ER NP

renzlao, MSN, APRN · Feb 21, 2018

There are schools offering NP with ER as specialization. There are also dual majors. Others will do FNP then take courses for ENP. I'm doing the FNP to ENP route.

SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP · Feb 21, 2018

It also depends on the state you live in and the hiring practices of the ER. Some want FNP with prior ER/ICU experience, some want dual ACNP/FNP. You have to determine your state's scope of practice. Is it a state where you can do anything as long as it's delegated or supervised? Is it a full practice authority state where you have to be trained specifically for that specialty?

allnurses Guide · Feb 21, 2018

You may want to start here American Academy of Emergency Nurse Practitioners - Home Page and do some research.

Dodongo, APRN, NP · Feb 21, 2018

Here are your options:

Option 1 - CE and Practice. A minimum of 2,000 direct, emergency care practice hours in the past five (5) years as a FNP and evidence of 100 hours of continuing emergency care education with a minimum of 30 of those hours in emergency care procedural skills within those 5 years; or

Option 2 - Academic Program. Completion of an academic emergency care graduate or post-graduate NP program (FNP + ACNP); or

Option 3 - Fellowship. Completion of an approved emergency fellowship program.

Option 2 and 3 require formal training in emergency medicine. Option 1 is essentially, get a job you are not trained to do and try not to mess up or look stupid.

NPs need to value formalized education and training more. If you were a patient in the ER which type of NP would you want caring for you of the 3 options above? If you are a RN working in the ER, which type of NP will you trust more and go to with questions? Which NP do you think a physician prefers to work with? The "option 1" NPs are the ones that make physicians not trust the care we provide. Those are the NPs that give physicians anecdotes and fodder for the "anti-NP" mill.

Do yourself and those around you a favor and seek formalized education for the specialty in which you want to practice.

allnurses Guide · Feb 22, 2018

If you were a patient in the ER which type of NP would you want caring for you of the 3 options above? If you are a RN working in the ER, which type of NP will you trust more and go to with questions? Which NP do you think a physician prefers to work with? The "option 1" NPs are the ones that make physicians not trust the care we provide. Those are the NPs that give physicians anecdotes and fodder for the "anti-NP" mill.

I would be willing to wager that most people (physicians, or nurses, or lay folk) would prefer the FNP with 5-years and 2,000+ clinical hours of emergency experience over any type of new grad. You would prefer the novice?

Where are you getting your opinion from that FNPs working in EDs are "the ones" that make physicians not trust NP care? These NPs are responsible for nearly all of the extant data on outcomes that have allowed NPs to be utilized in EDs in the first place.

Do yourself and those around you a favor and seek formalized education for the specialty in which you want to practice.

I don't disagree here. If a prospective NP is seeking ENP board certification than a dedicated ENP program is the best/quickest avenue for that, sadly there are only four programs that offer that path, the remainder only offer a post-masters from either an FNP or a ACNP. Fellowships are down to only 2 or 3 approved fellowships nationwide so that is also quite limited. A prospective student may do better long-term to go for a FNP or ACNP and then work while doing a post-masters in the other part time.

Dodongo, APRN, NP · Feb 22, 2018

I would be willing to wager that most people (physicians, or nurses, or lay folk) would prefer the FNP with 5-years and 2,000+ clinical hours of emergency experience over any type of new grad. You would prefer the novice?
Where are you getting your opinion from that FNPs working in EDs are "the ones" that make physicians not trust NP care? These NPs are responsible for nearly all of the extant data on outcomes that have allowed NPs to be utilized in EDs in the first place.
I don't disagree here. If a prospective NP is seeking ENP board certification than a dedicated ENP program is the best/quickest avenue for that, sadly there are only four programs that offer that path, the remainder only offer a post-masters from either an FNP or a ACNP. Fellowships are down to only 2 or 3 approved fellowships nationwide so that is also quite limited. A prospective student may do better long-term to go for a FNP or ACNP and then work while doing a post-masters in the other part time.

Perhaps I should have been more clear that I was referring to NPs with the same years of experience. I would be willing to wager, also, that a new grad NP with formal ER training would be fairly on par with an FNP that has a couple years of experience with only OTJ training in EM. Formal education and supervised training is irreplaceable.

And to your second point, I suppose I need to, again, be more clear, but I am referring to any NP working in an area they received essentially no training in.