This is a question that has been nagging me for quite some time.
Why is it so horrible for us to plan out our route? I want to become a NNP and as stated in a previous thread, infants are the only reason I chose nursing instead of completing a tech degree. From what I have seen on this board and a couple of others say, nursing students shouldn't choose their route before clinicals. But many pre-med programs allow students to choose their route beforehand. I even have a close friend who is a pre-med major and they are writing research papers about their route.
this makes no sense. nobody knows exactly what specialty they can get into in medicine until you actually MATCH. I mean I could say i want to do dermatology in med school but that doesnt mean Ill get it. Have to have good grades, do good on boards, and clerkships then you can reasonably estimate if you can get a certain specialty.
the simple answer is $. Med school is expensive, and they are willing to invest in their students. Nursing schools (most) aren't that expensive. You get your 2 or 4 years and our clinicals are nothing like med school rotations, where only 1-2 med students are paired with a faculty member and they are given a lot more exposure than we as nursing students could ever even try on our best day during clinical. They're two completely different paths with different ways of doing things. And that is why someone graduating med school is probably more certain about which field they'd be in than someone graduating from nursing school. Also, the outlook for NP's in the next 10 years isn't looking too hot. Hospitals are now leaning towards PA's to help cover MD's, cause the PA's follow the medical model of care, not the nursing model. These are things to consider.
NP education may have classes which can be eliminated, but when in practice they follow the medical model. Also Acute Care NPs are trained in the hospital for hospital employment, so NPs are not in danger. There are NPs who work in private practice and are required to see patients in the hospital. Nursing students should be encouraged to follow their passions and if it doesn't work out, be flexible enough to choose an alternative.
NP education may have classes which can be eliminated, but when in practice they follow the medical model. Also Acute Care NPs are trained in the hospital for hospital employment, so NPs are not in danger. There are NPs who work in private practice and are required to see patients in the hospital. Nursing students should be encouraged to follow their passions and if it doesn't work out, be flexible enough to choose an alternative.
I don't know the answer to your question, except that Nursing has a long history of expecting nurses to be well-rounded and do Med-Surg first.
And it is a good idea to have a back-up plan. Learn everything you can in every area of Nursing to which you are exposed. It can all come in very handy some day.
And whatever you do, do not let other students or instructors or anyone know of your desire to be a NNP because some people are vicious and jealous and just live to rain on your parade.
So keep your heart's desire to yourself unless you super trust whoever you're dealing with - like your closest family or friend. Just be a student and learn all you can. It will all help you reach your ultimate goal.
Plan now for some bland, run of the mill response when you interview or tell why you want to be a nurse. Don't shout from the housetops about NNP.
But I definitely wish you well on whatever path your journey takes you.
This was a very thoughtful 2016 response. My thoughts exactly. I always try to encourage students and new nurses to pursue their dreams and try to expose them to as much as I can, whenever I can. I'm jealous that I did not have ambition or strong goals until I was much older, but I do what I can to push the younger generation towards their own.
There's quite a bit of inaccurate information in this thread; I'll do my best to address some of it. Before I do that- OP, there's nothing wrong in wanting what you want and knowing it. May not be judicious in telling everyone in the world that- there are lots of people who will not be supportive and may bring you down. I especially wouldn't talk about it as a new grad working in the NICU to your colleagues.
I knew I wanted to do NICU the moment someone told me that taking care of sick babies was a "thing." Had never stepped foot in a NICU before. Knew I wanted to do NNP shortly before I graduated from nursing school. Never took care of an adult as a RN and don't have any intentions (well...maybe midwifery if I get crazy enough one of these days).
Many hospitals (most?) do not hire PAs into the NICU
2. Many NICUs are full of "infants" that are a few months old and my license is from ages 0-2, so if you want to take care of older infants, I would suggest working at a children's hospital where many NICUs keep them for an extended period of time (my oldest was 14 months old!!)
3. Academic hospitals hire new grads all.the.time. I've had experience with 3 different children's hospitals and they've all told me that they prefer new grads to experienced RNs (in other specialties, obviously an experienced NICU RN is most preferential) because they transition easier and don't have bad habits to break from the adult world. Like the fact that we are coding when the heart rate is
4. You absolutely don't need to do any other kind of nursing job in order to be a successful NNP. I've been told that I needed a year of med-surg first by other nurses and some old professors. Nope.
Best of luck OP. People are right; you could change your mind (I thought I wanted to do trauma and ICU as a nursing student) but maybe not. Have fun in school!
