MSN -Public Health advice

[4fleurykids]

I have been working in public health as a RN on a contract basis. I finally was offered and have accepted a f/t position about 10 minutes from my house! I am so excited! I am about 1/4 of the way through my MSN- Public Health, but have noticed that the APRN for public health is not offered? What APRN certification should I be looking at? Or any insight on the route I should be looking at education wise? Thanks in advance for your help!

[terfernay]

My understanding is there used to be an Advanced Public Health Nurse certification but it has been retired. There is an option to get your CPH which is Certified in Public Health but it's a public health certification and not a nursing certification. I don't know if this helps. And then obviously you can get your Public Health Nurse certification but that only requires your BSN.

[saheckler, PhD, RN]

What are you hoping to get out of APRN certification? Are you hoping to do clinical practice as an advanced practice nurse? If not, you probably don't really need the APRN certification. Or if you are hoping to practice as a nurse practitioner, you may want to do the FNP and you could be a public health nurse practitioner. There are MSN-NP programs out there, since you'll already have some coursework covered by your current MSN program. Best of luck!