How do you write your credentials after graduating but waiting to take the boards?

[night_owl_rn]

Hi all,

Weird question but when you graduate with your MSN-FNP and while waiting to take and pass the FNP boards....how do you write your name? I'm assuming since you got your MS degree conferred then it would be First Last, MSN, RN?

Then when you pass the boards and get certified then it would be First Last, FNP-BC or FNP-C?

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

woundcarewisdom said:

After graduating, you ARE an APRN so you may sign that way - IF you have applied for and been granted licensure as such. 

That's not how the LACE framework works - after you graduate, in all the states that I'm aware of you then have to apply for and be granted licensure, generally after you are certified in your specialty.  Just like graduating from nursing school does not itself make one a nurse in many states, merely graduating from an APRN program does not by itself make you an APRN.

[sleepwalker, MSN, NP]

night_owl_rn said:

FNP-BC or FNP-C?

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These are essentially the same thing. For the most part I just write "NP"...easier and the certification is understood since you have the credential. No need to write it out every time. 

[djmatte, ADN, MSN, RN, NP]

sleepwalker said:

These are essentially the same thing. For the most part I just write "NP"...easier and the certification is understood since you have the credential. No need to write it out every time. 

They are but they aren't. BC is authorized for ANCC certified while C accounts for AANP.  They are not interchangeable and misrepresents your certification to those who care.