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Discussion

Level of comfort in practice?

Forgive me for my username...I picked it out 10+ years ago when I was entering nursing school :blink:. Just giving my background...2 years med/surg, 6 years of psych, just now started on a cardiac step-down unit. Each unit has been it's own learning experience and has been mostly learning as you go. I will be done with my BSN at the end of the summer and am applying for grad school for the beginning of 2015 if possible. My question is this though...does NP school adequately prepare you to practice? I would hate to come out of school feeling like I do as a new nurse to a new floor. I would want to know that I have adequate knowledge to practice. I'm not sure where my specialty will be. I love psych, I love geris, but am working towards critical care just to make myself well rounded no matter where I end up.

Do you feel like the classes you are taking are helpful? Is it more than just the BS your way through nursing classes like my BSN ones are? Busywork is all they are it seems like. Do you take more in depth pathophysiology and pharmacology courses? Do you feel prepared well enough to work independently?

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    youtube is the best college ever. I would avoid programs that focus on leadership and theory. Those don't help much when you have a patient with a ph of 7.1 on the ventilator or really any other difficult situation.

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    LOL I agree with you on that. I have done tons of youtube-ing with this new floor I'm on just trying to get the grasp of things. It's been immensely helpful!

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    Practicing as a NP is nothing like practicing like a RN, so yes, you will feel like a novice again once you land your first position. You will take an advanced health assessment, advanced pharmacology, and advanced pathophysiology again in your program. You will fulfill many clinical hours. If you are lucky you will have a lab to practice PAPS, suturing, I&D's, casting, etc. There are STILL some fluff glasses in these MSN programs. If these programs didn't adequately prepare us for practice no one would be passing their national exams that say we can practice as entry level NP's. You get out of your program what you put in. If you love to learn and never let a word, concept, or procedure pass you by that you are unfamiliar with, you will excel.

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    Thank you Brit! Very helpful! I have an appt today at 3 to speak with someone about the program close to me. :)

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    Agree with Brit. NP school prepares you to be a novice NP.

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    I went to the USA AGNP program, and I will say that if I didn't have my medsurg and ER nursing experience then I would have felt lost at sea when I started as an NP. The NP schooling felt more like nursing school done over. Mostly useless. I learned on my own and from my excellent preceptors. Much of what you'll actually be doing when you get out will be OJT anyway, though. But you need to have the basics, which you'll get while in school (just not necessarily from the school itself). You just really have to be self-driven and motivated to do it. Hold yourself accountable for your own learning. Good luck!

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    Thank you guys. :) She never called for my phone appt when she was supposed to btw :no: I was quite annoyed. I have to wonder with the amount of schools offering NP now especially online (which is the way I like to do things) if they are all up to par or if they are just selling fluff. I guess they have to be able to back it up though with passing percentages and stuff.

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