BScN straight to NP

World Canada

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Hi everyone, I am currently in nursing school, hoping to ultimately practice in Canada. Since this is already my second degree, I am looking into whether it would be possible to go straight from BScN to NP without the 2 years of work experience? If anyone has any experience or suggestions please post or PM me :) I would appreciate any guidance!

Additional: Are you required to get a referral from a nursing manager to apply to the program, or can you apply without one?

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

My experience in Canada is RN work experience is required to get on a NP course

Plus, what is the difference between just Masters of Nursing vs. PHCNP?

All NP schools in Canada require a minimum equivalent of 2 years clinical practice and could be more depending on the school.

Having nursing be your second degree doesn't matter, you still need to meet the practice requirements as set by the school. Now I will say that almost all the schools say "an equivalent" to 2 years. That's usually 3900-4000 hours. So technically you don't need to take 2 calendar years do meet the requirements. If you work 2 jobs and/or a lot overtime you can meet those hours in ~16 months. I know people who have done this.

For references most schools require a combo of academic and clinical references and won't accept a reference from a co-worker (staff nurse) as a reference so it would be difficult to not use your manager (or whoever does your clinical performance evaluations) and honestly may be seen as a red flag if you don't.

The difference between a MN and a NP is that a MN is more for people who want to do nursing leadership, clinical nurse specialist or academic nursing. You usually don't "need" any clinical experience to apply to these and they are often 1 year in length. NP programs are NP programs and prepare you be an NP/write NP exams in a clinical based program. They are 2 years in length and do require clinical experience prior to admission. Some schools have a "post masters" NP program where if you have an MN already you can skip some courses in the NP program if you want to take that later. I think these are being phased out though.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Why would you even want to skip directly to an NP program with NO nursing experience? How much professional experience/judgement will you have? Work for a few years first.

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