Annaiya NP

I've been in my job for almost a year and a half and have lost some of my time off because we aren't able to take any of it due to a lack of staffing. I finally get two days off in March and those will be my first. I'm guessing most places aren't thi...

I really think it depends when it comes to floor experience prior to the ICU. Honestly, pedsnurse22, it sounds like the PICU isn't a good fit for you. IMO, floor experience isn't going to make you feel more comfortable taking care of unstable kids....

I've seen many nursing students say they want to do PICU, because they enjoy it so much while they're there. There is a lot of "cool" stuff and tons of things to learn. You only have 1-2 patients to take care of, so it seems less overwhelming than ...

How do you do on the practice exams? Is there a certain type of question you seem to get wrong? Are you reading the questions too fast and missing key information? Have you tried doing the underlining thing, so you are underlining the important inf...

Before you apply/start an NP program, be sure it's what you want to do. It's good you're asking questions here, because it sucks to start and then realize you want to do something else. I mention this, because you are talking about FNPs that work i...

My work is 1.2 miles from me. I walk to work every day and it's amazing. I can't imagine having to drive to work anymore, lol.

The interview for my job (hospital based PNP) was 1 full day and 1 half day. I interviewed with 8 of the physicians one-on-one, rounded in the units in the morning, had a group NP meeting time, and then had individual interviews with my manager, two...

I took 2 months off after boards and it was great. Just keep in mind it can take a long time to get your license and prescriptive authority and credentialing done. I got my job offer in April, took boards in June and my licensing and credentialing ...

I did not have proctored exams. Our exams were open book, but you had very little time to answer the questions, so if you didn't know the content you would not pass. Passing was 85% or greater.

I actually thought the CCRN exam was harder, so don't worry too much, lol. But you need to study a lot. The hard part is the content covers so much information. I used about 7 different sources for studying, my school did a review class and I felt my...

Your school should be helping you with this. CVs are more common than resumes, because you can't fit everything on one page. Do not include your preceptor's name. You can also check out the career forum. They have a lot of good information there.

Hi all, I'm looking for resources on managing a patient on ECMO. Also, a detailed explanation of circuit anticoagulation therapy and how to manage it would be great (this could be ECMO specific or CVVH would be fine too, just trying to understand an...

I'm trying to understand the management better. Where I used to work they paid more attention to ACTs and where I am now follows the anti Xa's but still checks ACTs and PTTs. And then I'm not sure where the AT III comes in which is also checked. Is t...

If you know what area you want to work in, concentrate your clinical hours there. It helped a lot when I started my job. And ask your preceptors for feedback on your performance. It can help you know what to focus on.

I was worried about dealing with "gross stuff" as a nurse before I started school and you definitely end up in situations as a nursing student that are gross. However, if you have a genuine concern and compassion for people you quickly realize that i...

My clinical experience was completely unstructured. I had to turn in a certain number of notes every semester and I had to do 50 hours of primary care. Other than that, I could do whatever I wanted. For me, this was great. I was able to structure my ...

I say take the extra 4 weeks and ask them for specific expectations that they want you to meet in that time. Are you not seeing enough patients in a day? Are your notes not done fast enough? Them telling you only that your time management isn't where...

I think no experience is fine when you're working in a family practice office because what you're doing is so different from what an RN in a hospital does. I think you need to expect to have to work harder in NP school because you'll have less of a f...

I, like many people on here, worked full-time during my NP program. I did school part-time so it took an extra 2 semesters but it's doable. Also a lot of hospitals have tuition reimbursement which can help reduce the cost.

There are lots of good online schools. However generally all of them require a good GPA. As for specific schools, it depends on what type of NP you want to be. Not all schools offer all programs.

The best advice I've ever gotten was from my unit educator who told me to focus on what I do know instead of what I don't know. It is a simple change in your thinking that can make a huge difference in your confidence. When you come across somethin...

What about looking at a telephone RN job? Something like diabetes management and education, smoking cessation? I used to work with an insurance company that employed RNs for these jobs. You could do health education, use your RN degree, have no st...

In some areas the FNP market is over saturated already. Just do what you want, because that is what will make you happy. And you are better prepared to care for kids as a PNP than you are as an FNP.

The PICU is not a unit where you can just step in and start doing things, so communicate a lot with your preceptor. Show an interest and willingness to learn and that will help. Hopefully you will have some sick assignments so you can get a feel for ...