I am a new RN in a bridge program to become an ACNP. I am a part-time student, and seeking part-time employment as an RN in a hospital setting- preferably in critical or emergency care. As you already know, finding part time employment as a new RN in a hospital setting is very challenging!
I really want to get my foot in the door, but my applications are being immediately rejected by the recruitment teams due to the combination of being a new nurse + needing part time employment around my school schedule.
I am thinking my best shot is to become a nurse extern to get oriented, and get some support from the nurses on the unit for becoming a part-time RN.
Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on this?
Thanks in advance for anyone who takes the time to respond. You guys are the best.
How did you get into an ACNP program without any nursing experience?
There are quite a few ACNP programs out there that don't require ANY nursing experience. With it being an acute-care specialty, you would *think* it'd require some experience. But nope.
OP, I get it. I get wanting to "rush through" school. With my biological clock ticking, I felt/feel that I need(ed) to start a grad program NOW.
I have been working as an RN for almost two years. Eight months FT in adult med-surg (now PRN) and over one year in NICU. My plans are/were to go straight to NNP school after graduating with my BSN. At a year in, I feel that one year experience just isn't enough. I am only scratching the surface and within the last few months have JUST started receiving some vent experience. I have yet to work with critical drugs (insulin drips, vasopressors, etc), and I have yet to start an IV in a baby. Adults, yes. Babies? Nope (and I feel such shame saying that, but I have been caring for mostly feeder/growers and bubblers the past year who either already had an IV or didn't need one).
Then I see what acute care NPs do. The NNPs on my unit run the show. The doctor is literally asleep while the NNPs are intubating, resuscitating, putting in orders, etc. I imagine that adult acute care NPs work similarly to their NICU counterparts.
As a staff RN, I want to be able to call the NP up and KNOW they know what you are doing. An NP with NO bedside experience is going to be useless and dangerous. I implore you to sit out for at least a few years. Your patients will thank you in the long run.
I can't believe someone actually compared NP and MD education here.
There's a reason I plan on applying to MD school, not NP school, this year - and the quality of the education is a big part of it. I will be an ICU nurse for five years before I actually start my MD program, assuming I get in, and I'd still rather be an MD any day because I really do believe in the MD educational model and not the NP educational model. No offense to current NPs, but this thread is a perfect example of why I want no part of the NP world if I can help it.
The original comparison was between new grad MDs pre-residency/fellowship and new NPs... which is not at all an accurate comparison because a new grad NP is done with formal education. A new grad MD is not. Our new hire intensivist at my job, which is her first intensivist job, started MD school in 2007. A new grad ACNP on their first job hired recently would have started school in 2014, assuming a master's program and full-time school enrollment. That's a massive difference in the amount of education that comes before landing a first job.
On topic - the programs around here would not take a nurse extern who has graduated nursing school. It's for students in the summer between their junior and senior years only. I got to see a lot of nursing related stuff on mine because the floor I was on was very supportive of nursing students, but still. Other nurses came to get me for bowel movements way more often than they came to get me for cool nursing stuff. You will get way more relevant nursing experience as an actual nurse.
Is there no way you can work full time through the rest of your program? I'm currently working full time and in school full time (with multiple graduate level classes), and it's incredibly difficult, but I wouldn't consider it impossible. Being able to work full time would open so many more doors for you as far as jobs go that if you can make the time sacrifice, it would be worth it.
Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.
The biggest issue will be getting a new grad RN job of any type if you are only willing to do part-time. Almost nobody will hire and train a new grad on a part-time basis.
And then you will become an "old new grad" without any experience and will not qualify for new grad programs, but nobldy will hire you without experience. So then you have wasted the RN education.
Guys I don't want to keep blowing up this thread repeating what I have already said. Ali I have specifically addressed all of your bullet points, except your aside: My institution tracks our NPs, and we get a lot of decent data on that. Also, many of them work in the local hospitals and I'd go under their care any day.
One last time y'all: the purpose of this thread was to help me explore alternative ways to get my foot in the door at the hospital I want to work at. It has turned into this, which is fine, but I don't need to keep repeating what I've already said.
