by Acute care nurse practitioners are trained to work in a variety of inpatient settings, including ICU, ERs, Trauma.
They can also specialize in hospitalist or intensivist acute care.
If you are wondering if the ICU experience is necessary, you should be aware of several factors.
In short words, experience requirements depend on the school, NP program, and personal goals.
Some schools include one to three years of experience in acute care, including all acute care areas such as med/Surg, telemetry, orthopedics, peri-operative care.
The simple explanation of ICU is a critical care and acute care.
Nurse practitioners must be trained to work with patients in all acute care settings med/Surg and ICU.
The majority of schools offer different ways that students can gain experience while still in school.
Ambitious students might discover that some schools prefer students with ICU experience, rather than those with critical care experience.
However, the experience isn’t always required.
If you want to take a step forward in your nursing career and become an acute care nurse practitioner, you can take a job in critical care settings.
It will provide you leverage on NP program admission.
Gaining more experience in both critical and acute care is beneficial for all students.
But, before you enroll in the positions you can research schools and find out more about their specific set of requirements.
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