I also have an interest in moving into a field of nursing that is not at the bedside (I.e. legal nursing, auditing, CDI) but I am having trouble landing a job in these areas. 

Has anyone else felt the same and successfully made a career switch? If so, what did you pursue? 

I am trying to better understand what nurses actually find useful in practice. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I've been in situations where the patients realllllly challenged my patience, hit me, acted violent, cussed me out. I know all of you have, too. And we handle it, it takes teamwork and sometimes chemical or physical  restraints, but at the end of the shift, we did it and we did it well. And then we're called about some BS complaint or minor documentation error. 

Never once have I worked with a nurse who needed to put a knee on someone's neck to get "em under control. Hell, George Floyd would've been one of my easy patients from the footage I've seen. I could've handled him with some soothing but stern words. Can you imagine what the nurse would go thru if we put our knee on someone's neck? OMG.

Or recently in my town, a cop body-slammed a person and caused a seizure  after being told by the person to STFU. And it's been that cops 4th major  offense in 5 years, with the first three offenses requiring anger management and counseling. How many of you had patients call you every name under the sun and you still kept your composure? It really doesn't even phase me when it happens.  But can you imagine what would happen to us if we got in that patients face? Or body slammed that patient? Most of us endure some form of physical abuse from patients if we work the bedside, especially ED nurses. Yet, we handle it, and rarely file police reports ourselves, and we certainly never flip out and go ape ***. 

Why double standards? Why aren't police officers held to the same standards as nurses? It's sickening. 

Would RNFA or NP be the best route after BSN if I want to perform closed bone reduction in emergency department? Again I understand it is at the provider's discretion but has anyone noticed a midline care profession that gets to do it more in an ED setting?

Recently, I have not wanted to be in management. I have been a Weekend Supervisor, Evening Supervisor, Unit Manager, Staff Developer, ADON, Case Management, etc. (name the management position in a SNF, I have probably done it...) But recently, I am realizing that my kids are not getting any younger and I would like to spend more time with them. (My daughter has already graduated, but still lives at home and is in college. My son is a sophomore in high school.) I missed a lot of time with them while they were growing up and realize that they are pretty damn cool kiddos who really like it when I hang out with them. Kind of a rarity, I know. So I put in my notice for my current position and wanted to step back to a cart position. Well, they didn't like that and they termed me from my position. 

The problem I am having currently is that any position I have applied to, they either don't think I am "qualified" for the position because I don't have enough experience (including a med/surg floor position at a hospital) or they want me to take a management position in a SNF and I just don't want that. I don't want to be the person on call all the time anymore or the one that covers everyone else's jobs and have no one to cover mine. 

Does anyone have any advice for what to do? I am feeling at a complete loss and have no idea of what to do.....

Which (non-HEDIS) data abstraction specialty would be most helpful in building a foundation for eventually working as a HEDIS nurse?

Thanks again!

I currently work M-Th averaging 34 hours a week. I'm stuck on whether or not I will regret leaving this job or if I will love the new role and not look back! I currently commute for this job ~30 miles to work and then back home. I'm in a rural hospital so I am the only RN. I work under physical therapy, so I have no room for growth or leadership opportunities. 

Has anyone transitioned out of cardiac rehab and regretted it? Are there any regulatory nurses that think the transition would be worth it? I'm a policy/compliance nerd so keep that in mind! 

Thanks for any input!

When using Leik, I recommend taking active notes, highlighting, rereading, doing the practice questions in the back & knowing the clinical pearls and tips in the book. I want to emphasize knowing the clinical pearls and understanding the TIPS because there is a high likelihood of the subject being on the exam. Granted, I only took AANP, so this is based on my experience with AANP. 

I did like using Sarah Michelle as a review source, but I had trouble recalling information about specific diseases. I purchased the crash course, and I completed all of the videos, but I didn't complete the Qbank due to time constraints and the fact that it is an expensive program. I paid for the subscription for two months, and time flew, so I did not want to purchase it for a 3rd month. I would say the program did help with some information, but I feel like her program scratched the surface of the content on the boards. Yes, some topics she discussed were on the boards, but I think some of her questions were broad in comparison. I think Leik was more specific in comparison. 

That said, I used only Leik and Sarah M the first go around; I was also VERY pregnant and tired at this time. I unfortunately failed the exam by 7 points. I had so many regrets, and my main regrets were not resting a day before the exam, rushing to test, and changing answers. Please don't change your first answer unless you are 100% sure you answered wrong the first time. 

After failing, I took two weeks off to recharge and had my baby, so I spent that time focused on my newborn. Afterward, I spent about 3-6 hours on & off preparing for boards, but this time, I used an FNP visual aid on Etsy & 3 weeks before testing, I caved and purchased APEA audio review. This was very expensive, but I feel like the lecture was super informative, especially for clinical practice; the con is that the audio is only available for one year. I do plan on listening to some of the lectures. I did not finish all the lectures; I listened to the systems I felt weak on. I purchased the bundle and completed the pre-test. 

For test questions, I purchased the FNP mastery app and did questions every day. I did not miss a day and I simply had a goal of doing at least 10 questions no matter how busy my day was. I did not want to place too much pressure on myself to minimize stress. I also made sure I knew the Leik clinical pearls this time and retook two of the exams in the back of the book. I was scoring in the mid-60s, but I was not too focused on the score; I focused more on reading the rationales. 

