Letters after name? FNP, APRN, etc

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

Good summary of recommendations:

What NP Graduates Need to Know About Certification on ADVANCE for NPs & PAs

Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
Thanks Juan. i just read that article and I have a question...it says the AANP is only offering the FNP exam until 2015? So after that the only choice is the ANCC exam? Any idea why they are no longer offering exams from AANP? I'm really bummed out about that because the AANP exam always seemed more clinical based from what I've heard and I'm more interested in studying that than therapeutic assessment and other fluff that is on the ANCC...

The proposed start date for the consensus model is 2015 which is why I assume they are retiring it.

As far as "therapeutic assessment and other fluff", you are really speaking about something you don't have experience with. You would be best served to wait until you are accepted into a program and speak to your faculty before deciding which exam to take as some programs will frame you for one or the other. Having taken both exams, the AANP exam is a bit easier and more focused while the ANCC exam is a better approximation of some challenges of practice.

Specializes in Emergency, Family Practice, Occ. Health.
Thanks Juan. i just read that article and I have a question...it says the AANP is only offering the FNP exam until 2015? So after that the only choice is the ANCC exam? Any idea why they are no longer offering exams from AANP? I'm really bummed out about that because the AANP exam always seemed more clinical based from what I've heard and I'm more interested in studying that than therapeutic assessment and other fluff that is on the ANCC...

I see where you could think this from the article but the AANPCP us retiring the Adult NP exam and not the Family NP exam.

I found this on their website.

http://www.aanpcert.org/ptistore/control/faqs#c5

Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

i just read that article and I have a question...it says the AANP is only offering the FNP exam until 2015? So after that the only choice is the ANCC exam? Any idea why they are no longer offering exams from AANP? I'm really bummed out about that because the AANP exam always seemed more clinical based from what I've heard and I'm more interested in studying that than therapeutic assessment and other fluff that is on the ANCC...

That's an oversight. That table should have stated Adult NP until 2015 not Family NP and Adult NP until 2015.

The Consensus Model eliminated the stand-alone Gerontology specialty that is offered by both AANP and ANCC. Gerontology content is now part of both the Adult Primary Care and Adult Acute Care tracks. AANP and AACN reflected those changes in new certification programs that took effect last year.

FNP will not change because the track already covers all ages. Since you're interested in FNP, these changes won't affect you.

Specializes in Emergency.

I think just the fact that there are #21 responses on this post indicates that the profession has an issue. It's not an issue that is high on my list, but it certainly is an issue that as a profession should be addressed. Fortunately for medical doctors, all states allow them to have MD after their name. None require it to be CMD, or LMD, or CRMD, or .... The same is true for DOs, no state requires them to have a CDO, or LDO, or CRDO after their name, just simply DO.

If they have the degree, but do not have a license to practice at that time, then signing with DO [or MD] after their name is actually illegal, just as it is for any other profession including RN. I think as a profession, we should standardize on a single set of credentials that we can make standard throughout. Of course this will take time as we will have each state approve it, but at least we could be moving towards a single standard designation after our names that is recognized nationally (and even internationally at some point).

Everyone knows what it means when someone has RN after their name, or DO, or MD. If we standardized on NP or even APRN, or whatever one designation, than we would be able to have that same recognition.

Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

Agree with simplifying the title across the board and sticking with "NP".

Unfortunately, any time nursing leaders sit together to formulate a consensus, things get even more complicated. I am probably going to get dislikes for this but the whole business of APRN as the title plus role is silly.

Specializes in Emergency, Family Practice, Occ. Health.

I get inundated with survey requests all the time. Perhaps somebody should put out a survey of all of us to decide what we think the official title ought to be.

Personally I think NP is just fine, though it does exclude our nurse midwife and clinical nurse specialist colleagues. But I think that they are practicing in most places in a different role than that of a nurse practitioner.

Frankly, I have multiple degrees and DETEST the "alphabet soup" that most nurses with more than one degree use to make themselves seem impressive. I use CNP (even though my certification is ANCC) because it is "short and sweet" and clear.

I am sure I am messing up. I use ARNP.

Specializes in PICU.

And then if you are certified by PNCB it will be CPNP-AC or CPNP-PC.

Specializes in FNP, ONP.

Blue Devil, DNP, ARNP

Specializes in Emergency, Family Practice, Occ. Health.
In the clinical setting the easiest way to avoid confusion is to use the state designated NP title. As Zenman already pointed out, each state has an official title for NP's from the simple letters NP to CNP to CRNP to ARNP. NP's should know what their official state title is. That title is what gives you the privilege to practice within scope as an NP in your state. All other letters (such as national certification, degrees, specialty certification) may be used in other venues such as official memos and emails, when conducting a speaking engagement such as a CEU lecture, when authoring an article or research, etc. There are many different national certification letters. There are 5 officially recognized national NP boards: AANP, ANCC, AACN, PNCB, and NCC. Each 5 have their own letters even for the same type of NP specialty (i.e. AGACNPC vs AGACNP-BC). Sent from my iPhone using allnurses[/quote']

Michigan has no official designation.

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