Transitioning to Nurse Practitioner from Accelerated BSN

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Accel­er­at­ed BSN grad­u­ates can become nurse prac­ti­tion­ers by pur­su­ing advanced degrees such as an MSN or DNP.
• Nurse prac­ti­tion­ers have greater auton­o­my, can diag­nose and treat ill­ness­es, and enjoy high­er salaries com­pared to reg­is­tered nurses.
• Essen­tial steps include obtain­ing a BSN, pass­ing the NCLEX-RN, gain­ing clin­i­cal expe­ri­ence, and com­plet­ing advanced nurs­ing pro­grams.
• NPs can spe­cial­ize in areas like fam­i­ly, pedi­atric, or geri­atric care, with a strong job out­look due to high demand.

Becom­ing a nurse prac­ti­tion­er is a career that can be very reward­ing. You get more inde­pen­dence and auton­o­my and can sig­nif­i­cant­ly expand your prac­tice scope. Not to men­tion that the poten­tial salary can put you at a high­er eco­nom­ic lev­el than a reg­is­tered nurse.

That said, as the pop­u­lar­i­ty of accel­er­at­ed degrees is increas­ing, you might won­der whether the nurse prac­ti­tion­er career path is open for you. Per­haps you already have the degree or are plan­ning to get one, but can you still become a nurse prac­ti­tion­er, even if you have an accel­er­at­ed degree? The short answer is yes. And this arti­cle will tell you exact­ly what you need to know.

Relat­ed:

• Advan­tages of Accel­er­at­ed Nurs­ing Degrees
• Com­mon Chal­lenges Faced by Accel­er­at­ed Nurs­ing Students
• Fast-Track Nurs­ing Degrees for Work­ing Health­care Professionals
• Pre­req­ui­sites and Require­ments for Accel­er­at­ed Nurs­ing Degrees

Understanding the Role of a Nurse Practitioner

Becom­ing a nurse prac­ti­tion­er brings about a few ben­e­fits and chal­lenges. First things first, nurse prac­ti­tion­ers are nurs­es who have com­plet­ed clin­i­cal train­ing and advanced edu­ca­tion. While they can­not be labeled as “MDs,” they are well above the role of a reg­is­tered nurse, who can only take care of the patient with­out mak­ing alter­ations to their treat­ment plans.

As a nurse prac­ti­tion­er, you can con­duct patient assess­ments, diag­nos­ing and treat­ing var­i­ous ill­ness­es in a way that a doc­tor would. You can for­mu­late a treat­ment plan and even pre­scribe med­i­cine. Con­sid­er­ing the short­age of doc­tors and nurs­es, the NP job out­look looks pret­ty good.

As an NP, you can also spe­cial­ize in var­i­ous areas. Some pop­u­lar nurse prac­ti­tion­er spe­cial­ties include the following:

• Fam­i­ly nurse prac­ti­tion­er (FNP): Spe­cial­iz­ing in offer­ing ser­vices to families
• Pedi­atric nurse prac­ti­tion­er (PNP): Spe­cial­iz­ing in pedi­atric care
• Adult Geron­tol­ogy Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er (AGNP): Spe­cial­iz­ing in car­ing for adults and elder­ly folk.
• Neona­tal Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er (NNP): Spe­cial­iz­ing in new­born infants
• Women’s Health Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er (WHNP): Spe­cial­iz­ing in women’s health, espe­cial­ly their repro­duc­tive system

Thus, as a nurse prac­ti­tion­er, you can active­ly involve your­self in a patient’s treat­ment plan instead of just assist­ing the doctor.

Becom­ing a nurse prac­ti­tion­er is a career that can be very reward­ing. You get more inde­pen­dence and auton­o­my and can sig­nif­i­cant­ly expand your prac­tice scope. Not to men­tion that the poten­tial salary can put you at a high­er eco­nom­ic lev­el than a reg­is­tered nurse.

That said, as the pop­u­lar­i­ty of accel­er­at­ed degrees is increas­ing, you might won­der whether the nurse prac­ti­tion­er career path is open for you. Per­haps you already have the degree or are plan­ning to get one, but can you still become a nurse prac­ti­tion­er, even if you have an accel­er­at­ed degree? The short answer is yes. And this arti­cle will tell you exact­ly what you need to know.

Relat­ed:

• Best Bachelor’s in Nursing
• Most Afford­able Bachelor’s in Nursing
• Top Schol­ar­ships for Nurs­ing Students

Understanding the Role of a Nurse Practitioner

Becom­ing a nurse prac­ti­tion­er brings about a few ben­e­fits and chal­lenges. First things first, nurse prac­ti­tion­ers are nurs­es who have com­plet­ed clin­i­cal train­ing and advanced edu­ca­tion. While they can­not be labeled as “MDs,” they are well above the role of a reg­is­tered nurse, who can only take care of the patient with­out mak­ing alter­ations to their treat­ment plans.

