Not sure which specialty to choose?

[mkwood2015]

I am set to graduate with my BSN in a couple of months. I started my journey through nursing school with the intention of becoming a nurse practitioner in a children's outpatient specialty clinic. I like the hours of outpatient care (I have a family of my own and would hate to miss holidays with my babies) however I still want to work with a specialty, not just well-checks at a family or children's clinic. What degree would an outpatient specialty clinic require? Pediatric Primary Care or Pediatric Acute Care NP? Will an FNP degree be sufficient? I like the flexibility it would give me in the event that a job is hard to find upon graduation, but I am afraid I will be stuck in adult care if I take this route. From my understanding, acute care is all for in-patient and primary care for offices and clinics, so this feels like an "in-between" area to me. Googling has not given me a clear answer. Thanks so much in advance!

[babyNP., APRN]

The consensus model has changed things up a little bit. I would directly e-mail a program with both tracks and ask them. Off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure acute care PNPs can do specialty out-patient, but definitely check on it.

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

The consensus model does not dictate that appropriate specialty is determined by location (inpatient or outpatient), but by the patients you are seeing. If they are acutely ill, whether that's inpatient or outpatient, then ACPNP is appropriate training to care for them. If it's primary care, then FNP or PNP is suitable.