Getting into Dermatology NP

[itsmaggieo]

Hi all! I'm currently approaching my final semester in nursing school and know that I am most interested in furthering my education to be a Nurse Practitioner and specialize in Dermatology. I live in Florida and have heard that this specialty is competitive and the lack of a set path has me questioning how to get some headway in the field. I was wondering if any nurses/NP's with experience in Dermatology have advice on how to best get my foot in the door as currently I am debating on attaining the year of hospital floor nurse experience while I figure things out or jumping straight into a position that may pay less initially, but will help with specializing in the future. Any advice helps! Thank you

[cleback]

I would be hesitant to limit yourself to a specialty as a new grad. I thought I would want to be a psych np in nursing school. Nothing changed my mind faster than working in psych. Then I had to bridge from psych to medsurg, which was tough but still doable. I feel it helped that my psych experience was acute.

But if I can't dissuade you from only doing derm right out the gate, I will warn you that clinic positions are typically highly sought after by experienced nurses... because of the hours and less physicality if the work. So a derm clinic position may be tough to get as a first job. Out of practicality, you may have to start somewhere else

[Sour Lemon]

It seems like people are constantly asking about getting into dermatology, but nobody ever posts about being in dermatology.

I'm under the impression that it's not easy or common to find that sort of nursing position at any level. So while I wish you luck, it would be wise to make sure you could be happy working in another area (or areas) before investing so much time and money.