too soon to be an NP?

Nursing Students NP Students

Published

Im a senior nursing student now getting ready to graduate in May 2020. My plan is to take the NCLEX in June and start working in July. The school I'm at currently is switching from masters to DNP for their NP programs. The director came and spoke to our class saying that they're opening up applications to students to start the BSN-DNP program in August 2020 as long as we are board certified before then. Is this too soon to go back to school? I plan to still work throughout it as much as school will allow me, so I'll be getting nursing experience as I go. I've heard so many mixed things about years of experience you 'should' have prior to starting. Any advice?

Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).
4 hours ago, adammRN said:

Missed the point. The skills are still valuable, regardless of where you work. Sure, you can do a BSN-DNP without exp, no one will stop you. The school will still take your money?

The evidence is that RN experience does not matter for a primary care NP.

However, RN experience is obviously essential for an acute care NP, and no reputable acute NP program will accept applications w/o RN experience.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
8 hours ago, adammRN said:

Missed the point. The skills are still valuable, regardless of where you work. Sure, you can do a BSN-DNP without exp, no one will stop you. The school will still take your money?

No sir, you miss the point. Many public schools have BSN-DNP. Your RN does not supercede the many educators who develop these programs in major schools. You are welcome to your opinion of course. Programs that exist and cater to this for years means that they are 1. established 2. successful 3. work fine regardless what you may think. I am just pointing out that there are 1. BSN to FNP and 2. experienced RN to FNP. If someone wants to go this route, they should listen to people who successfully went through these programs not some random guy with an opinion regardless how many years of experience you have as a RN.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
11 hours ago, adammRN said:

Missed the point. The skills are still valuable, regardless of where you work. Sure, you can do a BSN-DNP without exp, no one will stop you. The school will still take your money?

Of course the school will take your money.

I know this has been discussed in different threads but regarding the OP's (or anyone's) skills as an NP, it all depends on what sort of a setting they want to end up.

Yes, any sort of nursing experience is valuable, but I know NPs who did not work as RNs and are good NPs.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in psych/medical-surgical.

Ahhkh the catty nurses come out with their claws!

On 12/16/2019 at 12:19 AM, FullGlass said:

The evidence is that RN experience does not matter for a primary care NP.

Link me this "evidence"?

On 12/16/2019 at 5:12 AM, runnyeggs said:

If someone wants to go this route, they should listen to people who successfully went through these programs not some random guy with an opinion regardless how many years of experience you have as a RN.

I think you need to go onto youtube and watch a vsauce video on "random." You are guilty of assigning something as random when it is truly not. (Hint; I have been both an RN and am working as an NP.) But what is truly laughable - you come here to point out my opinion, say I'm welcomed to it and then state this person shouldn't listen to me. Clearly you don't understand how opinions work!

On 12/16/2019 at 7:29 AM, db2xs said:

it all depends on what sort of a setting they want to end up. Yes, any sort of nursing experience is valuable, but I know NPs who did not work as RNs and are good NPs.

Please tell me where you were 5 years ago, and then were you are now. Is it the exact place and are you happy? From talks with many people and my experience, I don't think this is how life works. What experience happened inbetween?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
14 hours ago, adammRN said:

Please tell me where you were 5 years ago, and then were you are now. Is it the exact place and are you happy? From talks with many people and my experience, I don't think this is how life works. What experience happened inbetween?

I'm unsure how this comment is related to what I said about NPs who haven't worked as RNs.

And regarding where I was five years ago, I was working in an insanely crazy inpatient unit that was stressful, traumatic, and filled with nonsense threats from administration. Now I work as a hospice/palliative care NP and it is not insanely crazy, it is stressful in a different way, not traumatic, and I don't receive threats from administration in as much as I receive eye-rolling requests. Since I've always wanted to work in hospice/palliative care, yes, I am in the exact place that I wanted to be professionally.

Obviously life is not Point A to Point B straight line trajectory w/o some twists and turns. Many people I've talked to have shared that they wished they did Y instead of X, myself as well. But without having ESP or a crystal ball, we can do the best that we can do and make changes when the "shoe no longer fits," so to speak.

The OP said they are going to work while they are in school. Let them take their own path in life and figure it out. I would say if they wanted to go into a specialty like psych without any experience, I would suggest they go and get psych nursing experience first because psych is pretty unique. But they want to be an FNP and work in peds. They could easily get a peds RN job while in school.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).
On 12/21/2019 at 6:49 PM, adammRN said:

Link me this "evidence"?

This topic has been discussed at length on Allnurses, with links to studies on the topic. I suggest you find these discussions on AN. Frankly, if you make an assertion, you bear the burden of finding evidence to prove your point. It is not my responsibility to disprove your assertions and that is all they are - assertions.

I went straight through from my ABSN to MSN NP. Had no trouble finding a job and was given excellent performance reviews by my CMO. My first job was in a very small rural town, where everyone knows everyone, and I rapidly developed a reputation as a good provider and had no trouble attracting and retaining patients. In primary care, there is little to no advantage to having worked as an RN, especially med-surg. We don't hang IVs, don't have typical hospital equipment, don't pass meds, don't monitor patients 24/7, etc. An RN that worked in a primary care environment such as a school nurse, would definitely get some relevant experience, or a psych RN who becomes a PMHNP would also gain relevant experience. The ONLY area that I was weak on was wound care and being an RN that got that experience would have been helpful, but that would have helped in about 1 to 2% of my patients - not enough to require being an RN.

On the other hand, someone who wants to be an acute care NP definitely should have some RN experience and pretty much every acute care NP program requires RN experience in an acute care environment.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in BSN, RN-BC, NREMT, EMT-P, TCRN.
On 10/23/2019 at 2:54 PM, mads197 said:

Im a senior nursing student now getting ready to graduate in May 2020. My plan is to take the NCLEX in June and start working in July. The school I'm at currently is switching from masters to DNP for their NP programs. The director came and spoke to our class saying that they're opening up applications to students to start the BSN-DNP program in August 2020 as long as we are board certified before then. Is this too soon to go back to school? I plan to still work throughout it as much as school will allow me, so I'll be getting nursing experience as I go. I've heard so many mixed things about years of experience you 'should' have prior to starting. Any advice?

Board Certified as what?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.
13 hours ago, tacticool said:

Board Certified as what?

I think they mean passed the NCLEX

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment