Passed boards now what?

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Ok friends, I passed AANP and now I'm not sure what the next step is. I went to the Indiana state board of nursing and from what I can tell, to get my prescriptive authority and DEA I have to have a collaborative agreement, which means I have to have a job before I do anything else. Does this sound right? I haven't really even begun the job search because I thought I would need to get my credentials first. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

You probably need to get your APN license first.

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Specializes in Adult Nurse Practitioner.

Did your school not cover this? It is interesting how many new grads are seemingly not getting this important information before they graduate. I recall having this reviewed about 3 times during my classes and ESPECIALLY in my last term.

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Specializes in NICU.

Yeah we had a whole lecture devoted to getting your license, DEA, etc etc. My program director even came around individually to ask which state in which we wanted to license to figure out any potential problems ahead of time (California, for example, seems to be pretty strict and they had trouble getting their RN students a license initially even though they are a top 10 school in the US, something about not having a specific communication class but they learned communication skills in other classes, lol).

OP, why don't you ask your school's director? They should be a good resource to you. We don't know what your individual circumstances are nor are most of us educated in Indiana's state regulations for NPs.

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According to the Indiana State Board of nursing a license to practice as a nurse practitioner does not exist. It appears I must apply for the authority to prescribe independently as an advance practice nurse as well as complete an application to prescribe controlled substances and once those things are done I can go to the DEA website to fill out my DEA application. I see nothing on the Indiana board of nursing site about an NPI. Thanks.

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My school did not cover what to do post graduation at all. For those of you who were fortunate enough to have this covered in your program that's great! I wish my program covered it but they didn't and I'm here trying to figure it out and its confusing. It doesn't help that every state is different. It would be great if it was the same across the board and there was one process.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
It doesn't help that every state is different. It would be great if it was the same across the board and there was one process.

Totally agree but would also urge those in your situation to take the schools to task. It is ridiculous that they have taken what I can only assume to be thousands of your hard earned dollars and don't even provide the basics on what to expect after graduation. The lack of preparation for practice on so many levels from many NP programs is embarrassing. Please consider contacting them because doing nothing but muddling through it doesn't help the profession or those coming after you.

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Congratulations on your Accomplishment!! You worked hard and it shows! Every state has different requirements regarding independent vs dependent NP practice. It sounds like Indiana requires a "collaborative agreement"--which is an agreement you make with a provider who you will "collaborate with" -- this agreement usually spells out your scope of practice (meaning, what kind of patients, procedures, etc you will be seeing---this will be determined by your certification as well as by what Indiana allows NPs to do). It will state where you will physically practice, how will you be reachable and how you plan on reaching your collaborative physician (i.e., email, cell phone etc) as well as who will cover in the event your collaborating physician is on vacation, etc. It will also include how you will meet auditing requirements (collaborative physician will audit x amount of charts---meeting the Indiana requirements). These collaborative agreements must also state when they go into effect and when they expire. This was part of one of my favorite courses to teach at the Master's level--- Please feel free to reach out if you have additional questions, etc.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

https://www.in.gov/pla/files/APN%20instructions%202017.pdf

This will give you instructions on how to apply for advanced practice in the state of Indiana.

PLA: Advanced Practice Nurse

The application itself can be found on this page.

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