Quitting Direct-Entry NP Program

[jay785]

Hi everyone! I was never a member of this website before this post, so apologies if this should go elsewhere. I was hoping to get some advice from nurses/student nurses about the predicament that I'm currently facing. 

Basically, I currently attend a direct-entry nurse practitioner program on the psychiatric-mental health track. For background, I just got out of undergrad last year with a non-nursing bachelor's (psych). I decided I wanted to be a PMHNP my junior year of school by which point I would not be able to switch into a normal 4-year BSN program. 

The school I currently go to grants you a certificate in nursing (not ABSN, notably) after 12 months to take the NCLEX. Next two years go straight into MSN, after which we are able to take boards for APRN license. 

I felt pretty good about this plan before starting the program. I originally wanted to be a psychologist but realized I wanted to do more with the medical side of thing, thus PMHNP. I understood and still understand that direct-entry programs like mine can be a red flag because you can become an APRN with admittedly very little RN experience, even if you work during the MSN years post-NCLEX. 

My issue right now is that I'm questioning whether I want to leave the program after the NCLEX and work as a bedside nurse. I currently am completing clinical rotations and I've really enjoyed the bedside nursing role in a way that I didn't expect. I also am seriously questioning whether psych patients are the population I want to work with, as I've been enjoying others as well. Basically, I don't know what I want and I'm questioning whether it would be a good idea to leave the program, work as an RN, figure out what I want, and come back. This would save me potentially tens of thousands of dollars getting a PMHNP license that I might not want or use. I'm being told that I should do it anyways and then go back and get FNP, but that seems like a lot of money I do not have. 

Has anyone else been in this situation and made a decision? The people in my life who haven't worked as nurses are telling me to stick to the program because of better pay as an NP and the difficulty of coming back to school later in my twenties/early thirties. Which makes sense. I mostly just don't want to make a choice that may lock me in when I feel like there's room for me to still explore. 

[FiremedicMike, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Not exactly that situation, but I'll offer this.

I started RN school in 2020 to set myself up to retire from the fire department and become an NP.  At that time, I was adamant that I wouldn't work as a nurse and was only going through the motions to go to NP school.

I graduated last year and have been working as an RN in the ED for the last 8 months and I have very little desire to go to NP school.  For me, being an RN affords me to be more cerebral than a paramedic (for now, enough to satiate my desires to 'think at the next level’) but also offers a significantly better work life balance than NPs.

[jay785]

@FiremedicMike That's great input, thank you! I've heard a bit from current NPs about not having been prepared for the amount of responsibility/lack of balance 

[sleepwalker, MSN, NP]

something to think about...most employers only hire ADN or BSN degree RN's. You don't sound like you have a degree other than your BS in psychology. That might be a big problem...a lot of the direct entry programs don't confer a degree until you've completed the program. In other words, you can't leave half way through a MSN program and expect them to issue an ADN or BSN degree...doesn't work that way. 

[SKay226]

Any updates? Did you quit?  I'm planning on applying to a program (curious if it is the same) that works this way.  No degrees until the DNP and only a certificate of completion.  It makes me second guess it...

[carolinepsych]

If you don't have an ADN or BSN, how will you be hired to be an RN? if you complete your MSN couldn't you technically go into the RN role from that point?