Primary vs Acute Care NP to Work in an Outpatient Specialty Area?

[Spine_CRNA, BSN, RN]

Hello,

I'm very new to NP talk as I decide my next move past M/S nursing so I apologize if my question is dumb. However, searching the internet provides little more than a firehose of information that's hard to sift through.

1.) If I want to work in an outpatient setting within a specialty like cardiology, nephrology, etc. should I go with a Primary Care NP degree (FNP) or an Acute Care one (Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP) in order to be well trained and marketable post graduation?

2.) Also, how do I go about specializing as an NP? A school like UPENN has it built into the curriculum. However, that seems to be the minority. I'm thinking one either chooses specific courses/clinicals during the coursework or one gets a general adult NP degree and applies for a specialty clinic to work in after graduation.

I've little to no interest in working with kids as my career has been in Adult Liver patients.

Your time and effort in responding to my thread are GREATLY appreciated.

John

[shannygirl78]

Hi newmail445. Your questions is EXACTLY what I need guidance on, too. I don't want to learn pediatrics and women's health in an FNP program and I would love to specialize with a GI or Renal provider. I wonder if most docs want an acute care NP that can round in the hospital and see their clinic patients or if there's an equal chance of practicing in a specialty setting with an FNP. I've personally seen both, but I'm not sure in this particular job market. I went to an ENT for recurring sinus infections and saw an FNP because there was a long wait to see the doctor. But there are very few ENTs in the acute setting here in Phoenix, AZ. Maybe it depends on the medical group you join either way.

[SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP]

It really depends on a) what you want to do within your specialty and, more importantly, b) what the hiring climate of your area is like.

For your specialty, do you want to work in an office setting or solely in the hospital? We have NPs who are with cardiology & pulmonology specialty practices and they do rounds at night for the practice in the ICU & step down units. Those NPs are AG-ACNPs. We also have AG-ACNPs in the neuro/trauma unit

If you want to solely work in an office setting, FNP (or AGNP if you don't want peds) would be more of what you're looking for. Really, it all boils down to how the hiring climate for NPs is in your area. Use your network and put some feelers out to see what you find.