Nursing School Leading to NP or OT? If you had to do it all over?

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  1. Nursing, N.P, or OT?

    • 3
      Occupational Therapy
    • 1
      Nursing
    • 0
      N.P, all or nothing
    • 2
      Neither, pick another way
    • 2
      Health Information, bye bye Direct Patient Care

8 members have participated

Hi,

To nurses and students....or you just happen to work in OT and are on a nursing forum ha! My questions is this, what would you choose, Nursing School to become a nurse first then go to school to become a Nurse Practitioner, or OT( Occupational Therapy )? Also how was the stress of schooling? I have taken Micro, Micro Lab, Chemistry( we somewhat covered Nuclear Chem ..like Carbon 11 used in head scans, etc....also Iodine 131 to check for thyroid and why ), Ap1 and Ap2, Medical term, Physics, Human growth and development( lifespan ), Stats, and plan on taking patho physiology this coming semester. I like Ap, I am taking Ap again, to brush up( been 5 years ). I do want to put these classes to use.

So, nurses if you had a choice to do it all over again, would you choose OT or Nursing? I know both fields are different. In this model, I would be getting an ADN, 2 years. 1 lecture day and 1 clinical day. This has 6-7 semesters through it, including summers. So two straight years, with no summers off. However, the lecture is a 3 hour, and the clinical is 7 hours( being done on the weekend ). Then after the A.D.N, going directly into a masters( N.P ). This would equal roughly 3 1/2-4 years for both.

OT, well...the length on this varies. However, let's say 2 1/2- 3 years. This would be for a Masters.

Where I live, is an "Independent State", if you will, for N.Ps. I know N.Ps, if they know the business end, can negotiate salaries. If you know what you can bring to the table, the type of DX etc...That is if you like the business end, knowing the stats etc- I do( being I like knowing details on data ).

Anyway...Considering salary, work environment, time, etc....what would you choose, knowing what you know now. Both fields are different. I see OT as Rewarding on one hand because you see the patient through to the end/recovery. Overall, I think the stress #'s are less as well. However, that is comparing OT to Nursing, not NP. One thing with OT...I don't know if you can work 3 p.m-11 p.m or 11p.m-7 a.m? I bring this up, bc my favorite times. Also insurance covered is huge. 401k, bonuses etc.

The type of schooling: Tbh I hear it both ways. Some say Nursing school is the hardest thing they have done....others who got their sciences out of the way, got 4.0. To note other say they were able to live a full active life in school, others, not so much. One of my profs went on to say, that alot of times people go OCD and that is what really is more stressing is drama and their own over thinking, than the material itself. Also, that 1/3 of people just don't do the work on time, which is not acceptable. Which I don't know why someone would not. Ot school, well I cannot say....

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

There is no logical reason to go to nursing school to become an OT.

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Like Roser above states, nursing school is not the route to OT.

But the other part is that you're not asking the right questions.

All 3 roles and working conditions are entirely different. Learn which each do, and beg/borrow/steal to shadow before you make a life defining decision.

My daughter is in school and works in an early childhood development clinic. She grew up with a nurse who has been happy in home health and observes all of the therapies in her work setting. I advised her to be mindful of who seem to like their work. All of them do. They have M-F low stress jobs and can see their efforts accomplish something they feel awesome about, compared to what she knows having grown up with a nurse who also works closely with all of the therapies as well as exhausted nurses with very different schedules, job responsibilities and wages, all favorable to the therapists. She's choosing speech therapy major which will lead to either SLP or OT, she's leaning towards SLP.

That said, I would die on the vine as a therapist. I also would not want to work in the current NP settings, the role yes, the conditions no. I am wired for my particular role in nursing.

Here are the questions you should be asking: Before considering any of the schooling routes and pay, first consider the roles and then the working conditions. What are you willing to endure to perform in a suitable role?

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Specializes in ICU.

Agreed, OT and nursing are totally separate things. One doesn't feed into the other. Also, why do you want to be a NP and not work at the bedside? And I've never met an OT that works late night hours or overnight hours for that matter. We try to encourage patients to sleep overnight, not do therapy.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

Depends where you live. It's actually not as uncommon as you might think. I have known of a couple of nurses who went on to do their OT or PT.

Both are two year Masters programs and a health background is preferred entry to the program. I considered going the OT route myself, but I decided to do an MPH.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Depends where you live. It's actually not as uncommon as you might think. I have known of a couple of nurses who went on to do their OT or PT.

Both are two year Masters programs and a health background is preferred entry to the program. I considered going the OT route myself, but I decided to do an MPH.

PT is no longer offered as a Masters Degree. It is strictly a Doctoral of Physical Therapy.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

That's why I prefaced my post with "It depends where you live"

In Canada, PT and OT are Masters degrees.

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Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

I don't think OP is talking about nursing into OT; sounds like she is trying to decide whether she will be happier in that role vs NP.

OP, as others have said, learn more about the roles of each job, the day to day life, and what tasks/goals each accomplishes. Hop top your school's career center and get them to find you shadowing opportunities in each field. Observe, ask questions, see what feels like a good fit.

I feel like your expectations of the education for each of these fields, especially NP, are a little off in that they tend to be more rigorous and take more time than you stated. I'm sure this can vary by location. Research some Masters and MP programs that you would be interested in someday, and find out their admission requirements and typical progression of courses. Might give you a better idea of how much time and effort each degree can take.

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I almost went into OT, but chose nursing instead. Due to having a previous degree the amount of time it would have taken would have been about the same for schooling. If I had it to do over again I would have done OT instead. No on call, no weekends (unless I wanted to), no holidays, and more money. I didn't realize before I made my final decision just how much impact a good OT can have on their patient. That's what steered me toward nursing. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. If I had the choice to make over again I think I would choose differently though.

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This is literally what i wany to do ( hence the name) lol. I have a Bachelors, but need about 3 or 4 classes to apply to an OT program. However, I have so much debt from undergrad that there is no way I'm going into grad school for 3 years, full time, possibly paying out-of-statr tuition, while taking out even more student loans.

I personally feel that getting myself in a much better financial position with an ADN will help me reach my OT goal.

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