texasfnp

Wow, you sound like me 13 years ago! I went to FNP school and by the third semester, was wondering what in the world I was doing. I really liked the book learning, but the clinicals didn't excite me. I thought, "Really, I have to rush from room to room trying to figure out a person's complaint and make him happy?" But, I finished at the top of my class. I hated to leave my RN job, but felt I must give my advanced education a try. So, I tried, and tried, and tried, but 13 years and 4 clinical settings later, went back to work full-time as an RN. It's been a year, and I guiltily admit that I don't miss the NP work at all. Truth be told, NP is a completely different role than the RN role. They are nothing alike. Just because you enjoy nursing, does not mean you will enjoy working as an NP. I felt like a mini-doctor, and that is never what I really wanted to be. Currently, in my RN job, my paychecks are bigger than when I worked as an NP. I don't consider returning to RN as a step down at all, in any way. I'd like to get a post-master's certificate in some other concentration sometime down the line. So, I suppose my point is, no, your feelings are not unusual and no, they may not go away when you start full-time practice. I was just tired of being miserable in a role that just did not fit me. I wish you the best of luck in the future.

It is easy to get a prepaid cell phone for the school, and have a separate number for them to call. But, I think you mentioned another concern as to why you answer the phone, and that is that they may have a question about something that happened during your shift. I started getting these sorts of calls, mainly the nurse who took my group of patient would call me to clarify something I said during report. Mostly, it was, "I forgot what you told me...." or, "What did you tell me about this patient...." I figured out pretty quickly that many nurses would rather pick up the phone and call you instead of actually paying attention during report or researching a problem themselves to find the answer. What I realized is that I am not on-call after I leave the facility. I am not obligated to answer any questions or to clarify anything or especially, to tell a nurse something AGAIN, because she wasn't paying attention during report. What I do to avoid any calls based upon something I may have missed, is to go over my med charting like crazy before I leave. Making sure everything is signed off, especially insulins and IV antibiotics. But really, my point is, once we clock out, we are off the clock! If you documented your meds properly and gave them as ordered, passed on any new orders to the oncoming nurse, you should not have to answer any questions during the day. The important thing is to be able to let go of it. We all worry about making a big mistake, but really, once you leave you couldn't fix it anyway. So, we need to let go and just go to bed. Once they realize you are not going to answer and not return their calls (until a reasonable time), they will stop calling.

I would go with the night shift job, no hesitation. I have 2 children and could not imagine the misery in having to rotate days and nights. It isn't easy, worrying about child care, sicknesses, and the toll it takes on you having to switch shifts. It takes the mind and body a few months to adjust to nocs, but after that it is quite enjoyable. Switching back and forth every 6 weeks can lead to endless fatigue, on top of the fatigue of parenting. The cardiac experience will be great, you will learn plenty, and I'm sure you'll float occasionally to the Med-Surg floor and you'll learn plenty there too. There are many skills to be gained on a cardiac floor. Best wishes to you!

I think it is easier to get your MO license and then apply for endorsement with Texas. After you take the NCLEX and pass it, you can complete the online endorsement application on Texas board website, which will give you a temporary license (in 10 days) that is good for 120 days. After you get the temp license, you have to do the fingerprinting, jurisprudence exam, and so forth. But you can work. They do want a Texas driver's license so you'd want to get that quickly. Having a MO license also allows you to work for 30 days in Texas, since they are both compact states. During that time, you'd do your online application for your license. That being said, Texas is NOT easy to get things done quickly. I came from NE and it took about 3 months to get my permanent license (and that was before fingerprinting, and so on). The application for your temp license can be submitted online, just take the NCLEX and get a TX DL first. The Texas Board is called Texas State Board of Nurse Examiners if you want to google it. Best of luck!

Well, I would recommend that if you scored below an 80 overall, it would be wise to repeat the course. A solid Med-Surg foundation is critical when it comes to passing the NCLEX. As I recall, Med-Surg was the most demanding of all of my clinical courses. If there is one to fail, that would be the course. I also recall a couple of my classmates retaking it, and they went on to graduate. Before you register for it again, try and sit down and make a list of what you think went wrong, and how you can address them. If it looks doable, then go ahead and register for it again. If not, then you would need to re-evaluate your long-term plans. You may also want to sit down with a faculty member in the nursing department and discuss the situation and see if he/she has any recommendations. Best of luck!

I have worked at a community health center for 7 years and find them to be very receptive to older NPs/PAs. It really isn't an issue here at all. You might want to check out the health departments, public health, community health centers, and so forth. They tend to be short staffed due to the fact that they pay less than the private sector, but they are still enjoyable places to work.

No problem and best of luck!

(I changed my user name from barlowbar:) Unfortunately, I was not eligible to receive any bonus because I had received a National Health Service Corps Scholarship. I had to serve 3 years to pay them back. After I left, I started working for a community health center, and am still here! Community health centers do qualify (most of them) for loan repayment, if you need loans paid off. It is a world of difference from working with USPHS, big time. The pay and benefits are not as good, but the autonomy, respect and freedom in your "off" time is worth much more to me.

If it is a tough job market, I would take it and stay about a year. After that, it will be a lot easier to move on. If the job market is more friendly in your area, I would not take it. No health insurance is unacceptable, and as a newbie it is very hard to make the goals to earn any profit-sharing. The doc needs to add you to his malpractice policy at his expense. So, if there are no other options, I would take it for the experience only. Otherwise, keep looking.

I joined the USPHS right after graduating from NP school and ran away screaming after I finished my 3 year obligation. It was horrendous. I worked for DIHS, which is immigration health services. It was a high-stress environment, as the NPs are expected to carry the workload. If the patients are very complicated, an MD is available to see them, but the main role of the MD at our facility (or medical director) was administrative work. The call was difficult, as it went on for a week at a time (so not much sleep for a week). The benefits are excellent, with plenty of leave time (in theory only, because we were always too short to take our leave), free medical, that sort of thing. NOT worth it, from my standpoint. I wish it had been a better experience, but the pay and benefits were just not worth it. Hope that helps.

I had the same problem trying to find my preceptors when in my program. I called at least 20 or more practices before getting 2 "yes" responses! What worked is I didn't ask to talk to the preceptor, I talked instead to the office manager, who then spoke to the preceptor and it was the office manager who arranged the whole thing. That approach may work for you as well. Good luck and best wishes.

I received a scholarship from National Health Service Corps that paid all the tuition plus a monthly stipend. It was a major relief to receive it. After graduation, I had to work for 3 years in an underserved area. But I am loan free! NHSC also provides loan repayment which is quite generous. You apply for it after graduation and it pays $25,000 a year for the first 2 years, then a smaller amount yearly after that.