NP or Nah professional question?

[Jasil]

So, long story short, wife is in Occ Health (corporate) BSN only. Makes over 125k+ nowadays (works from home 50% of the time), but feels "meh" and misses school. She is obviously contemplated going back to school to get MSN- (XNP).

Here is my question did you actually learn any true treatment/medicine in NP school? My wife does ZERO, okay 5% medical practice these days and already realizes how much she has fallen behind, but her career has been great for the family.

My (uninformed) advice was I don't really see how you will learn a lot doing a ONLINE NP program with 500 clinical hours with NO intent of quitting your job. You might learn a bit, but will quickly forget and not increase your skills if you are not practicing healthcare.

Of course, I will let her go and support her either way, I just am unsure how much she will get out of it. Part of me wants to say go be EMT 1 night a week if you want a rush and want to help people because again she isn't quitting her corporate office job once she becomes a NP.

[LadyT618, MSN, APRN, NP]

Just my opinion and I can only speak for the program I'm in.....you do learn in NP school. How much you learn will depend on the school and how much you put into your own education. It does help to have a nursing background to build upon, although there are direct entry NP programs out there which do not require any RN experience. Another thing would be what type of NP does she want to be? Acute care? Primary care? Psych/Mental Health? Women's Health? Pediatric primary or acute? Neonatal? Emergency? I would start there and take it from there. Also all schools vary with clinical hour requirements and you do have the option to put in more hours if you'd like.

[Jasil]

Did you read my post lol?

She will not be working as a NP she works in corporate healthcare administration for a Fortune 50 company. Leads a team of 55 Occ Health Nurses throughout North America. She just wants the NP foundation because she wants to learn more, but how much can you right back into corporate admin that is my question?

She travels, implements safety, health, wellness programs, etc etc. Getting a NP is just IDK icing to say she has one.

Emergency or Acute

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

Waste of time and money if she isn't going to use the degree. Why put yourself through 3 years of hell if you have no intention in practicing?

[MSNMPHPhdNMD]

take an RN refresher course. cheaper ,teaches clinical skills and will be more beneficial. then she can work prn doing something clinical if she wants.

[laurinno]

Agreed with above. She could also look into taking CEUs etc if she wants to refresh her knowledge in healthcare etc. Also some schools have post-graduate "certificates" if she wants to pad her resume. Don't see the point of going back for a whole new degree if she's not going to use it.

[Gentleman_nurse, MSN]

Sounds like your wife is dedicated to her nonclinical nursing position. If that's the case, consider a MSN or DNP in nursing management. It will teach some clinical science and relevant to her current role.

[LadyT618, MSN, APRN, NP]

On 6/20/2019 at 4:29 PM, Jasil said:

Did you read my post lol?

She will not be working as a NP she works in corporate healthcare administration for a Fortune 50 company. Leads a team of 55 Occ Health Nurses throughout North America. She just wants the NP foundation because she wants to learn more, but how much can you right back into corporate admin that is my question?

She travels, implements safety, health, wellness programs, etc etc. Getting a NP is just IDK icing to say she has one.

Emergency or Acute

You asked, "Here is my question did you actually learn any true treatment/medicine in NP school? " and that's where my response was focused. I admit, I missed that last piece about not wanting to practice once she finished. In that case, it would be a waste of time, unless y'all got money like that to burn, then, in that case, you acquire the extra knowledge and skill without "wasting" money. Best of both worlds. Good luck!

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

Great advice, with a few things to add.

First, it might be tough for her to keep her full-time job while completing 500 clinical hours. Even though the classes are online, the clinical hours aren't. You say she works from home a lot, so it might be possible, but she may have to drop down her full-time status simply to work her preceptor's hours for clinical.

Second, if she isn't working as an NP, it will be immensely difficult (if not impossible, based on specialty) for her to maintain her board certification. Even if she passes her boards, she would only 'be' an NP for around five years before her license lapses. In some specialties, you can't maintain your NP licensure with CEUs alone; she'd keep the degree, but would have to forfeit the license and NP credentials (unless she wanted to retake her boards, which would be pretty tough five years out of school with zero practical experience).

Third, she might not even be able to get into a reputable Emergency or Acute program with only occupational health experience. Most acute care programs want at least a year or two of recent hospital experience, so she probably wouldn't be a very strong candidate with "ZERO, okay 5% medical practice these days."

And fourth, I honestly don't think there's any PRN job that she could be eligible for (including EMT) where she could just jump in one day a week at this point. In any healthcare sector (RN, NP, EMT), you really have to be trained and work for a while full-time before you become comfortable enough to go to part-time, especially if you're only working a couple of days a month. I doubt there's any clinical specialty that she could just jump into with that small of a time commitment (EMT included).

I agree with others; if she wants an academic challenge, it makes way more sense to go back for a non-clinical MSN, like Leadership, Education, or Health Systems.