FNP student disappointed

allnurses Guide · Nov 11, 2016

I feel like it lacks rigor compared to PA programs from what I hear and have researched... And it is worrying me. We also have to secure our own clinic sites... Im still looking... And that is no easy task.I just am disappointed with the disorganization of the program. Are all NP programs like this?

All NP programs are not like that (lacking rigor, non-secured clinical education), and perhaps now would be a good time for you to find another program that is, or change to a PA program.

Graduate programs are not like undergraduate programs, a common complaint is disorganization because you are required to do more on your own.

The rigor might also depend on what classes you are currently taking...

db2xs · Nov 16, 2016

I feel pretty dissatisfied with my NP program as well, and I'm already halfway through. However, I heard previously from several people that NP/MSN school is not going to be as intense as RN/BSN school, so it's not like I wasn't warned, but I didn't think it would be like this.

Regarding finding your own clinical sites, I too was miffed that I had to find my own, but then I talked to some NPs at work and they said they too had to find their own clinical sites when they were students. Unfortunately, it seems to be more common than we may think. Having said that, I've already found two of three preceptors within six months. It is not impossible.

Your education is going to be what you make of it, and I've taken things into my own hands. An anesthesiologist fellow gave me a bunch his med school books and they have been absolutely wonderful for me.

Buyer beware, BSN · Nov 18, 2016

All NP programs are not like that (lacking rigor, non-secured clinical education), and perhaps now would be a good time for you to find another program that is, or change to a PA program.
"Graduate programs are not like undergraduate programs, a common complaint is disorganization because you are required to do more on your own."
The rigor might also depend on what classes you are currently taking...[/QUOT
"All NP programs are not like that..." Within this statement lies the heart of of what is terribly wrong with NP education today. There is no uniformity in education from one program to the next.
OP:
It's hit or miss and if you miss, no one cares. Take it or leave it.
How can anyone claim that this is a good system designed to take care of the complex healthcare needs of a society who along with the newly elected hair-in-chief is going to get rid of Obama Care and replace it with "something so much better."
The comment that "graduate programs are not like undergraduate programs...you have to do more on your own" would be superfluous if many programs were conducted in a professional manner.
Many NP schools are more interested in filling seats than as the NP states supplying qualified students with anything close to a rigorous learning experience.
Lots of schools do not conduct preadmission interviews to weed out the unprepared, socially inept and immature. The price of admission is too often dependent on whether that price can be paid.
So why is it that this OP is lamenting choosing the NP role rather than the PA option?
No one can disagree that the allure of independent practice as advanced degree nurses is very attractive to many.
Nursing has for a long time promoted itself as being a more enlightened alternative to traditional medicine and promoting a holistic approach to patient care while proffering the delusional canard that nurses do not practice medicine.
As a result of this separate but better exceptionalist stance on the part of those who purport to be leaders, educators and accreditors, nursing has allowed itself to be cut off, in most cases, from the traditional sources of clinical training namely hospitals, clinics and other venues of training and learning.
It's peculiar but even the word "training" has been traditionally eschewed by many nursing educators as this term has been too often associated with the medical model. This mindset is yet another example of delusionalism.
This stuff never ends and you see this nutty self-conscious drivel expressed on "allnurses" all the time.
Look at the problem of not affording a NP student a complete, well thought out program that will guanantee them academic and professional success without having all the pieces in place.
By this I refer to the OP's consternation over having to find preceptors (teachers) to instruct them for free in an already oversaturated market. Worse yet having to pay them out-of-pocket for the privledge.
This slight of hand is tantamount to the school requiring a student to take advanced pharmachology but copping out by saying "sorry we don't offer that here, go down the street."
So it's deja vu all over again.
The NP wannabes get the clinical shaft while the better connected PAs through their de facto alliances with colleges of medicine and hospital venues get not only the theoretical training they need to diagnose and treat illness but just as important the hands on nuts and bolts background they need to be well rounded practitioners.
I will not get into how you can transform a sociology major into a PA lickety split but I wll say that, once again, nursing has followed suit by churning out the inexperienced "nursing bores me" types that you find skulking down the hallways so many McDonald's inspired NP schools.
I'm almost at the point, knowing what I know, that when asked "would you mind seeing the nurse practitioner today" replying "sure but let me see their curriculum vitae first."
With this said, the sanguin forecasts of this country needing more and more NPs in the future will turn into a "no thank you" once the lay pubic catches on.
You see the chimera of nursing trying to divorce itself from medicine is the definition of seld-destructive chauvanism and has the potential of reducing the exaulted NP role to "just" another group of warm, exploited bodies of under prepared but well intentioned numbskulls.
Unless their is a rapproachment somehow with medicine, NP education will continue to be the the domain of many ill-equipped nursing malcontents.
And who can blame them?

Aik0 · Nov 27, 2016

I am currently attending Georgetown's FNP program. It is online but we have live class sessions every week. The classes are EXTEMELY DIFFICULT!!!! I spend ALL my time studying. I did my undergrad at a brick and mortar university AND completed a MSN in Education online (though from a Brick and Mortar University). The FNP program I am in is intense and nothing like Bachelor's or Masters. I was initially full time and had to drop down to part time. I work 2 days a week and would rather just NOT work and concentrate on school if I am able to. I am in my first semester of taking anatomy and physiology and our exams cover anywhere from 7 to 10 chapters in the book. It is crazy!!! I think what the boards need to do is have more stringent programs for NPs. PA programs are traditional and are therefore able to provide students with education that is consistent. NP programs are not. If I were you, go to a reputable school. Georgetown's pass rate is about 98% for 2016. And now I know why >>>> It's a tough TOUGH program. So I think it all depends on the program you're in.

ms_sgr, BSN, NP · Jan 23, 2017

This site has a list of NP organizations that has preceptors listed http://www.theagapecenter.com/â€¦/Specâ€¦/Nurse-Practitioner.htm. The link is broken so you will have to copy and paste the organization name into the search engine. You can also check out https://npfinder.aanp.org[COLOR=#1d2129] to locate a preceptor. I hope that this helps. [/COLOR]