Neonatal Nurse Practicioner or FNP

adventure_rn, MSN, NP · Sep 21, 2021

4 hours ago, healthxo33 said:

I know that everyone has RN experience before applying, but what types of things were you involved in that set you apart from other applicants?

I think I already responded to your post on the NICU forum, but for reference, you don't actually need bedside experience to apply to FNP programs (or the most other primary care programs), although it will definitely help strengthen your application. A minimum of 2 years inpatient (often ICU) experience are usually required for the acute care/inpatient types of programs (NNP, CRNA, acute care peds NP, adult acute care NP). Those programs tend to be a bit more competitive because there are fewer total programs in the country and they have smaller cohorts; therefore, it may be more helpful to have leadership experience to get into those programs.

NNP program competitiveness is a little weird because there are very few programs and the cohorts are pretty small, which should make them competitive. However, they're somewhat less competitive that other inpatient NP specialties with small cohorts (like acute care peds, CRNA) because NICU turnover tends to be quite low (vs. PICU, adult ICU), and so there are fewer NICU nurses who want to apply to NNP programs. Therefore, there may be fewer total spaces for NNP students, but there are also fewer total applicants.

I know we've already talked a bit about this topic, but if you're looking for leadership opportunities, here are some ideas...

If there are any committees on your unit (or even if there is only one), you should definitely think about joining it.

Ask your manager (or whoever you report to) if they have any projects they're working on, and could use some help with. Managers pretty much always have some QI projects they're working on; perhaps you could tie those projects in with your work on your unit-based leadership committee.

Once you've got a proper amount of experience, you can get 'on the ground leadership' experience by precepting, doing charge, attending deliveries, doing transports, etc.

I guess the point is that it's possible that you'll get into whatever NNP program you apply for without leadership experience. However, if 2-3 years from now you're finding that you aren't accepted into your preferred programs, you'll probably wish you'd started doing these things now. It's a relatively small investment (usually only monthly meetings and/or small projects) that can really pay off down the line.

When you're writing your admissions essays and during your interviews, these are the types of experiences that can really make your application stand out.