OR nurse to nurse practitioner

[wknurse141]

I'm seeking advice from any nurses who have been OR nurses then gone on to become nurse practitioners. Any advice is welcome!

My dilemma is that I love OR nursing but I also aspire to be a family nurse practitioner and work in primary care. I want to be an OR nurse but since I'm a new grad I feel like if I don't do floor med/surg nursing that will negatively impact my chance for being a good FNP and getting the experience needed for FNP.

I have recently graduated and if my long term goal is to be an FNP will it hinder me to be an OR nurse for a year or two?

[anayo, DNP, APRN, NP]

Hi. Yeah. I would get some floor experience in medsurg, stepdown, or icu. It's important to have patient clinical experience so that u are familiar with drugs, anatomy, and critical thinking skills. I just don't see the OR covering that unless I'm mistaken. I also have a friend who is an OR nurse but was unsuccessful in finding an FNP since graduating. The only way I see you securing a position in primary care is having connections. And even I would not totally rely on that. Will the person taking you under his or her wing be patient and guide you through? Anyway, just something to think about.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Actually, the most FNPs I know work in non-acute settings (clinics) and it seems that this is where you want to work also. So - other than polishing your assessment skills, working in an acute care department may not contribute very much to your career goal. If you intend to work in an advanced practice role in a hospital, you will need to seek an Acute Care NP degree. In that case, hospital experience would be much more relevant.

[BostonFNP, APRN]

I'm seeking advice from any nurses who have been OR nurses then gone on to become nurse practitioners. Any advice is welcome! My dilemma is that I love OR nursing but I also aspire to be a family nurse practitioner and work in primary care. I want to be an OR nurse but since I'm a new grad I feel like if I don't do floor med/surg nursing that will negatively impact my chance for being a good FNP and getting the experience needed for FNP. I have recently graduated and if my long term goal is to be an FNP will it hinder me to be an OR nurse for a year or two?

You will find that nurses have passionate opinions about the role of nursing experience in advanced practice.

Subjectively, most APNs (myself included) put at least some value on their nursing experience benefiting their practice in the APN role.

Objectively, the research has demonstrated that there is not a significant objective benefit of prior nursing experience (though these studies are small studies).

Personally, I tell my students that it depends on the individual. Some people can breeze through DE programs and transition into practice without any experience and do very well. Others can't. My prior RN experience helped a bit in graduate school and less in actually practice, as the role is so much different. Personally, I think the exception is speciality practice: if you want to be a first assist NP with an ortho practice having OR experience will be a larger help than it will be for primary care practice or OB or cardiology.