Year Off Between Undergrad And Accelerated Msn

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Does anyone have any recommendations for what to do if I decide to take a year off between undergrad and pursing an Accelerated MSN Program?

Thanks so much!!!

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PS...what about being a CNA?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, ER, Peds ER-CPEN.

you're doing an accelerated MSN with out ADN first? Didn't know that was possible, best of luck cuz that's gonna be a long course but worth it! NP or NA?

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Specializes in SICU/CVICU.

I actually didn't know that you could do this until yesterday. I always thought that for ALL of the masters programs that you had to have atleast one year of acute care experience as a nurse. When I heard that you could be an advanced practice nurse without actually ever being a nurse, I was completely shocked. To me, it seems that having prior nursing experience would be VERY important to becoming an NP (or other advanced practice)...

From what I have read, it is somewhat looked down upon when people do this. I just feel that other nurses with more experience at the RN level would most likely run circles around someone with an advanced degree with minimal clinical experience.

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I think that if you want to get experience in the nursing environment your best bets are going to be CNA or unit clerk/secretary.

I took my pre-reqs this spring and summer, got into my program for January, and just got a job as a unit clerk. I'd interviewed for CNA, but they took someone who was already certified. Otherwise they would have trained me while paying me.

Both jobs will take someone without experience in a lot of cases, though for CNA a lot will want you to have gotten your certification. Ask around. A lot of these jobs aren't advertised - I went to HR and asked, and looked through their folder of recent openings. I actually got my clerk job because the manager from the first interview liked me and passed my resume on.

In any case, it's a nice way to get a foot in the door. Obviously different work, but it can get you familiar with a hospital. In my case, it's the same place where I just got my clinical assignment, and if I work 20 hours I keep benefits and establish a start date in case I decide to work there full time as a nurse later, as well as get access to internal job postings. If I'm too busy, I can drop to per diem. This has worked out perfectly for me, just wish I'd started a couple months ago. There are interim jobs that will pay more, but if you want to get your feet wet and start networking these can be really good.

As far as the acceleration, is your program straight through? I always phrase it carefully, as people unfamiliar with this type of program are liable to assume that you don't work as an RN at all. For mine, it's one year to RN licensure and then you pretty much have to work at least a full year full time before doing the NP practicum. I'll be working at least part time for several years before I'm done.

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Specializes in SRNA.
I actually didn't know that you could do this until yesterday. I always thought that for ALL of the masters programs that you had to have atleast one year of acute care experience as a nurse. When I heard that you could be an advanced practice nurse without actually ever being a nurse, I was completely shocked. To me, it seems that having prior nursing experience would be VERY important to becoming an NP (or other advanced practice)...

There are many threads on the Advanced Practice Nursing forum that have discussed this (to death) and of course everyone has an opinion. There are various master's entry (AKA: direct-entry) programs that can be focused on turning out entry level nurses with a generalist masters (individuals who have a previous BA or BS in another field.) These generalist programs are different than combination programs (e.g. Columbia, Johns Hopkins) that offer a BSN and then go onto an MSN curriculum to pursue the NP role. Some programs require that upon conferrment of the BSN, the student gain clinical experience before pursuing the NP curriculum.

Point is...there are many programs out there that offer this route, some better and more thorough than others in terms of the clinical experience required. As an individual who seeks to pursue a long-term goal of an ACNP, I will be required to gain at least one year of acute care experience before I return to begin the Master's portion of the program. During the program I will be working full time in a critical care setting while the master's portion is completed. I would never call myself an advanced practice nurse without the realization that I haven't worked in the field for a sufficient period of time.

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Thanks to all of you!

Yes, if I go into nursing I am pretty sure that I want to go to one of the accelerated programs to get my MSN...UCSF, UCLA, Columbia, and Yale are some that I have looked at.

Another question...

Most of you have said that it is absolutely necessary to have experience as a RN before actually being a solid NP. ...Do you get clinical experience while in school? Is this enough experience to have you exposed to be a good NP?

Thank you again everyone and Happy Thanksgiving :o)

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This might be a dumb question but are there CNAs at Children's Hospitals? Though I am still deciding between pre-nursing and pre-med, I know that whatever I do I want to go into pediatrics! Lucille Packard Children's Hospital is on my campus and if possible I would prefer working there over Stanford Hospital.

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Most of you have said that it is absolutely necessary to have experience as a RN before actually being a solid NP. ...Do you get clinical experience while in school? Is this enough experience to have you exposed to be a good NP?
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This really varies. In some, like mine, you can start taking master's classes as soon as you finish the RN licensure year.....but you need 2080 hours (1 yr full-time) as an RN before you can do the real NP practicum level in your specialty track. There are a number of more generalized courses that come before that. So, people can work full time and then step back into classes full time after a year....or they can work part-time and take classes all along, however they see fit. But one way or another they build experience beyond clinicals or they can't progress thru NP classes.

Yale as I'm sure you've already seen takes you straight through in 3 years, and the Yale grads that have written in seem, in general, to be happy with their preparation. If you search on the grad student forums for Yale, Columbia, etc. you can probably turn up quite a bit. From what I understand they have more clinical hours to help build experience. I personally wasn't comfortable with that and wanted an option in case I maybe wanted to stop and build up some money, or decided to do my NP coursework elsewhere, but it works well for a lot of people.

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There are so many exciting possibilities for a "gap year"!

Have you considered doing a year in AmeriCorps? It could be a great way to work in a health care field, maybe doing something like health education. A full year program would earn you a $4725 education award you can use toward tuition for the MSN program or pay off undergrad loans. An intensive service experience could help set you apart from other applicants, too.

I did two full AmeriCorps years and they were immensely rewarding. In fact, AmeriCorps played a major role in my commitment to human services and (eventually!) nursing.

Check out americorps.gov to search for programs if you're interested.

Good luck!

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