Wants to Quit NP Job and Work as RN Without RN Experience

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Wants to Quit NP Job and Work as RN Without RN Experience

Dear Nurse Beth,

I've been an primary care pediatric nurse practitioner for the past 7 years but want to get back into bedside nursing. I have no hospital experience as an RN (I was a direct entry NP). Can I apply to new grad programs? How do I present myself on my resume - do I just leave the NP part off? Or need to keep it on? 

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12 Answers

Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

Dear No Hospital Experience,

When going from NP to RN, you are basically changing careers, albeit with educational overlap. 

The benefit of a nurse residency program is to help recently graduated nurses transition into practice. As far as qualifying for new grad programs, every hospital determines its own eligibility criteria. While program requirements vary, it's common to be considered a "new grad" up to one year after graduation. After that, "new grad" status does not typically apply. 

Nurse residency programs can be competitive. Some hospitals only accept new grads with no acute care experience, some accept new grads with less than 6 months experience, some will even accept foreign nurses with experience in their home country but no U.S. nursing experience. It really varies by institution. It would be great if a hospital saw you as a new grad, but it's not likely at 7 years out. Still, would it hurt to apply? No.

As far as your NP background, do not withhold it from your resume. It constitutes 7 years of your professional work history.  It's not advisable to misconstrue information on a job application and can result in being terminated if you are found out. Having said that, some hiring nurse managers will see your pediatric NP background as a value, while others may not, seeing the NP role and nursing as very different. Still others will recognize that you have transferable skills while lacking nursing experience.

You definitely bring diagnostic skills to the job, but time management skills and juggling several patients at once safely have to be learned. You will be up to speed in knowledge of medications, analytical and communication skills, while being more of a beginner in time management and working closely with other members of the healthcare team. Have you thought about working PICU as a potentially good fit?

To make the switch, apply widely to jobs saying experience preferred (not required). Activate your network. Contact old school classmates who are working in acute care and let them know you are looking for a job. 

Consider a nursing refresher course since it's been 7 years. An indirect benefit to taking a refresher course is that you also make connections that lead to a job.

Persevere and apply widely. When you land an interview, be prepared to let them know what you bring to the table as a former NP.

Best wishes,

Nurse Beth

Just out of curiosity, is it what a NP does that you don't like? Where you work? Or are you tired of pediatrics?  Maybe just trying to get a foot in the door of another specialty or general FNP role, or another place of employment might be a good change?  I know it might be challenging to go from Peds to something else, but with 7 years experience a clinic or hospital might be willing to work with you if you're looking to change ?

This question really piqued my interest since most people go from bedside to NP; not the other way around usually.

Specializes in Surgery/Urgent Care/Research.

Hello, 

Are there any urgent care clinics in your area? I went into Urgent Care as a new grad APRN- FNP with 7 years of OR nursing experience prior to that. 

Urgent care centers commonly offer 10 or 12-hour shifts, and competitive hourly pay and overtime opportunities. Some have bonus metrics based on RVUs. And would give you some experience that could make you more marketable. 

Hi, original poster here! Thank you Nurse Beth for answering this one so quickly. I've changed jobs about 3 times in the 7 years I've worked - done FQHC/community health care, school-based health center, and now work for a larger organization (ala Dignity/Kaiser/Sutter, etc). I love pediatrics, but I think primary care isn't my jam. I am mostly bored but if I do get more complex cases I then don't have time to address it - just the overall politics and nuances of primary care. 

I have thought about other specialties as an NP- particularly trying to get into an inpatient role or hybrid inpatient/outpatient role. The challenge with most of the acute care NP roles I've seen is that they require some form of acute care experience as an RN-- which I never had. This is partially what is motivating me to go back to bedside to get that acute care experience. Even though I know the roles and scope of practice of bedside and NP are different, I feel like I get passed on because I have no hospital RN experience. 

I also really enjoyed the task-oriented nature as an RN. I like to be on my feet, doing things, and moving. I also like the team work and support of fellow nurses. The community feels so much bigger. I feel alone as an NP, usually being the only (or 1 of 2) NP's working in my clinics. This might be more location based, since NP's shockingly aren't as common where I am (northern CA). I also enjoy the fact that once she clocks off, she doesn't worry anymore. As an NP I feel like I'm always bringing charts, telephone calls, etc home. Lastly, I really like the idea of working 3 12's and then having some time off. My sister is an RN and while she absolutely works her butt off a lot, she also seems to have much more flexibility and time off than me just because of how her schedule is. Working holidays isn't a big deal for me in the near future. 

amalay said:

Hi, original poster here! Thank you Nurse Beth for answering this one so  

Thank you for responding. Your reasons for wanting to go the RN-route are totally understandable. The majority of those inpatient NP jobs definitely require acute experience or a few years bedside. I totally agree about the schedules as well; those three 12s or four 10s are definitely hard to beat. There is so much more freedom when you only have to work three or four days and get paid full-time. It's too bad more FNP positions didn't do that type of schedule. I'm sure somewhere out there in the universe, there are schedules like this for FNPs, but I guess it all depends on where you live and what you're doing (primary care, specialty,  etc.)

I wish you much luck and much success in your search!

