Nurse Practitioner Residency Program - will it be necessary?

Interested in comments regarding the need for NP residency programs after graduation - think its needed, why or why not? The answer may surprise you!

[harmonizer]

I do think residency will be great. Realistically speaking, who will pay for it? Government probably will not. They are already struggling financially enough for residency for other professions (dental/medical). I think the best solution is to let we pay for it ourselves. We can make DNP more specialized and require more clinical hours for specialized area. Instead of having DNP in FNP, we can have DNP in FNP with specilization in oncology etc.. and require another clinical rotation for it..

[Dembitz, APRN]

I think very much needed!

In terms of financing, I think it's doable. I'm a brand new grad making $85,000/year. My practice had a pretty nice training program for me -- some time spent shadowing, some time spent one-on-one with on of our experienced NPs seeing patients with her, and then extra time for visits that is gradually decreasing with the expectation that I'll be at full scheduling within 6 months of my hire date. The point of sharing this is that I'm likely not "earning my keep" in terms of billing at this point (though I'm in a setting with a very different billing arrangement, so I might be).

If I'd been offered a residency program for half the salary, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. I'm picturing a program with a few other new grads and one supervising experienced clinician (could not care less about the letters after said clinician's name). Some protected time for didactics each week, maybe some chances to spend time shadowing other specialties, case presentations, etc. If they're seeing 8-10 patients/day to start, working up to 16-20 by 6-8 months in at half salary, that could be financially viable depending on the setting. Viable, not profitable. With good mentorship (or really, even the promise to HIRE new grads), you'd have more than enough demand.

[IcySageNurse]

We can only hope.

Columbia's DNP program has a "residency" component. I think all DNPs should be this way, and DNP should be the requirement to practice. Then we would have WAY more experienced and better clinicians coming out of school and put a huge dent in the MD idea that NPs aren't fit to practice alone.

[juan de la cruz, MSN, RN, NP]

Could you clarify your question regarding the NP residency? Are you referring to post-NP certification residency programs? These are still in their infancy and the good thing is that they are mostly university-affiliated. I think they are great and hopefully would keep momentum and eventually become standard. I think it helps with the transition from new grad NP and builds more confidence as a provider.

Residency in Acute Care:

Nurse Practitioner Residency Program

Residencies in Primary Care:

http://srhealthcenters.org/residency-programs/why-an-fnp-residency-program/

http://www.fhcw.org/en/Academics/FamilyNursePractitioner

http://nursing.ucla.edu/site.cfm?id=339

http://nursing.ucsf.edu/nurse-practitioner-residency-introduction

[Junebug0710]

Interesting topic! I found a page that provided this information:

Residency Programs for Nurse Practitioners

The following programs were available as of December 2012:

American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases NP/PA Clinical Hepatology Fellowship Program

Boston Children’s Hospital (Massachusetts) Pediatric NP Fellowship

Capital Health (New Jersey) Neurosciences NP Fellowship

Carilion Clinic (Virginia) Emergency Medicine NP and PA Fellowship

Columbia University Medical Center (New York) Critical Care NP/PA Program

Community Health Care (Washington) Family NP Residency

Community Health Centers (Connecticut) NP Residency in Family Practice and Community Health

Emory Center for Critical Care (Georgia) Critical Care Residency

Family Health Center of Worcester (Massachusetts) Family NP Residency

HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research (Minnesota) Psychiatry PA/NP Fellowship Program

Hurley Medical Center (Michigan) Trauma Advanced Practitioner PA/NP Fellowship

John Hopkins (Maryland) NP Fellowship in Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Lahey Clinic (Massachusetts) NP Fellowship in Dermatology

Massachusetts General Hospital NP Fellowship in Palliative Care

Mayo Clinic (Minnesota) NP Clinical Residency Program (other Mayo Clinic NP programs are in Arizona and Florida)

MD Anderson Cancer Center (Texas) Post Graduate Fellowship in Oncology Nursing for Advanced Practice Nurses

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York) NP Fellowship in Pain and Palliative Care

Methodist Hospital System (Texas) NP Program Fellowship in Transplant or in Neurosciences

Penobscot Community Health Care (Maine) Primary Care NP Residency Program

Santa Rosa Community Health Centers (California) Family NP Residency Program

St. Luke’s University Health Network (Pennsylvania) NP Residency in Trauma and Surgical Critical Care

UCLA/UCSF/Glide/Union Rescue Mission (California) Primary Care NP Residency

University of Maryland Medical Center Critical Care/Shock Trauma Center Residency Program

University of Miami Hospital and Jackson Health Systems (Florida) Acute Care/Adult NP Residency Program

[matthewandrew, NP]

I believe it will be the next step for advanced nursing practice.

[Pachinko]

UCLA's FNP residency program is no longer extant.

[matthewandrew, NP]

Extant?

[matthewandrew, NP]

What's extant?

[steve21021]

Thanks for the info. I was just wondering about this. I will be done in 2016 and looking for one of these then. I bet they are really competitive. Yes?

[BostonFNP, APRN]

What's extant?

Do you really not know?

It's the proper was to say "in existence".