rnhunter

I would consider all my options before making any decisions. If you are truly wanting to end up in an ACUTE CARE setting, then you should persue the ACPNP (acute care) option. This is getting "muddier" every day. This is particularly true when it comes to medical legal issues. More and more nurse practitioners are being named in law suits. If you are put on the stand and a lawyer asks you what is your educational preparation, what would your response be? I recently attended the AANP conference. This was the jest of the discussion. According to the expert panel, your experience as AN RN essentially means nothing, it is your educational preparational as an APN that is curcial. For example, one of my colleagues, who worked in critical care as an RN, obtained his FNP. He began working for a neurosurgeon and was reported to the board of nursing for practicing outside his scope of practice for rounding/caring for patients in the ICU. The board of nursing forbid him from rounding on patient's in the ICU setting. They advised him that further incidences would result in disciplinary action. The expert panel also stated that as time goes on, more and more boards of nursing are putting this into their nurse practice acts. They gave an example of the arizona board of nursing. They essentially said that your experience as an RN nor your supervising physician "signing off" on your orders is acceptable. This is not as articulate as I was hoping but hope it helps. I am an ACNP (adult).

That is very interesting. How will this work for those in other specialties? such as ACNP, PNP, NNP, CRNA, ect. we are very specialized and do not get all components that would be on the USMLE.

DaisyRN I took my test and passed on 06/27. How long did it take you to get your certificate in the mail?

Hello everyone, I graduated from Wichita State University in December 2007. I took the ANCC ACNP exam Friday and successfully passed. It took forever to get clearance to test. I prepared for the exam by listening to Sally K.Miller review CDs from Fitzgerald Associates. I thought that they were well worth every penny. I listened to them about 3 times. I also used the Acute care Nurse Practitioner Certification Examination: Review Questions and Strategies by Barbara Todd. I thought that overall the questions were a little harder than the exam. However, they give really good rationales. John Hunter, RN, MSN, ACNP-BC

FNPs need to practice what they are trained in-------------primary care. End of discussion. ACNPs receive the specialty training. It is going to come down to lawsuits before we in the nursing profession set up clear defined boundries for practice. :angryfire

You guys make some very valid points. FNPs are trained in PRIMARY CARE. They recieve no training in the acute care setting. Therefore, if push comes to schove they can be held liable if they practice in the acute care arena and an incident occurs, they can be found guilty for practing outside their scope of practice. I work with an FNP who is working in the role of an ACNP in cardiac specilty hospital. She stated to me that they recieve NO training in acute care medicine. Calling 911 was the extend of their training for AMIs. Think about it???? The same can be said for an ACNP practicing in a primary care arena.

I will graduate from Wichita State university in December with my MSN/ACNP. Wichita will initiate their DNP program in the fall of 2008. I currently see no point in going beyond the MSN at this point. There is no increase in scope of practice nor is there an increase in pay. All it is another title. Nursing wants to keep up with the Jones (medicine, pharmacy, ect...). Instead of creating more confusion for the medical community and more importantly the public, why doesn't the profession clarify exactly what we are. More imprtantly clearly identifying the role of the FNP, PNP, ACNP, ANP, CNS. Currently we have FNPs, ANPs, and CNSs functioning in the role of an ACNP. PNPs seeing adult patients. ACNPs (adult) seeing pediatric patients. In my facility, we have FNPs practicing in the role of an ACNP. FNPs are trained in primary care. They receive no hospital training. A NP is not an NP. AN ARNP is not an ARNP. We need to practice within out training and true scope of practice.

It is because FNPs are trained for primary care. None of their training is related to caring for patients in the acute care setting. When a family practice doctor recieves their training they do recieve training in caring for patients in the inpatient setting. It is similar for ACNPs. Their training is focused on acutely and chronicly illnesses. ACNPs do not recieve any training in primary care. Therefore they should not work in a primary care setting. If an APN practices in an area that they have not recieved education and training they are placing their patients at risk and themselves at risk for lawsuit as they would be practicing outside their scope of practice. An APN is NOT an APN. We do not recieve generic training. Iam working on my ACNP and their is a clear difference in the training and education. Their is also some talk of limiting theCNS practicing as a NP. Again, the training is very different. a CNS focus is population focused (i.e. DM, cardiac, CHF, ect....). The NP focus is on individual.

I am currently working on my master's degree (ACNP). I believe that in all states NPs must be master prepared. A PA up until I would say the last fve years graduated with a BS degree. Now both professions the standard is a Master's degree. Another area you are mistaken is that NPs CANNOT practice independently. This is not true. NPs can and have opened there own practice. I recently read that I believe in New York city a group of FNPs opened there own practice together. It is LEGAL. NPs do NOT have to have their charts signed by a physcian. That varies from institution to institution. I agree that PAs have more clinical training and more classes than NPs do. This is an area that i believe that our profession needs to improve. Another error that i must point out is that PAs have 6-10 plus years of experience in healthcare. You are mistaken. It is strongly encouraged that they have smoe healthcare experience and/or shadow a PA prior to admission. Many go directly from HS to college to PA school. I went a girl who went on to PA school directly from college. All she did was shadow a PA prior to applying. I have a tremendous amount of respect for PAs. I do not believe that a PA is better than an NP nor do i believe that an NP is better than a PA. We are both considered midlevel practitioners. In some states they are considered physcian extenders.