Nurse Practitioner

zmansc, ASN, RN · Oct 30, 2014

DNP required: Not yet. At one point there was a recommendation of such by 2015... That flat out didn't occur. The AACN had a study done and recently released talking points (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/DNP/Talking-Points.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AACN+Releases+Findings+from+National+Study+...&utm_source=YMLP&utm_term=www.aacn.nche.edu%2FDNP%2FTalking-...) and the actual study findings (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/DNP/DNP-Study.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AACN+Releases+Findings+from+National+Study+...&utm_source=YMLP&utm_term=www.aacn.nche.edu%2FDNP%2FDNP-Stud...) Basically it says not yet, but we agree to plan to have a plan someday.....

FNP vs WHNP: I think it depends on what you really want to do. I know several WHNPs who are very happy with their jobs and like what they do. I also know a couple who went back and got their FNP because they wanted to treat the kids of their patients, or the husbands of their patients, etc. They still focus mostly on the group they are most interested in, but they wanted the flexibility to be able to treat everyone. Personally, if women's health was my only interest, I would go with WHNP, the first job might be slightly harder to find, but after that I wouldn't expect it to be a deal breaker. If I was fairly ambivalent about it, I might go FNP, just to have the flexibility to change later on. Hows, that for not answering your question?! lol

Nursetonp · Oct 30, 2014

Zman sums it up well!

I will add this- I'm not sure how other cities are, but in mine, I have a friend that works in women's health and she said that its better to become a whnp if you know you strictly want to work in women's health. Her practice prefers to only hire whnps vs fnps. And I've noticed we have several job openings here specifically requesting whnps.

She has worked in women's health for 15 years, and is actually going back to get her fnp now because she says she is getting bored with it.

sorry if I confused you even more!

Dr.Naija_Glam · Oct 30, 2014

There was a proposal in 2004 by the AACN for the DNP to be the terminal degree for APRNs. In my area, most of the universities have d/c their MSN programs and only have DNP programs. Of course there are many programs with MSN programs with no current plans to start DNP programs. I went to a combined MSN/DNP program with the FNP track. I did this because I am still in my twenties and will be working for a while. I also didn't want to be limited to an age group. I'll be prepared no matter what the powers that be plan to do (for now anyway).

I have an DNP/FNP friend who fell in love with women's health during school and now works in an ob/gyn office. She is the only NP with an FNP, while the others are WHNPs. She loves what she does, has no desire for any other specialty, and frequently has recruiters and other ob/gyn practices giving her a call because she has the experience. You asked if it is risky to get a doctorate in woman's health as an NP. Is that what you want to do for the rest of your career? I would suggest shadowing an NP working in woman's health. If you still want to go for it then good, if not, that's okay. It's always a good idea to shadow a specialty that you are interested in.

NucRN · Nov 4, 2014

DNP vs MSN. I think the question is similar to ADN vs BSN.

Today, we see hospitals that prefer to hire BSNs over ADNs. I think the same will happen with NPs. I ran into an NP that said the same thing about the institution she works for.

guest769224 · Nov 4, 2014

Today, we see hospitals that prefer to hire BSNs over ADNs. I think the same will happen with NPs. I ran into an NP that said the same thing about the institution she works for.

I think this is only likely to happen within the acute care setting.