A lot of you have a problem with my educational preparation. got it. I hope to increase my RN skills and experience. I hope to be a great provider. I'm doing the best I can, and will continue to do so.
My suggestion was that it will be very difficult to get adequate training and experience without committing to full-time RN employment. I stand by that.
No matter because apparently according to a majority of Universities there is no value in being a RN prior to taking 1 or 2 pharm courses and prescribing medications to someone's kid.
(My favorite emoji where I'm barfing in conjunction with having my eye gouged out which succinctly sums up my opinion of today's trend in NP education.)
Sadly, I think we have badly strayed away from the original intent of the nurse practitioner role. I can't imagine that Dr.s Ford and Silver ever intended it to be THE fast track away from bedside nursing. When I was in school, many moons ago, and the NP role was still gaining ground it was only the brightest, most experienced nurses who took it on.
Wuzzie has nailed it. There's a reason for that. Which has, overall, summed up all the knowledgeable replies to this thread: an advanced nurse practitioner role requires, well, advanced practice in nursing. Not none, or a part-time few months as an extern functioning as an aide. Good grief, why is that now such an old-fashioned idea? Scary.
Sadly, I think we have badly strayed away from the original intent of the nurse practitioner role. I can't imagine that Dr.s Ford and Silver ever intended it to be THE fast track away from bedside nursing. When I was in school, many moons ago, and the NP role was still gaining ground it was only the brightest, most experienced nurses who took it on.
Hmmm this must have been way back when a nice finger-painting done at pre-school had a place of honor on the refrigerator but wasn't nominated by your Mommy for The Carnegie Art Award, lol.
NP education is in desperate need of more rigorous standardization. I also went to what is considered a "top-notch" school and, although I believe my education was good compared to what else is out there for aspiring NPs, it was still shockingly poor. It was clear that many of them were "recipe" NPs, who just memorized the guidelines without knowing why they existed. Some seemed to have no knowledge of pathophysiology. Aside from the professors, the program contained an exboritant amount of "fluff" classes and even "fluff" lectures within the more "hard-science" classes.
Needless to say, I ended up teaching myself a lot. I listened to hours of USMLE prep lectures, read medical school text books, and watched a number of other lectures and videos, the content of which really should have been taught in my NP program. If you want to be an NP you have to spend a lot of additional time teaching yourself, because they didn't even come close to covering the basics in my "rigorous" program.
If you want to be a nurse you have to do the same thing. School is just the beginning of lifelong learning. I still buy books and take courses.
If more schools are pumping out weak NPs who still have a lot to learn, perhaps the licensure exams should be stiffer, or there should be more rigorous requirements for post-grad supervised practice before full licensure, analogous to the first year out of med school before the medical license is complete.
If you want to be a nurse you have to do the same thing. School is just the beginning of lifelong learning. I still buy books and take courses.
If more schools are pumping out weak NPs who still have a lot to learn, perhaps the licensure exams should be stiffer, or there should be more rigorous requirements for post-grad supervised practice before full licensure, analogous to the first year out of med school before the medical license is complete.
Agreed. While lifelong learning is integral to any medical profession, having a strong foundation of knowledge from the beginning is crucial. Nearly everything we learn, whether through CMEs, additional courses, etc. builds upon that initial education. If you are already behind when you graduate, you will be playing catch-up forever.
I love being an NP, but do think we are in need of education reform. If I thought my brick-and-mortar, non-profit program was lacking in some areas, I hate to imagine what the online, for-profit schools are like. A part of me also thinks that NP school is simply not long enough. In a way this is already being addressed with the DNP movement, although these programs also seem pretty "fluffy" as well.
This is a very complex issue, but I do think we will see some major changes in the near future.
(My favorite emoji where I'm barfing in conjunction with having my eye gouged out which succinctly sums up my opinion of today's trend in NP education.)
ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP
1 Article; 2,594 Posts
There are quite a few ACNP programs out there that don't require ANY nursing experience. With it being an acute-care specialty, you would *think* it'd require some experience. But nope.