NNP Study Materials

I'm currently a NNP student with about a 1 and a half years to go and I've started trying to identify resources...here's what I found:

CCPR : 2013 Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Online Practice Exam --> has practice tests and a soon to be published study guide

Pediatrix has a NNP course review that is free.

FANNP (Florida NNPs) has a NNP course review every October and they publish the lectures/cds for a price.

Best of luck on your exam! Let us know how it goes! I'll be up there soon enough!

Hi! I just took my NCC test last October. A I did was the pediatrix review and studied the whole core curriculum book. Cover to cover. I passed!

Hello,

I know this is an old post but I was wondering what you mean by "core curriculum book?" Are you talking about Gomella or Cloherty?

https://www.amazon.com/Curriculum-Neonatal-Intensive-Nursing-AWHONN/dp/032322590X

2013 feels like forever ago...unfortunately not much has changed in this department, likely due to the low numbers of people taking the exam (~300 or so each year). I'm actually developing a book of questions and an online review course, but it probably won't be available until later this year.

I will say that the Gomella & Cloherty books were my bible during NNP school. Super helpful and much more suited towards the provider role vs the core curriculum. I used Avery's Diseases of the Newborn for looking up the obscure. These days I just go straight to UpToDate which is a phenomenal resource. The neo stuff is written directly by people who are experts in the area and is reviewed every year or two.

On 3/2/2020 at 12:30 PM, babyNP. said:

2013 feels like forever ago...unfortunately not much has changed in this department, likely due to the low numbers of people taking the exam (~300 or so each year). I'm actually developing a book of questions and an online review course, but it probably won't be available until later this year.

I will say that the Gomella & Cloherty books were my bible during NNP school. Super helpful and much more suited towards the provider role vs the core curriculum. I used Avery's Diseases of the Newborn for looking up the obscure. These days I just go straight to UpToDate which is a phenomenal resource. The neo stuff is written directly by people who are experts in the area and is reviewed every year or two.

Quick question,

Why do you think the low interest? I'm interested in this specialty and really not finding alot of *recent* information or posts unlike ICU, CRNA. Do you think people are just not interested or the attrition rate for retiring NNP's are low?

You have to keep in mind that we do not make up a large portion of the NP workforce- only about 3%. Because there are so few of us there is not a lot of $$ to be made by big companies into constructing review materials.

We do have a shortage of NNPs but not on the order of thousands. NICU is just such a small niche when you compare it to a CRNA or acute care NP population. Remember a NICU in a community hospital might be 25 beds in a 300 bed institution.

I do think it’s a shame that there isn’t more of an online presence of us. I have been posting here on AN since I was a nursing student back in 2008 and part of the reason why I continue to post is to help shed light on the profession to those interested- there was even less information back then and it was hard for me to sift through trying to figure out my career path. I’m in the process of starting a blog to help address some of the common questions related to NICU nursing and NNPs that I hope will help add something to the wider space of neonatology.

11 hours ago, babyNP. said:

You have to keep in mind that we do not make up a large portion of the NP workforce- only about 3%. Because there are so few of us there is not a lot of $$ to be made by big companies into constructing review materials.

We do have a shortage of NNPs but not on the order of thousands. NICU is just such a small niche when you compare it to a CRNA or acute care NP population. Remember a NICU in a community hospital might be 25 beds in a 300 bed institution.

I do think it’s a shame that there isn’t more of an online presence of us. I have been posting here on AN since I was a nursing student back in 2008 and part of the reason why I continue to post is to help shed light on the profession to those interested- there was even less information back then and it was hard for me to sift through trying to figure out my career path. I’m in the process of starting a blog to help address some of the common questions related to NICU nursing and NNPs that I hope will help add something to the wider space of neonatology.

Well babyNP, I'll just have to follow you more and pick your brain sort of speak. I will be sure to push harder for more presence of NICU and the NNP professions once I actually start my nursing career.

Though I've had direct experience with NICU (mother of a preemie and my sister was also a preemie), this has been a career goal once I switch to nursing. Maybe NANN should redo their entire marketing campaign to get more awareness out and promote the profession...now that I think about it, maybe it needs to remain a 'small niche'.

Anywho, thank you for your feedback.

Well, I would continue to seek out others perspectives as well- I don't speak for the profession of course : ) But I'm happy to answer any questions that I can based on what I know and my experiences.

There is a NNP association with NANN and they have done some public outreach. Here's a video they did for the public on what a NNP does. There's a bit of cheese but overall a pretty good overview

good luck to you in your career!

BabyNP, do you have any insight into the average starting pay for an NNP? Particularly hourly rate? I am starting discussions with some different hospitals about jobs when I graduate and have no basis for how much I should be thinking I should be paid? I don't want to let them underpay me but I also don't want to be unrealistic and be expecting too much. I know I can find numbers online but they are SO general and are usually given in the form of a salary number which doesn't help me much because each of these hospitals have different hour requirements (some are 30, some are 40, some are 36).

NANN does a salary survey every couple of years that you can look at. One of the NNP recruiting companies came to my class back when I was in school and they said back then the average was about $85,000 (2014). There are many factors that go into play such as years of RN experience, location, and type of NICU. I got offered $95k as a new grad in the Southwest at a children’s hospital (6 years RN experience) I currently am in the Pacific Northwest in a higher cost of living area. With 6 years NNP experience I am up to $160k. This is probably close to the top of the market (California wages notwithstanding) for someone with my level of experience.

unless you are dead set on a particular hospital I strongly recommend that you do negotiate. It’s not insulting to ask for $10k more and then end up getting $5k more. Remember your starting point now determines your career path for salary, particularly if you end up staying with the institution. You are a valuable worker for the hospital- own it. I wish I had negotiated my first job.