St Joseph's College of Maine FNP program students

Nursing Students NP Students

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I wanted to start this thread for all of the new (and current) students at Saint Joseph's College of Maine FNP program.

Any info, news, updates or questions/concerns could be asked here for all the new and current students.

Any advice that the current students can give us new students would be greatly appreciated :)

For example...

1. How many books are required for NU 501?

2. Has setting up clinicals been difficult?

3. Have the current students had any trouble communicating with your advisors? Do they get back to you promptly?

4. Overall, how has the experience been? Are you glad you are in this program?

Thanks so much!

LJames13

Specializes in ER.

Yes, the roadmap series is great, so are the step 1 reviews. Never used the pocket guides, but I am going to check them out. The scanner I have is the Canon Lide 210. Very simple, cheap, and got the job done!

Certain things in the program can be difficult to navigate--typhon tracking, getting ready for clinical etc. If you have questions, let me know!

These helped with the Physical Assessment course:

"Merck Manual of Patient Symptoms: A Concise, Practical Guide to Etiology, Evaluation, and Treatment" by Porter

"In A Page Signs and Symptoms" by Kahan

Specializes in cicu,pccu.

That book helped me ace that class. My instructor got with me all the time by email and over the phone

Specializes in Hospice, Nursing Education, Primary Care.
That book helped me ace that class. My instructor got with me all the time by email and over the phone

By "that book" do you mean Merck or In a Page?

Specializes in cicu,pccu.

the patho made incredibly easy book

Hey Guys,

Looking for some feedback on the best approach to Patho. There is clearly a lot of information!! Almost impossible to know everything by the end of class. Wondering if others just did the assignments and reading and felt pretty good after completing the class or did you guys take a lot of notes while reading and study them along with the assignments. Thanks!!

Specializes in cicu,pccu.

I did the concept map, first did some of the readings not all, did the quizes and turned those in once I felt good about them, then started on the case studies. Don't forget to incoporate patho into your answer when doing the critical thinking questions. Like why something happens in the body to cause the manifestations in the patient. The concept map helps you visulaize that. Then the rationale for giving whatever your decide is the best treatment. Also don't forget patient education. After I did all that then I worked on the discussion questions. Hope that helps. Medscape is an excellent resource and so is epocrates check them out.

Specializes in ICU.

So I'm

Done with the program, just have the capstone to do.. Hitting a road block with the AANP bc school will not confer my degree till 9-1-13. The AANP will not let me get a letter to test until school gives them a letter. Don't wait to do the capstone till you are done. Do it in the second clinical. Your advisor will not tell you this. You must be proactive. And also do not let it be more than 30 days between degree completion or conferral. So start clinicals in November, August or March so you won't have 30 days between. Anyone else ran into this problem?

Now that there has been one or two graduating classes from the MSN-FNP program. Does anyone know the pass rate?? Also, I know a few students mentioned they studied on there own....for patho/pharm? Any recommendations on studying on the side?? I feel its hard to study on the side and trying to get classes done in a good amount of time (less then 10 weeks). Love any advice and feedback! Thank you.

Specializes in ER.

The first graduating class was made up of all WHNP's who went back to get their FNP. My guess is they all passed. I graduated in the 2nd group of 7 grads, and we all passed. One student took the AANP twice, but they passed on the 2nd try. Everyone else passed on the first try. 4 of us took the AANP. 3 took the ANCC. Most of us took the Fitzgerald class (3 went to the live review, 4 either did the online or got the books/CD's from someone). We all agreed it was the best review. Barkley is Boring as hell--I would fall asleep the minute I turned on the CD =). Leik is a great review book, you can get it used on barnes and noble for 15 bucks.

I would also recommend you do an online bunch of practice tests. I bought 20 tests for 50 bucks. These were great and helped you identify your weak areas-assessment, action, treatment, etc.

The most important thing in studying is to know all the current best practice guidelines--JNC7 for BP, GOLD for COPD, asthma treatment and heart failure guidelines, ATS for CAP, most recent guidelines for the use of ABX for AOM and sinustitis/uri.

Good luck and happy studying!

Thank you TraceyMarino for taking the time to let me know!! That information is so helpful!

Specializes in ICU.

It's done turning in my capstone today. I've been done with all the clinical and theory since may. We had a cohort of 6. 4 have passed on their first try. Myself and another still need to test. I'm still waiting on my ATT. Which should come in next week according to the AANP. Although they have passed, they still can't work as NP until our conferral which will be in September. So it will be many months of lost NP wages before we can start. Do not quit your jobs because if you do you will have months of no work once you are done. I have a clinical cohort who is experiencing this now.

Good luck

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