NP residency/fellowship

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I am curious to see if there is any interest out there, particularly from the new grad NPs, for NP residencies, similar to ones offered for PAs.

I'm thinking of something that is a year long in specialties like EM or surgery where the NP is paid a small stipend and treated like a resident. Long hours and low pay, yes, but excellent opportunity to build confidence and marketability.

Mark

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I graduated with an adult health post-MSN certificate in May 06. There is no way that I want to work like a resident, be paid like a resident, etc... I have the bills of an APN - lol! My 6 month orientation was absolutely wonderful (both clinical and didactic with my physicians). I am still learning almost 1 year later (and will continue to learn too).

Personally, by the time I went to grad school I had 13 years of solid critical care experience behind me and I didn't need to learn how to assess a patient or know if someone was sick.

I do think your idea has merit though for the direct entry APNs.

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Specializes in ER, HH, CTICU, corrections, cardiology, hospice.
Those are the type of numbers that I think would be more helpful for a NP residency/fellowship in order to build confidence. I suppose an argument can be raise for OJT but I think something that is more education-oriented can hopefully allow the learning to occur quicker.

Not sure I understand the second part. But I fully and wholly agree with your first part. I have another year on my NP and I really wish I had another 1000 or two clinical hours to round me out.

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keep in mind with current np education you can specialize in acute care, emergency, and other specilities. Where as all PAs are trained as a generalist. That might be one reason for lack of residencies we are supposed to be specialized already

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keep in mind with current np education you can specialize in acute care, emergency, and other specilities. Where as all PAs are trained as a generalist. That might be one reason for lack of residencies we are supposed to be specialized already

We can debate the hours again, but it is really pointless. PA residencies exist because of the demand for certain specialties or subspecialties to have readily trained PA's. These specialties do not want to spend six months to a year training the PA in the specialty. While some PA's may be ready to go into a specialty others are not. Surgery is an area where a PA may want to gain more experience. In particular CV surgery really demands a PA be able to do vein harvesting from the get go.

While there are isolated cases of NP's using these types of residencies, it is unlikely that NP residencies will develop because of the interplay between the departments of medicine and nursing at most institutions.

David Carpenter, PA-C

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

core0 - I agree. Plus (and please I mean no disrespect), but PA is an entry level profession where there may or may not be an medical experience. APN is just that, advanced nursing practice. When I went to the APN portion of my education, I had 13 years of solid critical care experience. This helps tremendously with honing assessment and integrating advanced skills into the care of the pt.

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What about for those NPs without that much experience or for those who are going into a specialty that is different than their experience?

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Well, I'm in one of those boats: I graduated May 06 and somehow ended up in nephrology for which I had nadda, zip, zilch experience. However, I had a 6 month orientation and no problems. A residency wouldn't have probably been helpful because the docs that I have always worked for, want to train their own mid-levels.

I think if a residency is available for NPs and you want to do it then go for it. I just don't think it should be mandatory for all new APNs. I like having choices.

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core0 - I agree. Plus (and please I mean no disrespect), but PA is an entry level profession where there may or may not be an medical experience. APN is just that, advanced nursing practice. When I went to the APN portion of my education, I had 13 years of solid critical care experience. This helps tremendously with honing assessment and integrating advanced skills into the care of the pt.

I had 10 years of emergency med, critical care, and OR experience before PA school. It helps some, but even the RN's in our class thought that the PA operated at a different level. This is without discussing direct entry NP's.

Well, I'm in one of those boats: I graduated May 06 and somehow ended up in nephrology for which I had nadda, zip, zilch experience. However, I had a 6 month orientation and no problems. A residency wouldn't have probably been helpful because the docs that I have always worked for, want to train their own mid-levels.

I think if a residency is available for NPs and you want to do it then go for it. I just don't think it should be mandatory for all new APNs. I like having choices.

This is what all NPP's should have (we do two months then progressive difficulty of patients). However, in certain specialties (CV and Em come to mind) the physicians are not willing to do this. Hence the development of post graduate training programs for PA's. However, this will probably never be a significant portion of graduates because of funding issues. Here is a very nice paper on the subject of NP residency where in the opinion of the author new graduate NP's are not ready for practice in the community health setting. The paper is very naive about funding for this.

http://nursingworld.org/ojin/topic28/tpc28_5.htm

The reason PA residencies exist is that the PA's are licensed and the practice can charge for their services. Potentially this model could expand to almost any organisation that does GME. Once again I think the main problem with NP residencies is the disconnect between nursing and GME.

David Carpenter, PA-C

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There is a residency program in community health and primary care for FNPs at the Community Health Center in Connecticut. One year program with salary and benefits.

www.NPResidency.com for video

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care/Rescue.

"Cor zero" !!!!!!! I haven't hear the term used since I left Colorado. Wow, do you bring back memories. Thanks, you just brought back some really good memories.

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Specializes in Multiple.

Here is a trauma and critical care residency for PA/NPs. I think it's just the second year for this program.

"St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network offers a Trauma and Critical Care Fellowship program for physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Both programs provide subspecialty training in the expert management of trauma and critically ill patients in the intensive care unit. Visit the following pages for more information."

Link- http://www.mystlukesonline.org/for-healthcare-professionals/resident-education/trauma-critical-care/index1.aspx

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core0 - I agree. Plus (and please I mean no disrespect), but PA is an entry level profession where there may or may not be an medical experience. APN is just that, advanced nursing practice.

How can you say that with so many direct entry NP programs out there? NPs are being spewed out of schools at an alarming rate without the necessary nursing experience to back them. If I'm right, there are only a few schools in the PA world that do not require prior HCE. As a NP, I can definitely say that their training and educational model is better than ours. The NP profession SHOULD have residencies!

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