As a nurse prac­ti­tion­er, you can con­duct patient assess­ments, diag­nos­ing and treat­ing var­i­ous ill­ness­es in a way that a doc­tor would. You can for­mu­late a treat­ment plan and even pre­scribe med­i­cine. Con­sid­er­ing the short­age of doc­tors and nurs­es, the NP job out­look looks pret­ty good.

As an NP, you can also spe­cial­ize in var­i­ous areas. Some pop­u­lar nurse prac­ti­tion­er spe­cial­ties include the following:

• Fam­i­ly nurse prac­ti­tion­er (FNP): Spe­cial­iz­ing in offer­ing ser­vices to families
• Pedi­atric nurse prac­ti­tion­er (PNP): Spe­cial­iz­ing in pedi­atric care
• Adult Geron­tol­ogy Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er (AGNP): Spe­cial­iz­ing in car­ing for adults and elder­ly folk.
• Neona­tal Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er (NNP): Spe­cial­iz­ing in n

Educational Pathways

Becom­ing a nurse prac­ti­tion­er involves slight­ly more work than being a reg­is­tered nurse, as you are expect­ed to have more knowl­edge. First, you need to have a bachelor’s degree in nurs­ing (BSN). Typ­i­cal­ly, this takes four years to com­plete, but you can also get an accel­er­at­ed BSN.

Pass­ing the Nation­al Coun­cil Licen­sure Exam­i­na­tion for Reg­is­tered Nurs­es (NCLEX-RN) and gath­er­ing clin­i­cal expe­ri­ence as a reg­is­tered nurse is also required. Once you enter the pro­gram of your choice, all that is left is to get your nurse prac­ti­tion­er edu­ca­tion, end with the degree, and pass your nation­al cer­ti­fi­ca­tion exam.

For the most part, the BSN pre­pares you to become a reg­is­tered nurse. If you want to make the BSN to NP tran­si­tion, then you could go for the fol­low­ing programs:

• Mas­ter of Sci­ence in Nurs­ing (MSN): focus­ing on spe­cif­ic nurse prac­ti­tion­er spe­cial­ty areas, allow­ing RNs to advance in their career.
• Doc­tor of Nurs­ing Prac­tice (DNP): Ter­mi­nal edu­ca­tion lev­els that are prac­tice-focused can either be entry-lev­el (for a BSN hold­er) or post-mas­ter (for some­one already hold­ing the MSN)

Whether you get the degree through a tra­di­tion­al or accel­er­at­ed path does not mat­ter as long as you have the knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence. How­ev­er, high­er-ups will look at the institution’s rep­u­ta­tion that gave you the degree. By choos­ing an accred­it­ed insti­tu­tion, you can be sure that you receive qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion and will be bet­ter viewed by poten­tial employers.

Prerequisites for Advanced Programs

To obtain advanced nurs­ing degrees, you may need to respect a few pre­req­ui­sites that can vary from one insti­tu­tion to anoth­er. For the most part, you will need a BSN from an accred­it­ed insti­tu­tion, a license as a reg­is­tered nurse, and at least 1–3 years of clin­i­cal expe­ri­ence. Some pro­grams could also require a min­i­mum GPA start­ing from 3.0 and the com­ple­tion of cer­tain pre­req­ui­site courses.

It’s advised that you start plan­ning ahead, espe­cial­ly if you are get­ting the BSN to clear your path to being an NP. Try to keep a good GPA dur­ing your accel­er­at­ed BSN pro­gram and squeeze in as much clin­i­cal expe­ri­ence as pos­si­ble. You should also take a few elec­tive pre­req­ui­site class­es, as not all BSN cours­es include the ones you might need.

Application Process

The stronger your appli­ca­tion process, the eas­i­er it will be for you to enter hybrid or online NP pro­grams. Insti­tu­tions are often look­ing for pre­pared­ness, so you might want to start research­ing them beforehand.

Steps to Apply to the Program

Most pro­grams that offer nurse prac­ti­tion­er licens­ing are pret­ty stan­dard when it comes to the process to follow:

• Meet the pre­req­ui­sites required by your insti­tu­tion of choice (i.e., BSN degree and pre­req­ui­site classes).
• Pre­pare your appli­ca­tion file with the nec­es­sary doc­u­ments (appli­ca­tion form, test scores, offi­cial tran­scripts from pre­vi­ous uni­ver­si­ties, etc.).
• Sub­mit your appli­ca­tion by the dead­line they have specified.
• Pre­pare for an inter­view if they require one as part of the admis­sion process.

You should fol­low up with them to ensure that all the doc­u­ments have been received. It is rec­om­mend­ed that you be proac­tive and address every ques­tion that may arise dur­ing admission.

