NPs with no RN experience: How'd you do?

[SlyFoxRN]

Just curious how NP's with little/no experience as a bedside RN felt upon graduation from NP school, and in your first job. Tell me a little about it. Do you feel you would have done better with more bedside experience? Did you sometimes feel behind the curve a little? Or did you feel equally competent as those with years of experience. I know the roles are different, but I wonder what effect it has.

[AtomicWoman]

My fellow primary care NPs who formerly worked as acute care RNs (1 in ICU and 1 in ER) have told me that it was a *huge* mindset shift for them to become comfortable in primary care, even though they had gone through primary care NP training. They were so NOT used to thinking in terms of chronic disease, disease prevention, etc. So although an NP with acute care RN experience *can* work in primary care, it's not like it automatically comes easily to them. And around here, hospitals will only hire NPs who are certified as acute care NPs for most inpatient work, so my co-workers wouldn't be able to work inpatient as NPs, since they are certified in primary care.

You will catch on pretty quickly to what "sick" looks like. It took me a little while, but I can walk into a patient's room now and if they are really sick, I will instantly know it.

[ladyNP]

I worked as a Med Surg RN at a large academic center for a little over 1 year before going to NP school. The experience of being an RN helped me with patient communication, common clinical situations, and medication recognition. However, in NP school the focus shifts entirely (for primary care tracks), and I found I was switching gears and learning primarily about diagnostics/prevention/first line treatments, which is totally different from what you would learn in the hospital. If you are going into acute care NP tracks, then bedside experience will be much more valuable, but for FNP/primary care I think that having a year is plenty.

[Newbie101]

Hello! Its been years. How are you doing?