NP Career Questions

[CareerSwitch1]

Hi everyone,

I'm considering a complete career shift from marketing and educational research to Nurse Practitioner. My questions fall into 3 broad categories: what is the actual day-to-day work, what is the future of the career, and if you have any advice regarding shadowing and graduate programs?

Day-to-day work:

How do you spend a typical day/week?

What hours do you normally work?

Do you spend most of your time at your desk, sitting, standing, walking?

What kinds of problems do you deal with?

What kinds of decisions do you make?

What are the positive/negative aspects of working as a NP?

Do you feel that patients and other medical staff respect NPs?

If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same path for yourself? If not, what would you change?

Future of the career:

What career paths are generally available?

How is the current demand?

What trends and developments do you see affecting career opportunities?

Shadowing and ​graduate programs:

What is the best way to find a shadowing or volunteer opportunity?

What is your opinion on graduate entry NP programs (i.e., programs for individuals with a bachelor's degree in a non-nursing discipline)?

Do you think it's important to work as an RN before g​oing for a DNP? If so, can you find work with an AS degree, or is a BSN necessary?

​Can you start as a Family NP and then add certifications to specialize? I'm interested in women's health and mental health, but I want to keep my options open​

Thanks ​in advance for taking the time to answer my questions​!​

[Malenurse12345]

"DNP is worthless IMHO unless you want to teach." Define worthless. It's certainly worth it to me, and has been a valuable educational and collaborative experience. Maybe you mean $$, not my end goal, although the job postings here lead me to believe I'll recoup my tuition pretty quickly.

I think a PhD is better if you want to teach

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

Partial responce:

Shadowing and ​graduate programs

What is the best way to find a shadowing or volunteer opportunity?

None, unless you have personal contact AND the facility allows it. Which is, in current legal climate and obscession with privacy, highly unlikely. Hospital volunteering will not bring one in any closer contact with patients or providers than selling them popcorn.

What is your opinion on graduate entry NP programs (i.e., programs for individuals with a bachelor's degree in a non-nursing discipline)?

I personally have no problem with them. Such programs provide way out from bedside for students who are not at all interested in "traditional" nursing in the first place and likely have qualities which, to say the least, are not always seen as something positive among many nurses.

I'd heard many times that new grads have more problems finding jobs after such programs but every time it happened that the new grad in question was either in area with paucity of jobs (mostly highly populated states and/or metro areas), or had impossibly high requirements.

The cost of such programs might be a problem. Mid-range level (no big names) ABSN+low-cost, in-state, no big name, accelerated online MSN will likely cost a bit less than any direct-entry MSN, while being a bit shorter in time, as it can be done in 3 years total instead of around 4.

Do you think it's important to work as an RN before g​oing for a DNP? If so, can you find work with an AS degree, or is a BSN necessary?

1). Not at all necessary (please see above); 2). Work functions of ASN and BSN are essentially the same; 3). DNP is only necessary if one intended to teach in university setting or do nursing-specific research. For everything else, MSN is enough and for all likeness will be enough for the next few decades.

Work experience can be beneficial for those who never had any previous job in healthcare AND is employed in position which allows him/her to function within full scope of practice of RN. The latter part of it happens more and more rarely nowadays, and months/years of perfecting "customer service skills" are not helpful in preparing one to become a healthcare provider.

​Can you start as a Family NP and then add certifications to specialize? I'm interested in women's health and mental health, but I want to keep my options open​.

You can do both with just FNP and no certificates, or you can do one in approximately 1 - 1.5 year (and, yeah, 500+ clinical hours, double borad exams and double spending on certifications every X years).

And, yeah, second-career students have a very few options financing their education except private loans, unless they have independent savngs and pay out of pocket.