mncarlisle

Hi, I'm not in the FNP program/didn't apply, but my mom is currently in the all online FNP program. She is able to manage working part-time while in the program (she could probably do full time but she doesn't want to add more stress). I am only commenting on this thread to say: the pharmacology class that is in the 2nd or 3rd semester is absolutely horrible. Watching my mom go through this class (as a nursing student myself) has been rough. The professor does not give or post any supplemental material (powerpoints, notes, etc.). He simply tells the class which chapters are going to be on the next exam and holds zoom sessions for questions I believe. His exams typically include an obscene number of chapters (10+) and you're essentially teaching yourself while reading the textbook. I have personally sat in for one of the zoom sessions, and he has been extremely rude and dismissive. When someone asks a question for clarification, he would reply with things like "you should know that so I'm not answering it" or "Refer to your textbook" but would never actually answer the questions some students had. Because most people in the program with my mom are still working as well, they have found it easiest to make a group and divide up the chapters for each person to take notes for and then share it with the group, so that you don't waste as much time. EX: 18 chapters on exam 1, group of 6 people, each person reads & takes good notes for 3 chapters and then they all share. That has seemed to help her anxiety a little bit. But, he only leaves his exams open for 24 hours (and I mean 12:00am to 11:59pm). He did not open canvas up for students until the 1st day of class this semester (so they couldn't see their schedule or required textbook, etc) and they had their 1st exam 2 weeks in I believe. This caused a LOT of problems for the students because a lot of them (my mom included) were scheduled to work that day (because you guys know how nursing schedules work, 1 month at a time) and there was nothing they could do about it. He told them it was open for 24 hours so they would have time to take the exam AFTER they finished their shifts, and refused to move it to a different day or allow certain students to take it on their day off. The next part I'll make short: exam scores were bad, multiple people emailed him to ask him to post supplemental material or literally anything else to help and he kept saying no. A student typed up a document detailing everything that was concerning/frustrating to the class, the entire class signed it virtually, and I believe she sent a copy of it to the dean or the head of the department (I'm not sure). I don't know what happened from there, but I do know that nothing has changed in terms of how many chapters they get per exam, the exam time format, and the lack of other materials. I'm not trying to scare/discourage anyone, I'm just trying to warn you guys so you don't end up getting screwed over by him, and so you can hopefully have a plan for how yall want to tackle his class (in groups, alone, etc), and to be aware of the potential work conflict with that first exam. Other than that novel, she likes the FNP program so good luck to everyone that was accepted!! Don't let bad professors discourage you!! You're all going to be amazing.

I just want to say I'm a third year nursing student currently, and I can't help but think about the same thing when exams come around. Most of my professors proctor our exams via zoom so it would be really difficult to cheat in those classes, but I do have 1 or 2 that don't proctor at all and I know so many people cheat/don't study. I personally agree with the other 2 people who commented as well. I always remind myself that you pretty much learn about the same general things over & over again in nursing school, but it gets increasingly more detailed and difficult each semester. So, the kids who aren't studying this semester are honestly doing themselves a disservice because they are going to be extremely behind next semester (or whatever semester we're finally allowed back in class). You have amazing self-discipline and take your learning and schoolwork seriously, that's something to be super proud of. You are going to thank yourself for putting the time in now, not only when next semester comes around, but also in a few years when you take the NCLEX. All of these people that are cheating are missing a large chunk of information that will be on the NCLEX so they're either going to fail or have to cram extra studying in beforehand. I am genuinely impressed by your dedication and hope you continue to put in the work now, not only for you, but for your future patients. It's worth it. Keep going, stay disciplined, and no matter how difficult some of these classes get, stay motivated :))

I'm a nursing student currently but want/need to get an ICU job once I graduate (prequalification for a graduate program) so I asked around about this a little bit. The most common response that I got was they'd rather have baby nurses right out of school in the ICU because they have to be trained (completely) and they haven't learned any bad nursing habits yet (that you would learn from working in a different specialty). In my area, you are way more likely to be hired for an ICU position with no experience vs. someone with years of ED/MedSurg/etc. experience. My mom has been a nurse for about 18 years now, has been charge and/or had some other type of leadership role at every single job she's had, and she applied to numerous ICU/more critical care units last year and she was turned away from every single one because she had been a nurse for so long but had no previous ICU experience. (She ended up getting a job in the ER) I guess the assumption is that breaking the bad habits of a nurse with experience is more difficult, time-consuming, and dangerous (in their eyes) than training a new nurse from scratch.