare workers. If I was younger I would do it too. As it is I'm just counting down to retirement the sooner the better and saving all my money to retire early!

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