Non-Nurse considering NP route Please help

[elipscombs]

Hello everyone, I am 32 and have a family. I have always wanted to have a great career in the medical field. I care so much about people and I want to make a difference in people's life. I have a Bachelor's degree in Social Science, but I do not have any nursing experience at all. I am considering going back to school and getting a Bachelor's degree in nursing and then going into a Master's/Doctorate Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Florida. I just have a few questions to see if you all can help me. I would probably work some as a nurse while doing the Master's/DNP but that would be my only nursing work experience other than clinical experience during school. I wanted to see if not having a lot of experience as a nurse would make it very hard for me to get a job right out of school as a Nurse Practitioner. I know some people say you need 5 or more years experience as a nurse, but the University of Florida has told me they have not had any students have any problems getting a job without prior nursing experience. The bottom line is I know many people have been nurses for years and I respect that so much, I am considering Nurse Practitioner so much because of the focus on patient care. However, I do not want to invest a lot of time and money in school if I would have a really hard time finding a job as a new NP right out of School in Florida or Georgia. Please tell me your opinions on this. Would you recommend NP for me or recommend PA more.

Thanks for all of your time

Eric

[Fribblet]

Your lack of nursing experience probably won't hurt you as far as getting hired. It will hurt your practice and your patients.

Consider the PA route if you're not able/willing to put in the time at the bedside to get the experience you need to become a practitioner.

FYI: PA schooling teaches from the medical model and most PA students do not have years of clinical experience. As such there is a lot of clinical time in a PA program. NP programs (although more recently are requiring less bedside experience) do not have as much clinical time, but traditionally, NP students had years of clinical experience as nurses.

Becoming an NP with only one or two years experience (or less) at the bedside is dangerous.

[elipscombs]

Thanks for the information. How much bedside time as a nurse would you recommend?

[Fribblet]

Two years at the ABSOLUTE, bare minimum, and even that would give me pause. Ideally, 3-5 years, in my opinion. IMO, ER is the best experience. You'll see a lot of urgent/non-emergent cases which is what you'll be dealing with as a FNP. (There are a lot of varying opinions regarding PA vs NP, how much bedside time is necessary to become a NP, are mid-level providers even safe, etc.) But NP school is different. There are no radiology courses in a NP program for example. How are you supposed to read x-rays without being taught and seeing almost none without clinical bedside experience? PA programs do have radiology courses. As a mid-level provider, you'll be ordering x-rays and CTs and will need the ability to interpret them.

But do check out PA programs. It will be a quicker route to your ultimate goal (mid-level provider) and the program will better prepare you for the role you want in the medical field.

I ultimately believe NPs can be excellent primary care providers. I use NPs for my own routine care and prefer them to MDs by and large (for routine care that is. I'd rather have an MD directing my care should I develop a complex medical problem). PAs are also excellent. However, with more and more nurses entering NP programs having skipped, or minimized their bedside experience, I feel NPs are doing their profession a disservice. NPs need to put in the years or the programs need to adapt and take a cue from PA programs.

Forgive my step onto the soap box. :)

[Spacklehead, MSN, NP]

There are no radiology courses in a NP program for example. How are you supposed to read x-rays without being taught and seeing almost none without clinical bedside experience? PA programs do have radiology courses. As a mid-level provider, you'll be ordering x-rays and CTs and will need the ability to interpret them.

:)

Although I do agree with you regarding the bedside experience prior to a NP program, the above truly depends on where you work. The last three EDs where I worked didn't even have the ED physicians reading their own X-rays - they would all go through a radiologist - even if we didn't have 24-hr. radiology coverage. The images were sent to another facility via computer who we contracted with that did have overnight radiology coverage. The computerized images were read and a report provided within a matter of minutes. As far as CT scans - I have never witnessed a FP doc or ED doc reading their own CT scans (I do understand that some do, however). I have seen this as more of a common occurrence in the ICU area (or specialty offices such as orthopedics, neurology, etc.); but not in the ED or a family practice setting.