Help! clear things up for me please

reggaemuffin, MSN, NP, CNS · Sep 14, 2016

Np and ARNP are the same title.

There is no ER NP or ICU NP. Generally you have acute care, family, adult, and Peds.

Historically, FNP and Adult have been in outpatient with acute care in the hospital setting. However there is much overlap with this and it's not set in stone. Many ACNPs do work outpatient, myself included in specialty clinics. And there are many ANP and FNP in hospital setting, including ED.

Its a shame that we have separated our profession into so many different boxes as it only serves to create arbitrary job barriers for us. Do you really require ACNP in cards clinic? No- many ANPs could do it but you'll see job postings all the time with specific time of certification required.

PrincessAlexiss · Sep 14, 2016

More clearity please :)

bbcewalters, NP · Sep 16, 2016

I would like to add to the above poster they are correct, however, there is an Emergency NP program out there. From what I can tell it is new: This is from Emory's Website....

The Emergency Nurse Practitioner program prepares nurses to provide health care to patients across the lifespan in emergency and primary care settings. Program content is built on family nurse practitioner preparation but also prepares graduates to manage the care of patients presenting to emergency settings with acute, life-threatening health care needs. Fifty-five credit hours are required for degree completion.

The Emergency Nurse Practitioner program is a rigorous, four-semester, FNP enhanced curriculum that requires prior experience in emergency nursing, disaster/crisis management, military service or related work experience.

Hope this helps....

Still not clear on how this will be recognized in other states.....

gelli.25 · Sep 18, 2016

NP is nurse practitioner. ARNP is advanced registered nurse practitioner; they are both the same thing.

As a gerontology NP, you work with the geriatric (elderly) population. Normally the program would offer Adult-gerontology NP as opposed to just gerontology NP. With gerontology NP, your focus is limited to the older population. So, from my perspective - I see this as leading to working in nursing homes or hospice. Adult-gerontology is more broad. You could work in a hospital because you would have been educated on the adult AND elderly population (18 and up).

I've never heard of acute gerontology NP, maybe acute adult-gerontology NP. Look at your school's site and make sure it doesn't include ADULT as well.

As a Family NP (most broad), you work with all patients, from infants to the geriatric population. With your FNP you can work in a clinic as a family practice practitioner. You'll see pediatrics and women's health as well. This will be more of a preventative and screening setting, lots of education. You will deal with the minor typical acute incidences like a sprained ankle that needs stabilized or a laceration that needs to be sutured, an abscess that needs to be drained. Typically, you'll deal with vaccinations, preventative health, medication reconciliation, annual exams, sexual health, etc. You'll also see the patient coming in for a potential STD or abdominal pain or a rash etc...various "what appear to be" nonthreatening chief complaints.

As a FNP, you can work in Urgent care and possibly the ER (criteria varies with some ERs - you may to earn your Acute Care NP certification as well or you can just get your ER NP certification. ER NP programs are out there, you just have to really search for them).

As a FNP, some nurses work as a hospitalist, though that is more for acute care NPs. As a family practice NP, you won't get that critical care training. FNPs are for disease management and prevention, not acute situations.

Acute care NP is for the hospitalist role (inpatient - you can round on medical and surgical patient that were admitted for surgery or a chief complaint in the ER).

Psych NP obtain their Psych NP certification.

Pediatric NP is strictly for Peds.

Women's Health NP is strictly for women's health.

You can just Google the different specialties. This is just how I perceive each of them.

Hope this helps!

lhflanurseNP, APRN · Sep 18, 2016

Hey! I have been having such a hard time with the Nurse Practitioner topic
- What is the difference between ARNP and NP?
I'm not sure we get the question. A NP is an ARNP. There is a distinction between clinical APRNs (Advanced Practice Registered Nurses) and non-clinical APRNs. Clinical APRNs may be Clinical Specialists or Nurse Practitioner. Non-clinical APRNs may be educators, theorists, etc. Does this help?

SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP · Sep 19, 2016

It also depends on where you live and each hospital as to which "type" of NP is hired to work in which unit.

In my hospital, most of the NPs in the ICU are AG-ACNPs. The ER prefers NPs with a dual FNP & AG-ACNP so they are trained in acute care, but the FNP allows them to see patients of all ages. AG-ACNPs are limited to age 13 & up.

However, this isn't a hard & fast rule. I've seen a few FNPs who work for critical care practices in the ICU, who round on patients for the critical care physicians (usually specialties like cardiology or pulmonology). All of the surgical NPs have been AG-ACNPs with an RNFA certificate. I've seen many different "flavors" of NP in psych and palliative.

So, you've really got to research your job market to see who's hiring what type of NP to get your foot in the door. One of the critical care docs on the ICU where I work said "I don't care what type of NP you are, as long as you've passed your boards and you have an ICU background, if you want to work with me". I've spoken to other docs in the ER who will only look at you if you have the dual role because they feel your clinical hours in training more closely match a PA. It's really very dependent on who's hiring you.