I would probably connect with Amanda Guarniere from the “Nurse Becoming” podcast. She is also the owner of TheResumeRX and The NP Society forum. I took some of her courses and listen to her podcast sometimes and find her very helpful!

She helps RNs and NPs craft their resumes and careers so they can stop the hamster wheel of black hole job applications and learn how to network and write compelling resumes and cover letters that get noticed. I sound like a commercial but I’ve got not connection other than liking her content LOL. 

I feel like going back to bedside RN is a decision you might only be making because you think a more acute or better NP job for you isn’t out there right now. But, I would disagree. I think it’s there, you just have to learn how to find it and market yourself to it with the skills and experience you already have ?

11 hours ago, K. Everly said:

I would probably connect with Amanda Guarniere from the “Nurse Becoming” podcast. She is also the owner of TheResumeRX and The NP Society forum. I took some of her courses and listen to her podcast sometimes and find her very helpful!

She helps RNs and NPs craft their resumes and careers so they can stop the hamster wheel of black hole job applications and learn how to network and write compelling resumes and cover letters that get noticed. I sound like a commercial but I’ve got not connection other than liking her content LOL. 

I feel like going back to bedside RN is a decision you might only be making because you think a more acute or better NP job for you isn’t out there right now. But, I would disagree. I think it’s there, you just have to learn how to find it and market yourself to it with the skills and experience you already have ?

Hi, thanks for sharing this! I know who she is and also follow her content. I’ve done the workshop/course she has to offer and been a part of her subscription/group before but I feel like I just haven’t had much luck in the “real world”. I spoke with two different APC managers at both Children’s Hospitals near me and most roles available are only PICU, which I don’t qualify for because I don’t have any inpatient experience (RN or NP). So far no hybrid inpatient/outpatient roles either. I’m not sure if it’s the area I’m in or if my goal to go inpatient just isn’t realistic?? 

34 minutes ago, amalay said:

Hi, thanks for sharing this! I know who she is and also follow her content. I’ve done the workshop/course she has to offer and been a part of her subscription/group before but I feel like I just haven’t had much luck in the “real world”. I spoke with two different APC managers at both Children’s Hospitals near me and most roles available are only PICU, which I don’t qualify for because I don’t have any inpatient experience (RN or NP). So far no hybrid inpatient/outpatient roles either. I’m not sure if it’s the area I’m in or if my goal to go inpatient just isn’t realistic?? 

I think it may be the area but I could be wrong. Maybe it would come down to your willingness to relocate, but I get that’s a daunting prospect if you could potentially stay where you are and get some time in as an acute care RN at the bedside and then move into acute care NP. I know as a new RN myself, I have so very much to learn and the intelligence of the providers staggers me, but I also feel like my hands are tied sometimes. I can only imagine how much you would feel that way at the bedside coming from a providers role for the last several years. It’s also possible you do acute care for a while and think it’s not what it’s cracked up to be. 

2 hours ago, K. Everly said:

I think it may be the area but I could be wrong. Maybe it would come down to your willingness to relocate, but I get that’s a daunting prospect if you could potentially stay where you are and get some time in as an acute care RN at the bedside and then move into acute care NP. I know as a new RN myself, I have so very much to learn and the intelligence of the providers staggers me, but I also feel like my hands are tied sometimes. I can only imagine how much you would feel that way at the bedside coming from a providers role for the last several years. It’s also possible you do acute care for a while and think it’s not what it’s cracked up to be. 

Yes-agree with everything you said! At this point I’m not as willing to move locations as much as I’m willing to bite the bullet and give bedside a try. I may have an opportunity in the fall to do NICU as an RN, so will see how that goes. If it all falls though and I’ve spent a year trying to break into beside without success, then I’d probably try to look further! 

9 hours ago, LR-DNP-APRN-FNP-C said:

Hello, 

Are there any urgent care clinics in your area? I went into Urgent Care as a new grad APRN- FNP with 7 years of OR nursing experience prior to that. 

Urgent care centers commonly offer 10 or 12-hour shifts, and competitive hourly pay and overtime opportunities. Some have bonus metrics based on RVUs. And would give you some experience that could make you more marketable. 

Hi, yes the group I work with actually has a pediatric urgent care too. I was actually prepping to take some shifts pre-pandemic, since they were short staffed. Post pandemic they hired a bunch of people/new docs though, so it’s all kinda been dropped at the wayside. 

Specializes in oncology.

 

16 hours ago, amalay said:

I work with actually has a pediatric urgent care too. I was actually prepping to take some shifts pre-pandemic, since they were short staffed. Post pandemic they hired a bunch of people/new docs though, so it’s all kinda been dropped at the wayside. 

You said you were a pediatric nurse practitioner. Why didn't they move you there?

londonflo said:

You said you were a pediatric nurse practitioner. Why didn't they move you there?

Difficult to know; it's more politics in my organization. I think once they hired more MDs for their urgent care, they forgot about me. Also when they initially wanted me to help in urgent care, they said I could sign up for shifts BUT that it has to be OUTSIDE of my regular 40h work week. Which was dumb, and I found very little motivation to work more than 40h/week.

I think at the moment, they just don't need any more providers.

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