Thoughts on Accelerated BSN + MSN

[ohwhyshai]

Good morning everyone,

I recently got into the Emory ABSN + MSN program and have a few questions. I am wondering how the nursing community treats new grad NPs who have no prior experience working as a nurse. With this program, I will be getting both my bsn and msn within about 2 years and it will obviously be hard for me to work as a nurse while getting my masters since this is an accelerated program. I wondering if after I graduate I should get a job as a nurse instead of jumping straight into an NP position, despite having my masters already just to gain more experience or if I'll be fine with going straight into an NP position. I am a little nervous of how many facilities will actually hire an NP with no prior nursing experience. If anyone has been through a similar program or has any insight on this, please feel free to comment below. Any information helps.

Side note: Please refrain from saying that I should just get my bachelor's through an accelerated program and not both my bsn and msn because the double program is what is right for me at this current time.

Thanks!

[verene, MSN]

In my own experience (not at Emory) with an ABSN + MSN program I was able to work part-time/per diem as RN during the MSN portion and this was VERY useful to me (even if it did mean insane hours some of the time)- I feel like it helped my education and didactic learning to be working in a relevant environment in addition to clinical experience. This experience has also really helped to develop confidence in my assessment and nursing judgement and allowed for networking - which is how I got ALL of my post-NP-graduation interviews. My current employer does not hire new graduate NPs who do not have relevant prior experience and I am the only new grad NP (of 3) hired in the last year who did not previously work for this organization in RN capacity -- the fact that I worked with 2 of 3 populations this organization serves via community partner agency as an RN was a huge selling point to gaining an interview and in getting hired (and the fact that we charted using the same really weird EHR system didn't hurt my application).

Having some familiarity with the interfacing systems and the unique needs of these populations has definitely made the transition to NP easier, and there is still a steep learning curve!

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

On 1/20/2020 at 11:30 AM, ohwhyshai said:

I wondering if after I graduate I should get a job as a nurse instead of jumping straight into an NP position, despite having my masters already just to gain more experience or if I'll be fine with going straight into an NP position. I am a little nervous of how many facilities will actually hire an NP with no prior nursing experience.

You need to do your due diligence and research the area where you want to work because you may find yourself unemployable. Facilities may not want to hire you as an RN because they know you are an NP and won't stay, and the NP market is saturated in many areas that makes it difficult for experienced NPs to find positions, let alone new NPs without even basic RN experience.

[FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP]

I did an ABSN then went straight into the MSN NP program. Had no trouble at all getting an NP job. Now, you have to decide what kind of NP you want to be. If you are going into primary/outpatient care, not having RN experience is fine. But if you want to be an acute care NP, you must have some RN experience. Good luck.

[verene, MSN]

I agree with the above posters and will add to my previous post - that researching job postings for your areas of interest and the geographic area(s) you want to work in can be a great guide to determining the amount and kinds of experience prospective employers are looking for. If all job postings in your area/specialty want 5+ years relevant nursing experience this is going to make RN experience that ties to your specialty more important than if there are lots of job postings that are "new grads welcome, relevant experience preferred but not necessary".