How much did NP school prepare you?

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I have heard that Nurse Practitioner school is not as rigorous as other grad schools (such as CRNA school). I would like to become either a ACNP or a CRNA in the future. I am very interested in science-based learning, and am wondering which option would be best for me. I have such a strong passion for cardiac disorders, and could really see myself becoming a Surgical Cardiac ACNP. However, CRNA interests me for the hard-core science that is taught. CRNA students get such in-depth pharmocology and pathophysiology classes.

For any ACNPs out there, did you feel confident in your pathophysiology and pharmocology knowledge after graduation? Or did you attend a fellowship after?

You hit the point Jules A with your comment:

"Unfortunately, it has now gone from embarrassing to concerning with the glut of new grad NPs hitting the market."

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I'm very glad I found this thread. I have been looking to return to school to obtain my NP degree for a couple of years and one of the things that have stopped me from actually going is that the curriculum doesn't look strong enough to give me confidence to practice independently. I have been in school for many years and actually started an NP program and then switched to administration because the program was lacking. I always thought it was just me looking for an excuse but for a long time I've been very critical of the nursing curriculum and skeptical of programs that do not require at least 1 year of nursing experience.

I have a heavy science background with my undergrad and I'm amazed that nursing programs do not require chemistry or biochemistry.

Thank you for adding the list of recommended readings and I'm glad there are others concerned with the state of nursing education.

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Specializes in NP. Former flight, CCU, ED RN and paramedic..

Anecdotal, but I was speaking to our medical director of the flight company I work for. He has been a trauma attending for 10 years now, and he mentioned when he was first an attending, he always wanted to back up his medical decisions with another attending, but HE was the attending now.

So even after med school and 4 years of EM residency, he still felt insecure.

Something to consider.........

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I am a Psych NP. I went to a brick and mortar school that is fairly well regarded. It was a joke. I am self taught. I got my degree over a period of 5 years, one class most semesters, working in the field to get experience, and extensively preparing myself as I went along.

Our department head had no NP experience, and she believed mostly in Freud.This is the state of mental health education in the US.

I didn't question it much at the time, but looking back, I find it appalling.

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I am a Psych NP. I went to a brick and mortar school that is fairly well regarded. It was a joke. I am self taught. I got my degree over a period of 5 years, one class most semesters, working in the field to get experience, and extensively preparing myself as I went along.

Our department head had no NP experience, and she believed mostly in Freud.This is the state of mental health education in the US.

I didn't question it much at the time, but looking back, I find it appalling.

But you are talking about your experience at one school. How did you arrive at your conclusion that that represents "the state of mental health education in the US"? That's quite a sweeping generalization. In the first place, there is a whole lot more to "mental health education" than just psych NP programs. Are you speaking also of psychology degree programs, LPC degree programs, and psychiatric med school rotations and residencies?

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You're right, unfair generalization.

Then, 10 years later a friend attended a different Psych NP program. I warned her several times about the lack of rigor. and extensive self prep involved. She nodded, but a year later she left because they weren't showing her how to be a Psych NP.

I have only really known a handful of psychologists, but overall I have been impressed with their training. I am pretty sure they go to school full time and don't have to rely on volunteer preceptors for their clinical hours. They also don't have the responsibility of prescribing.

As far as the grads of psychiatric residencies, the ones I have known have been an uneven lot, and mostly unimpressive. This is probably an artifact of where I worked, a state forensic facility with relatively low pay in a semi-rural area. Their biggest failing seemed to be in diagnosis, ie, believing verbatim everything the patient says, and then just handing over the xanax or adderall.

I have come to the conclusion that psychiatric diagnosis largely cannot be taught. If you have seen 100 schizophrenic patients, and you still fall every time for obvious malingerers, there is something fundamentally wrong that cannot be taught. It also helps a great deal if you give a crap, and most of the "psychiatrists" I met in the state system did not. They couldn't get into a more lucrative and competitive specialty, so psych was their default.

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Dodongo,

Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy

Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology

Robbin and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease

Andreoli and Carpenter's Cecil Essentials of Medicine

I am starting NP school in January. Which of these books would you start out reading?

Thanks,

Tina

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You could easily get through at least one of these books by January. I would honestly read Guyton and Hall. If you know the normal physiology, then understanding the pathophysiology will be so much easier. Further, pharmacology is based on understanding the normal physiology, as that is what we are attempting to manipulate and use to our advantage. Also, just get the Netter flash cards and quiz yourself in your free time. The other books can be read at your leisure over the course of your program.

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Specializes in anesthesiology.
I'm not really sure and now the profit potential is so extensive things are unlikely to change. As the numbers of schools and NP graduates keep increasing while the requirements for admission and graduation decrease I'm wondering if it isn't too late. I have attempted to address it on a state level and the NPs in academia, many who btw have minimal if any NP experience, turned on me like a pack of rats. Although I understand that is where their bread is buttered as a former professor at two well respected universities I became disillusioned with the quality of students and their increasing demands to be coddled. It has become virtually unheard of for a student to be removed from a program and if a course actually was failed they simply return the following semester. I believe becoming a RN or NP is a hard earned privilege not an inalienable right.

Myself and a few colleagues have contacted organizations like NONPF and our concerns were passed around like a hot potato with no answers or suggestions of alternative approaches to explore. I'm open to ideas if others have them but am not confident much will change at this point.

That is crazy, because in CRNA school they will drop you like yesterday's news if you can't make the grade, and as far as being coddled, you are more likely to end up with PTSD than someone cutting you any slack. Perseverance and grit is an essential requirement.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
That is crazy, because in CRNA school they will drop you like yesterday's news if you can't make the grade, and as far as being coddled, you are more likely to end up with PTSD than someone cutting you any slack. Perseverance and grit is an essential requirement.

As it should be. Learn from the NP debacle and hold tight on that and your admission requirements.

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why do nursing organizations care, more fees for their pocket

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I just stumbled upon this thread after feeling a little disheartened about how my NP program has been structured. I was shocked and disappointed since this is a very reputable university. I definitely think there needs to be reform in all of nursing education (undergraduate and graduate), making the programs more rigorous and eliminating the irrelevant fluff. But seeing that is highly unlikely to happen, I just wanted to thank Dodongo & aprnKate. Reading your posts really changed my attitude and got me motivated to make the best of the situation. I really appreciate your advice and just ordered all of the books you recommended ?

Definitely a stupid question but didn't want to bother emailing the head if I didn't need to.. I was looking to do extra clinical rotations on my off semesters (winter & summer) so that way I am getting extra experience. I already found a preceptor willing to take me over the summer. Normally, we need to find our own clinical placements, have the school approve the site, and the preceptors fill out forms evaluating our progress. Since this would be extra and not part of a required course would you even bother telling the school?

Also.. when I become an NP, should I list clinical sites & hours on my resume with my preceptors contact information or will this make it too lengthy?

Sorry for the long post. Thanks everyone!

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