Is critical care experience essential to be an NP?

Trauma Columnist · Jan 13, 2010

I would say that if you don't want to work critical care, don't do it. I do think some peds exp is helpful but school is stressful enough without changing jobs in the middle of it too.

monicanurse · Jan 13, 2010

Do you think I might be at a disadvantage when it comes to diagnosing and treating patients because of my lack of "fresh" critical care experience? You are right, I didnt particularly enjoy critical care ( too much of a cut throat environment) but isnt it in a way a "necessary" for a FNP? ( I almost wrote necessary evil.....lol)

Trauma Columnist · Jan 13, 2010

Depends. In some states, an FNP doesn't even work in a hospital, but rather in an office setting.

Spacklehead, MSN, NP · Jan 14, 2010

Honestly, I don't think going back into critical care will help you much, except if you were looking to become an ACNP.

As an FNP, you are not going to see the type of patients you would typically be caring for in the ICU/CCU. If a patient who belonged there presented to the office setting, you would be calling 911. Yes, the chronic illness aspect of it might help, but I'm sure you deal with things such as diabetes, HTN, COPD, etc. in the oncology setting, also.

In my area, there are a lot of jobs for FNPs who have oncology experience. I'm in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic area. I would think that if oncology is where you might want to wind up as an NP, then don't switch jobs.

You will get your peds experience during clinicals. Plus, if you feel like it is your weakness, you can always ask for more clinical time in that area. At my school, I had peds clinical during the semester I had my peds class, but I also did a peds rotation my very last semester per my request to give me more exposure (and to help refresh my memory for the cert. exam).

Best of luck to you!

monicanurse · Jan 14, 2010

You guys are great ! Thanks for the quick response. Im just going to try to expose myself to as many experiences as I can before I graduate. Thanks so much.

psychonaut · Jan 14, 2010

I have had that thought myself. I will (hopefully) be starting an FNP program in the Fall, and it is one of those that has NO inpatient component. Students do all clinicals in a primary care setting, and are expected to work in such a setting after graduation.

My concern is being able to know "sick" when I see it. I would worry that I may have underdeveloped instincts in that arena, especially since my lowly 2 years in nursing has solely been as a NICU nurse. Thoughts like this have led me to consider trying out ED nursing, to get comfortable with a wide array of ages and acuity levels.

These concerns seem to come part and parcel with how FNP programs are designed. From what I have seen, my program is set up much like many other FNP programs: fully on-line didactic portion, student sets up their own clinical portion, limited clinical hours in which to cover the gamut of primary care, and little experience as a nurse needed for entry (1 year at my school).

These factors do cause me a bit of anxiety, in that it seems a very minimal preparation for a position of such great responsibility for patient care. I appreciate the OPs concerns, and my solution is that I know I will have to be very pro-active in both the clinical and didactic areas to be as prepared as possible.

monicanurse · Jan 14, 2010

psychonaut:

I can totally relate to your feelings. I think if we didnt have these feelings, we wouldnt be human. In a sense, we are doing a family doctor's job...since most "family doctors" are now nonexistent ( most are going into more lucrative specialties). I think if we dont have an ounce of worry and we think we know everything, that is pretty scary. Just dont be shy to ask questions. Looking back at when I was a student as a BSN, I asked a ton of questions. Yes, I drove some people crazy but I didnt make some mistakes that I saw my other nursing students make. It is all in the learning.