Help would be greatly appreciated!

[freespirit]

Hi everyone. I had a few questions for anyone currently in an FNP program. I wanted to know if anyone could tell me how it works. Is it similar to undergrad or are you on your own for the most part? How do clinicals work? I know that each school would be different but I wanted to get a basic overview of it. Thank you for your time.

[Spacklehead, MSN, NP]

I graduated in August, so maybe I can help with your questions - although I don't quite understand what you mean when you ask, "Are you on your own?"

When I was in grad school for FNP, we started with all of the grad. nursing students together (FNPs, ANPs, CNLs) for the general grad courses. Then as we got further along, we separated into NP students, then FNP students. When I graduated, there was a total of six of us who were FNPs (I went to a brick and mortar school).

In all of my courses there were several papers, presentations, exams and group projects. I went part-time so I had two courses/semester.

My school arranged all of our clinical sites. We did have the option to find our own preceptors if we lived far from campus or if we wanted to try a specialty, but those preceptors had to be credentialed and approved by the school before we could go there. I just left my clinical locations up to the school - and wound up with excellent sites. Not all schools do this, however, and you might need to find your own on your own. Clinicals for me were typically at least two-three full days per week (at least 8 hours each day). Sometimes more, depending upon the semester.

[freespirit]

That answer helped me a lot. "are you on your own" meaning about finding clinical sites and preceptors but I understand you said it depends on the school. Thank you very much!