FNP Graduate from Chamberlain College of Nursing Dec 2015

Nursing Students Chamberlain College

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I'm a family nurse practitioner and graduated from Chamberlain College of Nursing's FNP program as of December 2015.

Lately I have been getting a lot of questions from nurses either looking to start Chamberlains FNP program or who are in the program.

I decided that I would create a blog to address these questions. Feel free to ask me anything about Chamberlain's FNP program.

Hello thank you for the helpful information. My question is about the capstone class i heard that there is an exist exam and that you have to pass or else you cannot graduate. Is it true and if so and you brief me in on the expectation please.

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Thanks for all the helpful info, this is great. My question is do you foresee being able to work in an inpatient or hospital clinic setting? I was told our heart failure clinic (which is in our outpatient center, but on the hospital campus, and staffed by NPs who work outpatient and inpatient, sometimes in the same day) might not be eligible because it's not a generalized outpatient setting. But I think I'd like to work something like that.

You said you had job offers - what kind are they? Will you be working under a family medicine doc in their clinic, something like that?

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I have another question for you? If I graduate in December will the school have a graduation ceremony in December of this year or until next year? Also when you were doing your clinical did you have a preceptor in peds? I am not able to find anyone in that setting. I have a preceptor in family health but he does not see kids, a preceptor in women health, one in infectious disease and one in wound care. Do you think I will have a hard time qualifying to sit for the certification exam? Thanks in advance.

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Chamberlain FNP2015,

I forgot to ask you about what do you think I should be asking my preceptors to teach me? My preceptor wants me to take him a list of questions so that he does not waste my time so he says. I have no clue what to ask him since I feel I do not know much. There is a huge difference between RN to an FNP role. You don't realize that at first before having to do clinicals with such different roles. You know this because you have been where I am at. I don't know if I am making any sense to you but I hope you can share some of your knowledge. Thanks in advance.

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Thanks for answering all of the above questions!

I'm curious about a few things.

Did you have trouble finding a job because you have a "generic online degree?"

Did you feel prepared for boards?

Did you pass boards on the first time?

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How is the FNP capstone project? Do we have to evaluate 5 case studies?

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Hi! Thank you so much for starting this thread. I am also currently in the FNP program at CCN and was just wondering if you had any trouble finding a job after graduation at all. So far, I've enjoyed the program for the most part, other than the frustration I've experienced with some of my practicum coordinators at times. I read some of the posts on this website and several people have said that colleges like CCN and other for profit online FNP schools are looked down upon, when it comes to applying for jobs, in comparison to NPs who went to traditional schools. I was just wondering if you had experienced that at all, so far. When looking for practicum sites in my area, I did definitely notice that many clinical sites would only accept students from traditional local universities around this area. So there's definitely that's stigma here...or at least that's what I've experienced in the city where I live. I was just wondering if you had any difficulty with that at all.

Thank you

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Karmaxpress11,

Having experience as a nurse is always helpful and beneficial when going for an advanced degree, but it isn't necessarily a criteria to have before starting a FNP graduate program. With a combination of schooling and learning how to become a FNP as well as the 10 months of clinicals you will feel more prepared to work as a FNP. I would suggest working full time or part time as a nurse (either in psych or something you have an interest in) while going through graduate school (graduate school would be either 2 years or more). Not only will this help you get a job as a FNP (experience as a nurse, work connections, possible FNP job at your workplace) but you also will get paid more as a FNP. From applying for multiple jobs, I found that FNP salary is based on years that you were a nurse along with years you have been a nurse practitioner. I hope this helps.

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asanteke,

Chamberlain has a capstone class that is 8 weeks long. It consists of Amelie Hollier's APEA course. You watch Amelie Hollier's multiple videos on each review section: examples- skin, gi, pulmonary, renal, genitourinary, pediatrics, growth and development, female and male reproductive etc. Also you are given print outs for each section that go a long with the videos to take notes. Amelie Hollier states that if you take her review course and study you have a 99% chance of passing the first time you take the nurse practitoner exam. The first week of the capstone class you take a pretest exam (not added into your grade so you do not have to study for it) that is through Amelie Hollier's program that will determine your weak points and what you need to focus on during the review. Then week 8 of the class you take what you're calling the "exit exam" which is the post test for Amelie Hollier's review course. You technically get 3 chances to pass this exam...so lets say you fail it the first time..chamberlain lets you take it again but you have to pay money for it...so then you fail it again ...well chamberlain makes you redo the review course and pay money for it. So really you have 3 chances but I would study so you pass the first time. The post test result also determines what your passing rate will be for the actual nurse practitioner exam so you'll want to study.

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Meggo33,

I thought I was going to have trouble finding a job, but surprisingly there were a ton of jobs out there when I graduated. I applied for many jobs like 20 plus, interviewed at 4 places, was offered all 4 jobs, and accepted a position working at a clinic that is part of a large hospital system.

About the "generic online degree": I had a vice president of a large hospital system belittle me for going to Chamberlain because they told me they had never heard about the school and what type of schooling it offered. The person acted like I might not have learned enough because it was an online program. I felt disrespected by this person because I feel Chamberlain is well known and really prepares you for working as a FNP. I was still offered the job but it did not feel right working at that facility.

I feel I was over prepared for boards. To explain this: I took Amelie Hollier's review course that was offered through Chamberlain as part of the capstone class-claims 99% pass rate. So after taking the post exam it said I was at the borderline between possibly passing the actual exam so that made me nervous. So chamberlain also had a free ebook that was the Fitzgerald nurse practitioner certification and practice examination preparation 4th edition so I decided I would study the entire book and make flashcards from the Amelie Hollier review class and the Fitzgerald review book to study. I made about 250 plus flashcards and reviewed them for about 2 weeks.

I graduated December 16th and I took the AANP exam on January 20th. Between the review course which was 8 weeks and I studied after graduation for about 4 weeks total everyday varying between 2 and 6 hours I felt prepared..nervous but prepared.

I passed the AANP exam on the first attempt. I actually knew a lot of the answers to the questions and felt the questions were easier than the ones I had for the Amelie Hollier review course. I felt confident that I had studied enough and I knew I passed before I even saw the results on the screen. It was a great feeling.

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Thank you so much for the information. What about the capstone project?

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Mta0709,

The FNP capstone project ironically is going to be the easiest thing you'll ever put together for a FNP track class. Make sure you keep all your reflections from each class and all your FNP track case studies. Then you pick 5 exemplary case studies you have done and you also have to copy and paste the APN professional business plan paper from a previous class as part of the capstone project. You also need to include your clinical portfolio which is a PDF file that is created when you click on your final report on grad.elogs.org where you document all your clinical hours. And that is seriously it. I thought it was going to be a ton of work, but it was a matter of finding and picking out your case studies and paper.

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