There's quite a bit of inaccurate information in this thread; I'll do my best to address some of it. Before I do that- OP, there's nothing wrong in wanting what you want and knowing it. May not be judicious in telling everyone in the world that- there are lots of people who will not be supportive and may bring you down. I especially wouldn't talk about it as a new grad working in the NICU to your colleagues.
I knew I wanted to do NICU the moment someone told me that taking care of sick babies was a "thing." Had never stepped foot in a NICU before. Knew I wanted to do NNP shortly before I graduated from nursing school. Never took care of an adult as a RN and don't have any intentions (well...maybe midwifery if I get crazy enough one of these days).
Many hospitals (most?) do not hire PAs into the NICU
2. Many NICUs are full of "infants" that are a few months old and my license is from ages 0-2, so if you want to take care of older infants, I would suggest working at a children's hospital where many NICUs keep them for an extended period of time (my oldest was 14 months old!!)
3. Academic hospitals hire new grads all.the.time. I've had experience with 3 different children's hospitals and they've all told me that they prefer new grads to experienced RNs (in other specialties, obviously an experienced NICU RN is most preferential) because they transition easier and don't have bad habits to break from the adult world. Like the fact that we are coding when the heart rate is
4. You absolutely don't need to do any other kind of nursing job in order to be a successful NNP. I've been told that I needed a year of med-surg first by other nurses and some old professors. Nope.
Best of luck OP. People are right; you could change your mind (I thought I wanted to do trauma and ICU as a nursing student) but maybe not. Have fun in school!
. A better message students is: "keep an open mind and be willing to switch tracks.
I agree. My experience has shown me what track I did and did not want and recall ... After having clinical that I wanted labor and delivery. ....
Cut to the real world.... I couldn't get work without experience so I took work in geriatric to get my feet wet. Quickly found out it wasn't for me.... So I chose a flexible schedule in a group home with disabilities. I was there 7 years. As I reached the top of what my degree afforded me( site supervisor and facility rotating on call supervisor) ...I felt I wanted to test what I wanted.... So I chose med surg ...ortho/neuro. I was there a year and wanted to go back to the disabled. ... I didn't want the stress of supervisor ...so I chose private duty in home care. Been here ten years.....
Its not with out challenges....what isn't honestly? Lol
My point being.....sorry if the map was to long..... I thought I knew what I wanted (assisted in 5 births) after working in clinical and the field...
Keep an open mind. ... May your passion drive you....and may you never loose compassion!
I feel that before you decide what specialty you would like to work in see what your clinical rotations are like. You may want to work with babies now, but what if you get to the mother baby/L&D/NICU rotation and do nto like it? Then it is always good to have a back up plan. I originally wanted to be a teacher. I got some exposure to what it was like to be a teacher in a class I took in high school. I learned I did not want to do that. I decided to become a nurse. I really wanted to be a pediatric nurse at first. I hated my mother baby and L&D rotation, and did not like the pediatric rotation. I found I liked the ICU.
Just go into all of your clinicals with a open mind. You may find that NICU is not what you want after all.
3. Academic hospitals hire new grads all.the.time. I've had experience with 3 different children's hospitals and they've all told me that they prefer new grads to experienced RNs (in other specialties, obviously an experienced NICU RN is most preferential) because they transition easier and don't have bad habits to break from the adult world. Like the fact that we are coding when the heart rate is
Excellent, relevant information but worth noting I have been told teaching hospitals also like hiring the fresh faced new grads over seasoned providers because they can pay them low wages and they tend to willingly drink the academia kool aid at least for a while. Definitely an attainable means to an end but it doesn't hurt to know all sides of the story.
Excellent, relevant information but worth noting I have been told teaching hospitals also like hiring the fresh faced new grads over seasoned providers because they can pay them low wages and they tend to willingly drink the academia kool aid at least for a while. Definitely an attainable means to an end but it doesn't hurt to know all sides of the story.
That may be the case and a factor into it, but TBH, Jules, so many of these units are so short-staffed (all 3 were chronically short staffed) and want as many "good" nurses as they can get, I don't think salary is as big a thing there. And they aren't short because it wasn't a good place to work for nurses. On the flip end, community NICUs are notorious for having no open positions (and when I did per diem at a couple the told me that they preferred experienced in other specialties RNs and said that they did better than new grads ironically).
I suspect that the reason why (but pure speculation) is because it's much harder to work in a children's hospital mentally since the kids are so much sicker all the time and deal with much more death & dying, ethical issues up the wazoo, and older infants that they would rather not take care of. I know that when I do community NICU, it feels like sunshine and rainbows, lol. Sure there are some sick children, but nothing like a children's hospital.
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
It looks interesting -- I put it on my list of books to read next.