I'm new to the forum and come with a heavy questions for those who can offer advice about shifting gears with my career. Here's a little bit about me:
I'm 29 years old, male with a BSN and I presently work in a busy metropolitan ED. I have about 3 years of experience as an RN with 1 total in SICU and 2 in emergency department nursing. I worked for nearly a decade as a paramedic in a very busy ED. I became a medic early out of high school and had intentions of attempting to get into medical school, but I did not have the financial means to go to school without working full time and my grades suffered. Not to mention I struggled with crippling ADD which is fortunately well controlled now.
I'm writing a post because I have become very disenchanted with my current way of life. I am the type of person that wants to enjoy my work and look forward to my job with pride and a desire to constantly hone and improve my skill. I'm tired of the whole job of bedside nursing because of the nearly complete lack of analytical challenge. My job, no matter the discipline, seems to be centered around redundant and simple tasks as well as time management. I don't feel challenged or stimulated to give a damn about my profession let alone be proud of the things I have accomplished. I live for the 5% of people who actually are having an MI, who actually are the victim of traumatic circumstance, who actually have a reason to be in the ED besides abusing the system for a hot and a cot. Now that I'm done ********, I'll get to the point.
I want to know what kind of satisfaction DNPs or NPs get from their work. I want something to actually challenge my mind for a change. Some line of work where I can THINK about a patient's presentation and try to help prevent, treat and manage disease. I want to know if DNPs or NPs think the work is worth it (School)? Do you feel satisfied every day? Do you truly wake up every morning and loath what you're walking in to, or does the thought of work spur some excitement within you?
My primary concerns regarding the DNP/NP route is the training. Where and when do you learn about medicine, advanced assessment, long term disease management, health promotion, more advanced human anatomy and pathophysiology? All the NP students I have discussed this with describe the same exact, "fluffery" I had to put up with in nursing school, but on some "higher level" involving research. I want to do something in advanced practice nursing, but I'm very concerned about the curriculum.
What about independence in practice? Do you feel that your training prepared you to manage the more complicated patients? I don't want this to seem like I doubt an NPs capabilities, because I know plenty of NPs who were so smart they seemed intimidating to be around. I just question the curriculum that is used to train people who are being trained to function like physicians. Was the cost of your education worth it? Becoming a PA in my area seems like the wisest thing to do, but at the costs here in Minnesota I would be driven so far into debt I would spend the better part of my life paying just the interest off.
As always to forum posts, thanks for your time and consideration. I know the answers will be biased as those perusing a nursing forum to answer a stranger's questions have a passion for nursing to begin with. Nevertheless, I'm desperate for unadulterated input and concrete answers to my questions. Not the typical,"Do what your heart tells you to do. Money doesn't matter if you love what you do." type garbage most spew out at the first opportunity.
