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Anyone out there apply for the dual FNP/ACNP Fall 2018 semester?
After the recent changes made at my current school, I have decided to transfer. I don't like the direction my school is headed and they've made some changes that have drastically changed the program.
Even though I can only transfer 9 credits and it's going to set me back on graduation time, I have decided to transfer to USA. I really wanted dual certification so I can work in the ER when I'm done with school. This program will give me over 1,000 clinical hours and I feel comfortable that I'll be properly educated/trained by the time I graduate.
I'm applying for the MSN program, but is anyone doing either the MSN or DNP dual program? We're all on the same trajectory for our courses, except the DNPs go on to finish the extra courses after we're done with the MSN portion.
I would love to connect with some fellow future students. :) We had a great FB group for my former school, so I'd love to start a FB group for those of us beginning in the Fall once we know we're in.
I definitely know I want to complete the family nurse practitioner part of the program. I believe that outpatient clinic and urgent care is a speciality that has long term need, job stability, security as well as gives me the opportunity to work the underserved populations.
As for the ACAGNP part of the program, I am hesitant because I have not worked with acute care nurse practitioners all that much. Through my ICU/CCU RN career, I have seen acute care NP's round the hospital as diabetic specialists. In this capacity, they would manage and follow up on the DKA/HHS patient's or insulin sliding scales. The hospitalist's deferred the diabetes "stuff" to these np's. From what they told me, they said they would work outpatient clinic and round on their hospital patients. (They recommended getting one's FNP certification then going back for a post-grad ACAGNP certification.)
I also would see an acute care NP, round with the cardio-thoracic, CABG team patients. She basically did the open or closed part of the venous graft harvesting. She would also do daily rounds on the CABG patient, learn about i's and o's, and night shift problems, occasionally take call on those night shift patient's.
I suppose that my reluctance stems from me not wanting to be part of a surgical team. I do not want her job, she was always stressed out and looking to have all the information and details so she wasn't getting grilled from the surgeons. The diabetes nurse's seemed happy, all of those patient's are straight forward and the np is a consultant.
What other roles are out there for the ACAGNP? Based on where I have worked I haven't seen many in emergency services. Surely, they are capable of working there alongside ED physicians. How is their career/speciality satisfaction? Should I transition from ICU to ED per diem and gain more exposure down their?
Do ACAGNP also work alongside the hospitalist/internist team?
Even if I did get the dual FNP/ACAGNP, would I have to do a critical care residency or a pulmonary/intensivist certification so that I could work in pulmonary care or round on ICU patient's?
Either way I will continue with this DUAL speciality program and I am so excited for the journey!
OK, today was the first day to do the CastleBranch stuff. Holy cow, they want a lot of documentation! I'm going to have to spend quite a bit of time scanning everything they want and uploading it in their system. It was $160.75 and that's not counting paying separate for the OSHA/HIPAA modules. I had to do those for nursing school back in 2013, but I never kept a copy of the certificates. We simply handed them over to the admissions office at school. Now I'm going to have to pay to do these modules, ugh! (Don't know the price yet)
I was going to submit the official online acceptance packet with USA, but I read Section 1 that you can't submit it until you've supplied a Drug Screen sample. So, I'll have to wait until I get the e-mail on my location for it. Also, my ACLS expires in June. I'm taking the recertification course in May. I guess I'll just have to upload what I have now and re-submit when I have my new certificate.
We're going to be busy getting all this documentation submitted!
Has anyone gotten their physical acceptance letter yet, or has everybody just gotten the e-mails so far?
I received a letter on Wednesday. The letter states "you were selected by the committee for Dual Role Nurse Practitioner Specialty option for Fall 2018". I think you have to submit the electronic form on the acceptance web page where you sign your name to each section (e.g. consent to background check, drug test, academic integrity, social media policy, etc.). Once you submit the electronic form, you should get an actual letter. The e-mail only states "prospective Fall 2018 MSN Dual Role (ACNP/FNP) student".
Hope this helps :)
Shay FNP 2020
14 Posts
Thanks albyrn805! My name is Shay and my email is [email protected]. My concentration is the dual role FNP/AGACNP. I think that we should start a Facebook page if anyone is up to it.