Hospitalist NP's - How do you do it?

[CrazyPremed]

I'm considering becoming a Hospitalist NP, but am concerned with the training (my 1 year of tele, then 1-2 yrs ICU, then a 1-2 year acute care NP program).

For the NP hospitalists (or those working in specialty clinics who round on inpatients), do you feel that your training has been enough to see patients in the ICU/acute care setting? How long did it take for you to feel comfortable? How much autonomy do you have?

Is there something that I can do now to help down the road?

Thanks in advance!

CrazyPremed

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

I have not been accepted to Johns Hopkins. I just got an interview for the program. I have been accepted to another program though. I currently work ICU and ER.

I am going for FNP which from research the training is mostly outpatient. I 've considered doing an ACNP program later...Is that needed?

It depends on what you want to do as a nurse practitioner. The latest concensus statement published by AACN and endorsed by many APN groups state that NP specialties are not setting-specific but is based on patient care needs (see: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/pdf/APRNReport.pdf on page 9). I think the interpretation is that acuity determines who a specific NP can see. However, some BON's are stricter and do enforce the limitations on FNP's being able to manage the in-patient population particularly in states like Texas.

FNP is a good start because your scope allows you to see a broad range of patient age but may limit you in jobs that require you to manage high acuity patients particularly those who are in ICU's. If you find that this is the case and your future job requires that you see ICU patients, then a post-master's ACNP may be a good idea to cover yourself in case the question of competency and liability is brought up. Unfortunately, your ICU RN experience will not cover you as a nurse practitioner.

[greygooseuria]

I have a question for all you hospitalist NPs!

The school I want to go to (University of Pittsburgh) has many concentrations, two of them being Acute Care NP and Pediatric NP. My eventual goal is to become an Acute Care Pediatric NP. The ACNP program there focuses on adults, and the PNP program has a primary care focus, but you also do clinical rotations at the Children's Hospital. I would be going for the DNP so in the final year I would get to do my clinical internship where I want, so that would be in an acute care setting but...I want to actually be able to WORK as an ACPNP when I graduate, know what I mean?

What would be the best route for me to take? Should I simply consider other schools that have a specific ACPNP concentration?

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

Looks like these are the only approved programs which give you eligibility to sit the AC-PNP certifying exam:

http://www.pncb.org/ptistore/control/exams/ac/progs