Starting from zero, want to do ACPNP

Editorial Team / Admin · Jun 4, 2018

Welcome to allnurses.com

We moved your thread to the Student NP forum for the best response.

Good luck with your APRN career plans.

SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP · Jun 4, 2018

Hi everyone! New to the forum.
I am beginning a total career change into nursing. I have a bachelors and masters in unrelated fields.
Right now my plan is to get an accelerated BSN, then apply to ACPNP programs for my MSN, but it also looks like many MSN programs require work experience before you can even apply. I'd love to hear from other folks who have made a career switch on the right way to do prerequisite coursework, gain work experience, and finish the right degrees in the right order. I want to get it all done as quickly as possible so I have as many years to work as I can! Hoping to eventually do perinatal and pediatric hospice and palliative care.
Feel free to redirect me to other relevant threads...
Thanks!

If you want to go into peds, you're going to have to do time in the field to get peds experience. I don't know of any direct entry peds programs that are reputable.

Since you have a masters degree in a non-related field, you could do an ADN-RN program (2 years, instead of 4) to get your RN quicker. Then work as an RN to get experience then do a program for RNs with BS/MS in another field. Or work as an RN and complete the BSN while you're getting RN experience. It's very difficult to get in to the peds world as a new nurse. (At least in my neck of the woods). The nurses I know in peds had to work for a few years in the adult world to get experience before they could transfer in to peds.

I went back to school later in life with the sole purpose of becoming an NP. I knew I would need valuable experience in critical care to pursue the field I wanted to be in. So, I got the RN via an ADN program so I could start working as a nurse quicker. While working as an RN, I finished the BSN (employer paid for it, too!). Then applied for an NP program. I'm starting my program in the fall and will have a little over 3 years experience as an RN (2 years in critical care) by the time I start. I was 42 when I started my ADN program. I will be 51 when I finish my NP (took some time off between ADN & BSN, and between BSN & starting NP). When I first started, all I wanted was to find the quickest way to get it all done. Having gone this route, I see the benefit of not being in a rush. Getting experience is incredibly valuable. You learn to spot the signs when patient is going to crump on you before it becomes an emergency. You learn how tweaking vent settings makes positive changes. You learn to spot trends in labs/vitals/assessments in your patient. You learn the subtle nuances between what the textbook says and what actually happens in the real world. You can't put a price tag on that type of experience. And if you're going into the peds world, that hands-on experience becomes all the more important. It's not a race to the finish line. Does it suck having to take your time? Yes, I would love to be done already. However, having a solid clinical foundation to build on your knowledge and skills is something you can't learn from a book. Yes, I agree with you that you want to maximize your time. I would much rather get the hands-on experience than take the quick route to degree completion. Your peds patients and their parents are depending upon you to keep them safe.

csawilkens · Jun 5, 2018

Thanks, SopranoKris. That is some sage advice.

The ADN program at our community college will take almost as long (four semesters) as the accelerated BSN programs I'm looking at, for nearly the same price because we pay out of district tuition. So straight to BSN will make sense for me. But I'm hearing from many sources, including you, that taking a break to work after the BSN is critical.

I tend to overestimate my "practical" knowledge because I'm raising a couple special needs kids and have spent more than my fair share of time in hospitals and tracking vitals. But I appreciate your sanity check here, that in order to care well for these kids (especially someone else's!), it's way better to have as much direct experience to rely on as possible, not just book learnin'.

Just super eager to get started and I feel like I have to jump through a million hoops to even get to the starting line, let alone the finish. Glad to hear it is possible to start at 42, because that's about what I'll be by the time I have the prereqs to apply to BSN programs!

wyosamRN · Jun 6, 2018

Thanks, SopranoKris. That is some sage advice.
The ADN program at our community college will take almost as long (four semesters) as the accelerated BSN programs I'm looking at, for nearly the same price because we pay out of district tuition. So straight to BSN will make sense for me. But I'm hearing from many sources, including you, that taking a break to work after the BSN is critical.
I tend to overestimate my "practical" knowledge because I'm raising a couple special needs kids and have spent more than my fair share of time in hospitals and tracking vitals. But I appreciate your sanity check here, that in order to care well for these kids (especially someone else's!), it's way better to have as much direct experience to rely on as possible, not just book learnin'.
Just super eager to get started and I feel like I have to jump through a million hoops to even get to the starting line, let alone the finish. Glad to hear it is possible to start at 42, because that's about what I'll be by the time I have the prereqs to apply to BSN programs!

Time to work is key, and assuming peds is similar to adult acute care, most programs want relevant experience anyway. Lots of "direct entry" Primary care roles, but thankfully the acute care programs are avoiding that. Best of luck with your goals, peds hospice sounds like incredibly hard, incredibly rewarding work.