Key Components of a Strong Application

While fol­low­ing basic NP pro­gram require­ments could land you a spot in your pro­gram of choice, it is best to add some extra doc­u­ments to prove your skills and inter­ests. Let­ters of rec­om­men­da­tion, resumes, and per­son­al state­ments are rec­om­mend­ed, even if their list does not mark them as nec­es­sary. Make sure they are com­pelling and show your true pas­sion for nursing.

Understanding Bridging Programs

Some class­es might pre­pare you to be a nurse prac­ti­tion­er with­out requir­ing a degree in the field. For instance, to get a BSN, you can have a degree in any field. This also means that you will have to spend time in an accel­er­at­ed pro­gram learn­ing to be a nurse.

How­ev­er, NP bridge pro­grams focus on skills you have already devel­oped as a reg­is­tered nurse. They build on your expe­ri­ence with patients, embell­ish­ing your knowl­edge rather than build­ing it from scratch. This could help you get your cer­ti­fi­ca­tion faster so that you can start your new posi­tion with­in 1–2 years.

Licensing and Certifications Needed

As a nurse prac­ti­tion­er, you need var­i­ous licens­es to prove your author­i­ty. To get into the pro­gram in the first place, you will have to pass the Nation­al Coun­cil Licen­sure Exam­i­na­tion for Reg­is­tered Nurs­es (NCLEX-RN), as well as get your Advanced Prac­tice Reg­is­tered Nurse (APRN) reg­is­tra­tion. Once you have those, you must pass your NP Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion Exam.

State require­ments may also be applied along­side your nurse prac­ti­tion­er cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. You need to renew your licens­es as required, and you will also have to get pre­scrip­tive author­i­ty. Depend­ing on the state you prac­tice in, you could also require spe­cif­ic licens­es from the gov­ern­ing bod­ies, so research the area.

Getting the Clinical Experience

As a poten­tial nurse prac­ti­tion­er, you can’t real­ly cre­ate your path with­out real-world health­care inter­ac­tions. By get­ting clin­i­cal expe­ri­ence for NPs, you can apply your the­o­ret­i­cal knowl­edge and devel­op your skills even more. This expe­ri­ence improves your crit­i­cal think­ing while ele­vat­ing your peer exposure.

An excel­lent way to get rel­e­vant expe­ri­ence is to go for clin­i­cal rota­tions. Employ­ment as a reg­is­tered nurse could add more to that, and even vol­un­tary work at clin­ics in your area. For instance, you could find nurse prac­ti­tion­ers to shad­ow and vol­un­teer your assis­tance dur­ing rush hours.

Career Opportunities and Growth for Nurse Practitioners

Among all job options that are cur­rent­ly in health­care, nurse prac­ti­tion­ers like­ly have the best out­look. Accord­ing to the US Bureau of Labor, the field is expect­ed to grow by 45 per­cent in the next few years, mak­ing it the most desir­able job in 2024. Reg­is­tered nurs­es can work any­where from hos­pi­tals to pri­vate prac­tices and edu­ca­tion­al institutions.

With the pop­u­la­tion aging, nurse prac­ti­tion­ers could be even more in demand, espe­cial­ly with the cur­rent short­age. By get­ting a master’s or doc­tor­ate, nurse prac­ti­tion­ers can also spe­cial­ize and per­haps open their own prac­tices, should they want to.

Challenges and Considerations to Remember

Tran­si­tion­ing from a reg­is­tered nurse to a nurse prac­ti­tion­er can be chal­leng­ing, espe­cial­ly dur­ing the edu­ca­tion­al process. Most stu­dents apply­ing to be nurse prac­ti­tion­ers are already work­ing as reg­is­tered nurs­es with odd hours, giv­ing them lit­tle time to them­selves. Adding accel­er­at­ed class­es in that mix could lead to an imbal­ance in your work and per­son­al life. Tran­si­tion­ing to the new role could also be daunt­ing, as it requires ongo­ing learn­ing and a total­ly dif­fer­ent type of clin­i­cal competence.

Pri­or­i­tiz­ing could often help to strike a good bal­ance. It would help to cre­ate a sched­ule with your tasks. Seek­ing sup­port when need­ed could make the tran­si­tion more man­age­able as well. For instance, while you are set­tling into the new role, you can del­e­gate some of your per­son­al tasks to your fam­i­ly and friends.

The Bottom Line

Tran­si­tion­ing from an RN with an accel­er­at­ed BSN to a nurse prac­ti­tion­er can be slight­ly daunt­ing but not impos­si­ble. You just need to keep your eyes on the goal and effec­tive­ly man­age your time. Even­tu­al­ly, you should be able to adapt to your new posi­tion and reap the benefits.

Sources:

Nation­al Library of Medicine

World Health Organization