daisychains11

Thank you for your reply I appreciate it. How are you liking your first job?

I am thinking of becoming an NP, but I really would only want to work at a college/university student health center because of the flexibility and summers off, and also the population and type of work interests me and I have experience in it. I have been looking around at current jobs and the salaries and benefits they offer, not all tend to say the salary and also whether summers are off. Does anyone work in this, and/or have knowledge of it, and what I can generally expect in terms of pay and school breaks off? Thank you.

How is the pay?

Valid point! I do like seeing kids and adults. I also like the poster above's comments, yours is great as well. Important to keep in mind that I often come back to this idea. Thank you ? Good points. It is both factors for me, the rewarding aspect and the money aspect. It is true that there are other areas of nursing that make the same or similar. I do not want to be a CRNA so that isn't an option for me. What do you guys do in a non-clinical role? Teaching, leadership, management, etc? JW. Good point about the risk taken as a provider.

Hi, Thanks in advance for reading this. I became a nurse 4 years ago. When I went to nursing school my original goal was to become a nurse practitioner, likely family nurse practitioner. It is still something that interests me a lot but I have been dissuaded by a few people who have said that it is nor worth it for the amount of money you get for the amount of work that you put in. To be fair one of the people who said this is a medical doctor. But because of this, I have not applied to NP programs. But I still think I would find it rewarding, and it would still pay more than what I am making now as a staff nurse. I looked into psych NP also because they are supposed to make the most, but that seems like a very intense job with an even larger burden of dealing with many people's psychiatric situations including complex ones. Any current NPs in any speciality or ones who were in the past or nurses with knowledge/thoughts on this? Thanks!

Hi, Thanks in advance for reading this. I became a nurse 4 years ago. When I went to nursing school my original goal was to become a nurse practitioner, likely family nurse practitioner. It is still something that interests me a lot but I have been dissuaded by a few people who have said that it is nor worth it for the amount of money you get for the amount of work that you put in. To be fair one of the people who said this is a medical doctor. But because of this, I have not applied to NP programs. But I still think I would find it rewarding, and it would still pay more than what I am making now as a staff nurse. I looked into psych NP also because they are supposed to make the most, but that seems like a very intense job with an even larger burden of dealing with many people's psychiatric situations including complex ones. Any current NPs in any speciality or ones who were in the past or nurses with knowledge/thoughts on this? Thanks!

Hi! I am a nurse doing my master's degree right now, and I will be done in a year. I have 2 years of experience as a school nurse and at a post-acute rehab facility. I have been interested in doing nursing informatics. Do I have enough experience? Do I need more? To be honest I am ready to switch to informatics. Are there people going into the field without very much experience? I have job experience working in IT as well, from before I became a nurse. Thanks!

I have not been able to find online if one can do both of these programs.

In general yes but there are some districts/organizations that pay school nurses more and your experience will also likely mean you will be paid higher than others.

Oh okay, thanks! When I said PSLF is more reliable likely I meant Nursing Corps is likely more reliable than PSLF.

I've heard that about government loan forgiveness, PSLF is likely more reliable. Yes at this point it is too late to backtrack. For now I am working as a nurse and if I find it financially feasible to become an NP then I will. Don't some hospitals also pay for nurses to become NPs?

There are many in Massachusetts. Some of them involve you working as a nurse for a year but not all. It is good experience anyways to work as a nurse before becoming an NP.

I am not aware of direct-entry MSN programs in Canada but maybe they do exist. There are many in Massachusetts, and also in Florida and California and New York.

Hi, It makes a big difference how big the district is, and what the culture is like. I worked for a year at a district with only 2 schools. It could still be incredibly busy, in fact usually I was! Which was good. The culture wasn't a good fit for me. I wouldn't worry about that though as it isn't necessarily a common situation, many school districts are nice environments. A day looked like working in the nurse's office at one of the schools helping sick/injured kids. When not doing patient care I was either documenting, doing case management in regards to medication and/or medical conditions, setting up or doing staff training, making sure the health room is organized and stocked, immunizations management, attending meetings... School nursing is rewarding, fun, and interesting. I do not regret my time as a school nurse. I sure hope you work with nice people and get a lot of reward from it. Your experience will help you a lot, both in terms of your knowledge and in terms of your credibility.

Hi, I am a new nurse that started out in a rehab facility and then as a school nurse. Your med/surge and hospital experience will help you a lot as a school nurse, because you will have more knowledge of medical conditions and emergency care. In school nursing you have more autonomy than as a bedside nurse, as you are the (usually) sole healthcare staff in the school/schools/district. That has its ups and downs. Mostly ups if you are working with nice people. Things in general move more slowly as compared to bedside nursing, but there are days that are non-stop in school nursing too. I have enjoyed it a lot and hopefully you will too.

I have heard this from people in my life and also online when I say I want to continue on from nursing to NP. I don't understand this logic. Nurses don't make enough for what they do either! Isn't it about people doing what interests them? Most people want to be making more than they do. Is this really a good argument and reason to not be a nurse practitioner?

I am not really concerned, I plan to work either 10 years in a non-profit/government site, or nursing corps loan forgiveness.

I appreciate that perspective but if I want to be an NP I don't mind. I will also work hard to get scholarships and grants to do my best to not go over 200k in completing my program. PCP MD/DOs who often make the same as NPs often have the same amount of debt. I am not so worried about, and I also plan to do some type of loan forgiveness program hopefully. I know for me it is most important that I feel happy and fulfilled and then I can pay off my debt working hard happily. I will say, someone told me about travel nurse jobs paying a ton, like 60k in 3 months, so I may look into that and seeing if I can pay off/down debt before NP school. Otherwise its not worth my time to work 10 years and delay what I want.

Hi, Thanks for your comment. Yes, I can imagine that there are many nurses who relate to this thread for one reason or another, so an update is helpful. I found Nurse Liz months ago and liked her. I should watch more of her videos. I have been working as a nurse for about 2 years. The bullying situation isn't as bad/I'm not affected by it as much as when I wrote this. The person who has done the most of the bullying has proven to be someone with some kind of personality disorder who mistreats others as well, so I no longer take it personally. The other people who have been rude to me, I can also see its more about their control issues than me. I think its the culture of the place I work. Also about being willing to do secretarial work as a nurse- there is nursing informatics which is more desk work.

Thank you so much!

Thank you that means a lot! xoxoxo

An update: I have decided to go ahead with being a nurse practitioner, after realizing how much I enjoy this field and that some of the bullying I've experienced are just part of life that can happen anywhere. ❤️

WOW! Is scrappy? Man, you're like classic example of exactly what I am talking about. Prob a huge jerk in real life who picks on the new ones. All of these responses are ***. I am talking about yelling and insulting. THIS ISN'T ABOUT MY WEAKNESSES. BULLYING IS BULLYING. WOW!. Man I would not want to hang out with any of you in real life.

I didn't say everywhere I go. I have had multiple jobs before starting nursing. It has started in nursing. Is every nursing professor or nurse I've ever met a bully? No, but I have come across several unlike in any other field. The common denominator is not me, the common denominator is that research verifies there is a lot of bullying in the healthcare field. I hope you aren't blaming yourself for any bullying. You're not thinking straight. It came out wrong. I meant to write many nurses or something and then I didn't feel like editing it. Gosh, you're a nurse, stop being so sensitive! (Joking, poking fun at nurse bullying)

I mean, I do get advice on how to do deal with bullies. It's a chronic issue because there is something wrong with nurses. I hope you are not suggesting that there is a problem with my interpersonal skills. The attacks I have had reflect more on those people...