High Demand or Oversaturated?

Nursing Students NP Students

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I have been seriously thinking about going to NP school and doing either FNP or ACNP or possibly doing a program that would offer both. While researching I feel like I hear such mixed things about becoming an NP. Some say the field is oversaturated and its very difficult to find a job, others say that the field is still growing and that there will continue to be a need and that jobs will continue to open up. Anyone else facing this? Has anyone struggled finding a job after finishing school? Thanks. 

Specializes in Cardiology, ED/Trauma, Med-Surg, Telemetry.
On 2/6/2021 at 1:08 PM, hcurry9 said:

Did you get you ACNP then? 

No, I did a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Family Nurse Practitioner program.  Now, I work as a dual-role Cardiology and Internal Medicine Nurse Practitioner in a private practice.  I will be obtaining privileges soon to consult in the hospital for our Cardiology patients.  No ACNP required.

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On 1/26/2021 at 7:37 PM, ThePrincessBride said:

Honestly, I wouldn't go for FNP. I am in FNP program and have come to the conclusion that I will need to get a Psych NP post-masters if I want to have any shot at getting a job post-graduation. FNPs are a dime a dozen. 

So basically you’re only gonna do psych cause you can’t get a job as an FNP. Why not allow people who actually love psych and want to work in that field that job, instead of FNP’s saturating the psych field now 

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Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).
2 hours ago, Snaz94 said:

So basically you’re only gonna do psych cause you can’t get a job as an FNP. Why not allow people who actually love psych and want to work in that field that job, instead of FNP’s saturating the psych field now 

Any NP that goes into psych w/o really wanting to help the mentally ill will not last.  People don't realized that it is emotionally taxing to be a PMHNP

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
19 hours ago, Snaz94 said:

So basically you’re only gonna do psych cause you can’t get a job as an FNP. Why not allow people who actually love psych and want to work in that field that job, instead of FNP’s saturating the psych field now 

I actually find psych interesting and as someone who has been hospitalized multiple times for psychiatric issues, I would love to help other people struggling with mental health disorders as well. 

But thanks for assuming! ?

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
17 hours ago, FullGlass said:

Any NP that goes into psych w/o really wanting to help the mentally ill will not last.  People don't realized that it is emotionally taxing to be a PMHNP

Meh.

Psych is unavoidable in healthcare. 

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1 hour ago, ThePrincessBride said:

Meh.

Psych is unavoidable in healthcare. 

It’s really not unavoidable though.. at all. 
& you said yourself you’re only going for psych post graduate to get a job, not due to interest which leads others to make that fair assumption. 

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
59 minutes ago, Snaz94 said:

It’s really not unavoidable though.. at all. 
& you said yourself you’re only going for psych post graduate to get a job, not due to interest which leads others to make that fair assumption. 

I didn't say I was *only* going for it for a job. 

And psych is very unavoidable as psych patients often also have medical issues.

And regardless, so as long as I take great care of my patients, the motives shouldn't matter. So you can get off your high horse now.

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13 minutes ago, ThePrincessBride said:

I didn't say I was *only* going for it for a job. 

And psych is very unavoidable as psych patients often also have medical issues.

And regardless, so as long as I take great care of my patients, the motives shouldn't matter. So you can get off your high horse now.

Would not want to be your patient, seems like I triggered a nerve LOL. As a psych NP ( or any type of health care professional) you should definitely learn to handle any type of critique. 
 

you said psych is unavoidable in healthcare. This is obviously not true. Yes psych is everywhere but do you understand how many fields there are in healthcare which require absolutely 0 psych knowledge? 
 

Now you’re saying it’s unavoidable because psych patients have medical issues? Yeah obviously. But that doesn’t mean every patient who goes to see their derm or OBGYN is there to discuss anything psych related. 
 
Have a nice day ! ? 

 

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
16 minutes ago, Snaz94 said:

Would not want to be your patient, seems like I triggered a nerve LOL. As a psych NP ( or any type of health care professional) you should definitely learn to handle any type of critique. 
 

you said psych is unavoidable in healthcare. This is obviously not true. Yes psych is everywhere but do you understand how many fields there are in healthcare which require absolutely 0 psych knowledge? 
 

Now you’re saying it’s unavoidable because psych patients have medical issues? Yeah obviously. But that doesn’t mean every patient who goes to see their derm or OBGYN is there to discuss anything psych related. 
 
Have a nice day ! ? 

 

Not really. I just find it interesting that you felt the need to reply to an older thread to shame my career aspirations and make a dig at me.

But then again, you aren't even a nurse (and haven't been accepted to a program), so your words really mean nothing to old veteran like me.

Adios, kiddo! 

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5 minutes ago, ThePrincessBride said:

Not really. I just find it interesting that you felt the need to reply to an older thread to shame my career aspirations and make a dig at me.

But then again, you aren't even a nurse (and haven't been accepted to a program), so your words really mean nothing to old veteran like me.

Adios, kiddo! 

Your career aspirations were originally to be an FNP. Hence why you pursued that route. But because you seem to believe finding a job in that field is “ a dime in a dozen” you went for psych. 
And I was accepted into every accelerated nursing program I applied to ? Did my research on psych NP for years & decided to pursue this the traditional long term way opposed to doing a direct entry program. Because I actually care about this field & know it’s exactly what I want. 
 

your # of years in the field are irrelevant. Do you know how many terrible veteran nurses/doctors/ professionals there are?  
& if my words truly meant nothing, you wouldn’t have cared to even respond to this old thread which I found because I’m continuously doing research on psych NP. And yes it absolutely bothers me when I see FNP’s or anyone going into psych for the wrong reasons, and I’ll always comment on that. If you aren’t, then this is all irrelevant to you. If you have genuine interest to help then awesome ! That’s all that matters. (But your initial posts would leave anyone to believe otherwise, which is why you shouldn’t be so defensive ) 
Now I will unsubscribe from this forum so we can both enjoy the remainder of this day! 

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Specializes in Wound Care, ICU, and Interventional Radiology.

From what I've experienced in my current region there seems to be an oversaturation of FNPs who have a hard time securing jobs. Obviously, this is not true everywhere. There is a large number of FNPs practicing within acute care roles which is inappropriate. I'm not saying FNPs lack the skillset to diagnose and or treat acute issues, however their education prepares them specifically for primary care.   I know there is going to be crackdown by the board of NPs regarding NPs practicing outside their specialties. My advice would be to specialize in AGACNP, ACPNP, PMHNP, etc given you have the experience to do so. I chose AGACNP as this specialty overall represents a small number of NPs in practice and I believe the demand will soar when rules are made to keep NPs practicing within their specialties. 

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