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That would be totally up to you. It might take some transition time from emergent care settings to family practice, but that would be your choice. Being a certified FNP allows you to see all patients in any setting.

I am also a recruiter and have been recruiting NP's exclusively since '94. I spoke at UT Houston in '96, and met Dr. Cole. I am an associate member of AANP, past associate member of Texas Nurse Practitioners and the recipient of TNP's Presidents Patron Award in '98. When you graduate from UT's program, you are eligible to sit for the FNP certification exam through AANP or ANCC which means you will be able to see patients from the cradle to the grave in any emergent care setting. Plan of Study Listed below: Course Credits N5529 Advanced Pharmacology 3 N6152 Physical Examination and Differential Diagnosis 3 N6151 Advanced Pathophysiology 3 SPRINGN6274 Family and Primary Care Concepts for Emergency/Ambulatory Care Advanced Practice Nurses (90 hrs)4 N5501 Theoretical Foundations in Nursing *2 N5506 Statistics in Nursing2 N6202 Diagnostic Tests and Procedures for Emergency and Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (45 hrs) 1 SUMMERN6275 Treatment of Health Deviations in Emergency Care I (90 hrs)4 N6176 Advanced Practice in Nursing: Economics and Management of Health Care Systems 3 N6101 Clinical and Epidemiologic Research for Advanced Nursing Practice 3 Year 2 FALLN6276 Treatment of Health Deviations in Emergency Care II (90 hrs) 4 Scholarly Option 2 N6175 Advanced Practice in Nursing: Primary Prevention in Individuals, Families, and Communities 3 SPRINGN6743 Advanced Clinical Practice: Nurse Practitioner Role and Preceptorship Emergency/Ambulatory Care (400 hrs) 9 Scholarly Option3 *Must be taken within the first 12 hours of course work. Hours in ( ) are clinical hours. The 760 hours of clinical experiences occur in multiple settings. The majority of settings are community-based hospital EDs. Other settings such as the Harris County Prison System, the pediatric ED at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Hospital, an Urgent Care clinic of a local HMO and physician offices and clinics specializing in care of well children and pregnant women are also used. In the first clinical course ENP students gain experience working with patients who are pregnant and in providing well childcare. After this first course, ENP students begin providing care to patients with non-urgent conditions and then progress into practice sites to provide care to patients with urgent and emergent complaints. Fast tracks, main EDs, and an urgent care clinic are used for experiences related to management of patients with non-urgent, urgent, and emergent conditions. During the last course, ENP students perform 400 hours of clinical time doing 40 hours a week for 10 weeks and rotate clinical sites every 80 hours. During these clinical experiences, students assess, diagnose, and manage the medical and nursing care of patients. The majority of clinical preceptors are physicians although prior graduates of the program, faculty, and other NPs employed in emergency care also serve as preceptors.

There is an Emergency NP program in Houston, TX at The University of Texas, Houston Health Science Center. It was started by Frank Cole, PhD, RN, CEN, CS, FNP, FAAN, FAANP,Professor, Divison Head: Emergency Care Department of Acute & Continuing Care, Emergency Care Division The program started in 1994. There were 3 or 4 students in that first class, now there is a waiting list. Dr. Cole has also created a Resource Directory of Nurse Practitioners who provide emergency care and has created a newsletter for nurse practitioners in emergency care. These can be accessed through the web site. Nurse Practitioners in Emergency Care http://son.uth.tmc.edu/ecnps Loyola University Chicago, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing also has an ENP program, based on Dr. Cole's

There is an ER/NP program in Houston at The University of Texas Houston Health Science Center. It was started in '94, with three students, Loyola also has a program, based on the UT program.