rose0487

Hello, I am a nursing student. My school offers a 5 year program, where I could get my master's, and I think I want to do this. My only problem is that the master's can only be in Family Care, so I would be a Family Care Nurse Practitioner, but I would like to specialize in Pediatrics. The head of my nursing department said that if I got this degree, I could still work only in pediatrics after graduating, and would also have more job opportunity than if I just become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. I just don't understand, if I do the program at my school and specialize in Family Care, would I be able to work in any area I want, such as pediatrics, since I would have experience in all of them? Or would I only be able to work as a Family Care nurse practitioner, because I do not want to do that. Sorry for all of the confusion and thank you so much for your help!!

Hello, I am 19 and I will be in my second year of nursing school this fall. My school offers a 5 year program where I would be able to get my Master's in a year less. I need to know by this year though, and I'm still not even sure if I want to get my master's and I'm very confused. The main questions I have are what are the differences between an RN and a nurse practitioner? Do nurse practitioners get to be with the patients as much as RNs, or do they just tell the other nurses what to do? Would it be better to just go for 4 years then work, then go back later for my masters? Also, it is very important to me to have a family later on, and I was wondering if Nurse Practitioners have a flexible schedule like RNs do. I'm not sure if it matters but I will be working in the Boston area, hopefully at Children's Hospital. If anyone knows the answers to these, that would be amazing I'm so confused!! Thanks!