I have a different point of view, and I speak from experience. It is not mandatory that you work for years as an RN before becoming an NP. You have to obtain your RN and pass your NCLEX, but you do not have to work as an RN. I am a practicing NP who has never worked as an RN. I knew from day 1 that bedside hospital nursing was not for me. I went through an RN-MSN program and immediately got a job as an NP. RN job experience is helpful and valuable, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary unless you want to be an acute care NP or a Neonatal NP. Most of what I learned in my RN program is not applicable to what I do as an NP. I work in an outpatient setting, so it's a whole different ballgame than working in a hospital. That being said, I have to qualify things by saying that nursing was a second career for me, and I had lots of other work and life experience that helped me learn critical thinking and decision making skills, which are important for success as an NP. Are you already going to college for something else? Most direct RN-MSN programs do require you to have a bachelor's degree in something and some sort of work/volunteer experience in a hospital or healthcare setting. You'll also have to take pre-requisites for whatever program you want to attend. So there's no way of skipping the RN, but it's your choice as to whether or not you want to work as an RN or go right into an NP program.
There are entry-level MSN programs for people who have bachelors degrees in other fields but no nursing degree. You can become an NP in about 3 years. You do have to become an RN first -- in these programs, you typically spend the first 12 to 18 months of the program taking the necessary courses and clinicals to sit for the NCLEX, then you take the NCLEX, then, if you pass that, you continue with the MSN portion of the program. Some of the entry level MSN programs require you to work as an RN for 6 months before proceeding on to the MSN level of the program -- others require or at least strongly urge you to work as an RN part time while completing the MSN portion of the program.
These programs are extremely competitive, and you need a bachelors in something else first, so I'm not sure if this path would work for you. Also, I've heard that some people who become NPs this way have trouble getting jobs as NPs, because of their lack of experience as an RN.
By the way, how independent you can be as either an NP or PA varies from state to state. In California, NPs must nominally work under the supervision of an MD, although it seems like this "supervision" can be defined very broadly. I've gone to NPs for my own health care, they can write prescriptions, I never ever see the MD they're associated with, so I don't quite see how they're being "supervised" by the MD, but they always (that I know of) work in practices where there is at least one MD, never in private practice completely on their own.
In other states its different and they can practice completely independently --so you should look up the laws in whatever state you hope to work in.
I thought Np or PA were very similar except NP can work independently if they want to...
The word you are looking for is autonomy. Autonomy will be dependent on the practice environment. There are PAs and NPs that work in autonomous environments. For example in Wisconsin there are many rural ERs that are staffed by PAs without onsite physician supervision. This is an example of autonomy.
NPs can work without physician interaction in 13 states as long as they don't want to accept Medicare. PAs must have a supervisory agreement in every state.
If you are talking about practice ownership the amount of PA and NPs that own their own practice is roughly identical at 2%. The great majority of PAs and NPs work for physician practices or health care organizations.
If you have no healthcare experience you are going to have a difficult time getting into PA school. Around 1/3 of programs do not require healthcare experience. Even in those programs applicants that have experience will have an advantage. The average healthcare experience for all PA students is more than two years. There are a few direct entry programs where you start as a freshman do three years with summers for your bachelors and then go directly into the PA program assuming you meet continuing prerequisites (around 60% don't).
omg thank you for your kind answer and for the informative information
so I don't have do bedside nursing to be an NP yay that's great! You know I didn't say I wouldn't do bedside nursing but that my that not what I want to do for the majority of my career and really another thing that is scaring is the threads I've been reading that nurses don't get respects and are treated like mules
that's terrible! It's not an easy road to become a nurse and nurses are educated people just like other doctors, lawyers, accountants,
Make sure you really think about the consequences of NOT getting bedside nursing experience, though. It may do you a disservice down the road. Besides, a lot of the things you dislike so much about bedside nursing are things that many of us have gotten used to (it's really no big deal to do with all those icky things anymore).
AND, I would make sure to do your own research before deciding what you are going to do. As I said in my previous post, some NP programs do require certain types of experience. Just make sure you are do the research. Good luck.
Make sure you really think about the consequences of NOT getting bedside nursing experience, though. It may do you a disservice down the road. Besides, a lot of the things you dislike so much about bedside nursing are things that many of us have gotten used to (it's really no big deal to do with all those icky things anymore).
AND, I would make sure to do your own research before deciding what you are going to do. As I said in my previous post, some NP programs do require certain types of experience. Just make sure you are do the research. Good luck.
so you can complain but others cannot display their displeasure for it
what don't you tell the importance of bedside nursing and the duties you perform in it
I've read somewhere a lot of it is passing pills, cleaning bedpans, wiping butts, putting in IVs, taking vitals
Is this accurate what else do they do?
and if not they seem like pretty basic things nothing where you learn a lot
Or assessing patients, making care plans, interceding when the patients deteriorate. In the ICU nurses titrate pressors, manipulate ventilators and monitor invasive lines. You seem to have little understanding of what nurses really do. My advice is to shadow a nurse on the floor, in the ER or in the ICU. You will have a different appreciation of nursing.
going through RN and gaining experience is very important. In the medical field nothing is white and black. What you learn from book might be totally different from what u would see on the field.
txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN
4,373 Posts
i complain about bedside nursing daily but that does not mean that its not important .....you have a lot to learn