Minimum RN experience to start NP education

[TSG_ACNPSTL]

Hi everyone, I've been an ACNP for about 2 years now with a total of 8 years of nursing experience, all acute care, primarily M/S ICU and ER, but I was in a float position as a staff nurse so my experience is fairly wide (except Peds/Ob..no thanks)

I wanted to put some feelers out there regarding RN experience in NP programs and if anyone feels that there should be a minimum amount of nursing experience required to start the program.

I've spoken with many nurses and I discourage anyone returning to school until they have at least 2 years of nursing experience...harsh perhaps, but I'm fairly firm in my stance that bedside experience is what makes our profession stand out from other providers. (case in point, the best PA's that I know are also nurses)

Thoughts?

(and I apologize if there is already a thread on this...I just couldn't find it)

[linearthinker, DNP, RN]

There are lots of threads on this, lol. I used to agree with you. I was a nurse for 25 years before becoming a NP, mostly in critical care. To be perfectly honest, I find the two roles so drastically different that I don't think my RN experience is very significant. So my opinion now is that it doesn't really matter.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I do feel my 12 years of RN experience - ER/ICU only helped me tremendously. I deal with dialysis pts and have had to handle several codes by myself and think my ER experience was very much used.

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

RN experience can be a big help while in school for ACNP and can also give you an edge when transitioning to in-patient NP roles. Most if not all traditional ACNP programs do require some RN experience in acute care settings prior to entry. There are direct entry ACNP programs but the ones I'm familiar with require students to work in the in-patient setting after completion of the RN portion of the program or prior to starting the ACNP portion. I have worked with direct entry ACNP's who got their in-patient NP jobs after completion of their master's (and having some bedside RN experience while in school as required by their program). They seem smart enough to pick up on nursing-related bedside stuff which aren't necessarily required to function as an NP, however, they are definitely very competent in managing patients as a provider. Our group has a mix of experienced and direct entry ACNP's (some of the DE grads in our group worked at the bedside as an RN first for some time before working as an NP). We also graduated from various ACNP programs from 4 different states. I can't speak for primary care roles as I do not have an ANP or FNP nor do I work in a primary care capacity.