PNP Aacute care/ Primary care

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Feb 20

If you are certified in Acute Care, then it is not a good idea to take a primary care role. And vice versa. There are serious liability issues here. In addition, your education was in acute care, not primary care. These are very different.

jessaaro, BSN, MSN · Feb 20

FullGlass said:

If you are certified in Acute Care, then it is not a good idea to take a primary care role. And vice versa. There are serious liability issues here. In addition, your education was in acute care, not primary care. These are very different.

Thanks for the reply, I have done a dual PNP program AC&PC. Thinking of a sitting exam for PNP PC. But was hoping to work in acute care.

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Feb 21

jessaaro said:

Thanks for the reply, I have done a dual PNP program AC&PC. Thinking of a sitting exam for PNP PC. But was hoping to work in acute care.

That's great. If you want to work in primary care, I advise getting the credential. It can be hard to get that first NP job. Once you have 1 year of experience, it will get much easier. If you need to start working, then take the primary care job. You could then start looking for an acute care job after 1 year.

Best wishes

adventure_rn, MSN, NP · Feb 23

Are you willing to relocate? I think there are a lot of large children's hospitals nationwide that are expanding and actively hiring new grads, especially if you're interested in doing ICU and have experience. A bunch are even starting to hire PAs with almost no peds experience to try to fill the PNP gaps. In my cohort last year, nearly everybody got a job within a couple of months post-graduation, and some even got signing and relocation bonuses. The only people who didn't (or are still interviewing) were those who wanted to stay in one specific region or a hospital system where HR is notoriously slow or there simply aren't any open positions. Perhaps the market where you're looking is saturated? I believe Boston Children's, CHOP, Stanford, Seattle Children's, and Texas Children's are hiring, and I know in my area tons of medium-sized local children's hospitals were actively recruiting people in my class.

It wouldn't be wrong to start in primary care then move inpatient, but you might be kind of miserable if it's not what you actually want to do. I'd be more reassured in your situation if the primary care office were part of a larger hospital system where you could eventually request a lateral transfer into acute care as an internal hire. I would imagine there will be a substantial pay difference, but that seems pretty standard with hospital-based shift work vs. day shift/outpatient (at my hospital it's about a 15%-20% pay cut). Best of luck! There aren't a ton of acute care PNP positions out there, but on the flip side, there aren't all that many acute care PNPs to compete for them.

adventure_rn, MSN, NP · Feb 24

Also, I wouldn't limit yourself to applying to positions that specifically say they're accepting new grads. Nearly all of my class were accepted to positions that said they 'preferred experience,' and only a handful completed programs that were specifically created for new grads.

jessaaro, BSN, MSN · Feb 27

Thanks allot everyone for the moral boost. Iam In DC , Maryland area. I was looking in this area only. At this age with kids sometime its difficult to move around. Now iam stuck at CDS Maryland, they want employment address in Maryland, I don't even have a job. Have to sort all these. School never tells u the bigger picture of all the steps. Sell only the dreams.

adventure_rn, MSN, NP · Feb 29

jessaaro said:

Thanks allot everyone for the moral boost. Iam In DC , Maryland area. I was looking in this area only. At this age with kids sometime its difficult to move around. Now iam stuck at CDS Maryland, they want employment address in Maryland, I don't even have a job. Have to sort all these. School never tells u the bigger picture of all the steps. Sell only the dreams.

Ugh, that's tough. My only friend who had a harder time getting a job really wanted to relocate to DC and work at Children's National. She was eventually able to do it, but it sounds like HR strung her along for a while, and she had to be very persistent with the people she'd been interviewed by to get them to push her through the HR process.

nursessej · Nov 12

Hey! I know its been awhile since you took the PNP AC exam, but I wanted to ask you if you had any recommendations on how to study for the exam? I'm so nervous for it and I know it does not have a great pass rate.