The day before the exam I simply brushed up on some topics I kept getting wrong or felt weak in, I gave myself a break and didn't study for more than 2 hours. At this point, I was beginning to feel burnt out, so I tried to take it easy but felt much more comfortable and prepared. I just knew I was going to pass, and that is the mindset I went in with. I took my time and did not focus on the clock. I highlighted a lot more this time. I also took a longer break after answering all the non-flagged questions. If I wasn't sure about a question, I just flagged it and moved on. After I took a 5-10 min bathroom and water break, I returned to the test with 55 minutes left and answered the flagged questions. I believe I had about 15 questions I left unanswered or flagged. Definitely less than the first time. I also did have some repeating questions from the last exam, which surprised me. I answered those questions with confidence because I was familiar with the topic. I also felt like the questions were more straightforward and reminded me of the FNP mastery questions to some extent. 

I then received the score after the exam and read the words PASS. What a relief! With prayer, consistency, dedication, rest, and CONFIDENCE, I am able to say I have passed. Do NOT rush to test if you are not ready, and remember to breathe. I allowed time to get the best of me and that is my biggest regret. Invest in yourself and know your learning style before purchasing any program. I recommend doing what is best for you. If it takes you 2-3 months, like me, to test and pass, that is OK.

 The visual aid I used was The Complete FNP Disease Study Guide Digital on Etsy. I also used it during the end of my program. Good luck! You got this!

CPEN Review Course Flyer 2025.pdf

   I just ask that you understand. I try not to post here very often, because my past posts annoyed a lot of people. My appologies. I have always tried to be kind and respectful here.

   My question is, I'm on a ventilator full time with a tracheostomy. I use a VOCSN ventilator, which doe Ventilation, it has it's own built in O2 Concentrator, AND it even has a 50 PSI connector for a green External High Pressure Hose so in the event I'm in a Hellicopter or ambulance, and they keep me on my portable vent, they can connect me to the 50 PSI O2 source and set precise Fraction O Inspired O2! It does Cough Assist Therapy, which I use often. It has it's own built in suction system, that delivers hospital quality suction which to this day is surprising, considering it isn't wall suction, and it has a Nebulizer function. I like this ventilator for several reasons, one of them being that I can see the Pressure, Flow, and Volume Waveforms, rather than just the Pressure and Flow waveforms like most home ventilators only allow! 

   But my question is, I also use a Vest Airway Clearance System which used a modality known as High Frequency Chest Wall Oscillation to clear my lungs. In essence, it shakes my chest rapidly to help move secretions upwards so that they can be suctioned using my Ballard Closed Suction System, which gets changed daily. 

   So I'm wanting to know from your experience both with vests, and the nice ICU beds that have Percussion & Vibration, what would you say does better with airway clearance? Would you say that's the Percussion & Vibration from the beds, such as the Hill-Rom Progressa beds, or Hill-Rom TotalCare SPORT beds, or would you say the vest does a better job at it? The only beds I've been in in ICU are the Stryker InTouch beds. These are beds that fitted with the XPRT mattress could do Percusion and Vibration, Lateral Rotation, Low Air Loss, Turn Assist, etc, but a lot of times, they're fitted with the air mattress that doesn't allow for P&V and only Does Lateral Rotation, Low Air Loss, Turn Assist, and a LOT of times, two or three days into my ICU stay the bed will not even let you do that, because It gives error notifications about the mattress not being connected. I can't count how many times that's happened.

   But the reason I ask this about the beds VS the Vest is because I'm just really curious as to what you nurses think about the Percussion & Vibration on the beds VS the HFCWO vests that us ventilated patients use at home! I use my vest Q2-3 hrs, and it really helps. 

   Tank you for taking time to read this horibly long post! TAKE CARE, and God Bless!

I'm currently an LPN student in a high school LPN program and I'm going to get my BSN once I graduate. I understand that it's kinda early to be asking some of these questions, but I'm an ambitious insomniac so I'm here worrying about my future instead of sleeping. Anyways, is it possible to do both flight nursing and forensic nursing at the same time? Both sound so amazing. I want to do emergency/trauma once I get my RN and I understand I need to get a few years of that or ICU under my belt before I can do flight. Also, what are the size limits in flight nursing? I'm currently a 6'2 250 LBS guy, and I know that's probably too heavy for flight nursing, but I've been working on losing weight and I'm doing good (I'm down 32 LBS right now), so hopefully size won't be too much of an obstacle in the future. In regards to forensic nursing, what are the different ways RNs help forensic teams? What settings do forensic RNs work in? Also, are Forensic NPs a thing? What about Flight/Medevac/Search and Rescue NPs? If any of y'all have experience in either or both of these fields, I'd love to hear from you. I've considered both EMS and forensics as back ups for nursing, and now that I know that their are nursing jobs in those fields, I'm really curious about those jobs.

Just passed my CCRN recently and I plan to get my CMC certification next.  I plan to use my PASS test questions to prepare.  In reviewing the CMC Handbook provided by AACN, I see that there are noncardiovascular topics in their test plan.  I was curious to know if this is accurate or if it's the same test plan that was used for the CCRN.  For thosoe that took the CMC, were there noncardio questions on your exam?  Also how did you prepare for the exam?