VTBabyNurse

I'm a WHNP who had no interest in FNP because I knew I loved OB/GYN. However, being specialized does limit your opportunities. If you like other things besides Women's Health, I recommend staying in FNP! That way if an OB/GYN job is hard to find, you have other options. Sometimes I think I should have started with FNP because WHNP jobs are limited. But I do love what I do and I have no interest in doing anything else :)

I am an NP in Women's Health near Northern Virginia (depends on your definition of Northern Virginia). I can tell you according to ADVANCE for NPs, the average hourly pay is $50 (for part-time). They say the average salary from 2014 in Virginia was $97,000. I have been working as an NP in Women's Health for 4+ years. At a local health dept I make $39 (ouch). I make $47 working prn for a university medical center, and a private practice recently agreed to pay me $50 (part-time). Hope this helps and welcome to the area.

What are our general thoughts about non-compete agreements for those of us NPs who cannot practice independently? Is it reasonable for an employer to not allow you to work for a year and within 30 miles of their practice if you left? I signed one that was for 18 months and 25 miles for my first private practice job. I was so unhappy there but felt trapped. I eventually quit and now I travel an hour away from home. I have a new offer close to home that sounds great except they say their non-compete is not negotiable. After what I want through before I don't want to sign and may turn it down just because of this reason. I would like to know if other NPs are accepting this as standard or fighting it? Thanks!

Has anyone heard of/practiced giving newborns Vit K PO? We have a patient who is requesting it so the baby won't get a painful injection. (Ironically, also wants to circumcise the baby). Anyway, since we have all seen many a birth plan...I thought someone else might have heard of this. Thanks!

I just graduated from an online program in December. It took me 5 months to find a job but I did WHNP

Does anyone have any information on the typical NP starting salary in the Northern VA area..specifically Fredericksburg/Stafford? Or know where I can find a good resource? Most of the websites I have found are the "average" NP salaries which don't take into account years of experience or speciality. I need help with negotiating my first job offer! Thanks :) :)

Thanks for all of your feedback. I can't discuss the details of the situation in too much depth in case someone is familiar with the situation...but the nurse never had a history of med errors. I wasn't implying that she wasn't equally responsible. Both of the nurses made a mistake and on a hard, hectic day like this was one, it can happen very easily if you aren't careful. I do think the situation could have been handled better. At my facility we have a computerized method of giving meds...verified by several people before actually administering the medication. This is much safer for patients, but not all hospitals have adopted this way of medication administration. I think it was a good point made that you feel pressured to not take your time and verify the 5 rights with your co-workers. You don't want to insult the other person, however, we all know you should CYOB. I guess it surprised me you can be fired for any reason, or no reason. Just wonder if this person is going to have trouble getting a job now.

Hi everyone, If you are the nurse who verified a wrong med dose because you werent being careful and the pt. was given too much of a drug by another nurse, but the pt. didnt have any harm and you checked the pt, called the doc and monitored the pt...should you be fired for that??? Or can you be reported to the board of nursing? I always thought med errors were something every nurse does..and this nurse was fired on the spot. Very confused...thoughts?

1) Last week at the office a soon to be mom at 39 weeks said "If I don't have my baby this week I will be devastated! My mom is only here for a week!". Um sorry, the baby doesn't go on your mother's timetable, or yours. He will get here when he's ready. She's being induced now.... 2) A couple of week ago we were checking the baby's blood sugar and the dad said, "it ought to be good, I haven't had any sodas today." I wanted to say "wow you are dumb". 3) When they bring the baby to the nursery so they can go outside to smoke I wish I could say "sorry, the nursery is closed!" 4) One time this mom told me that her WIC appointment wasn't for a week so I needed to give her a week's worth of formula to take home. I wanted to say "Um, if you can't feed your baby for a week shouldn't you be saving your money instead of going down to the cafeteria to buy yourself a sub?" Or how about, "if you can't feed your baby for a week maybe you should give up your cell phone".

So it's the middle of my second semseter and I decided to look on the boards and found lots of replies to a thread I posted last semester that I wasn't aware of! How are things this semseter? I am more convinced that this is right for me even though it's difficult at times. Is anyone else having to do patient actor scenarios? I just did mine last weekend..stressful..but turned out okay. I still have my days when I feel like a total idiot. But overall, I am liking it better.

As far as studying....whenever I am not working my 24 hours a week, I am at home doing some type of work, whether it is reading, studying, projects, papers, etc. But, I am also taking 6 classes, so I feel like if I don't spend all that time doing things then I will get behind.

There has been a lot of talk about PDAs. My program doesn't require one...and I know nothing about them. Does anyone suggest them? And what programs do you have on them? Do they make your life any easier?

At least in your patho class you are starting at the beginning with the cell My program threw me right into immunology. I had to go back and look up the def. of an interleukin, among other things. My book is very detailed, and I keep reading it and going "what did that just say?". It makes me feel dumb that I can't seem to understand it when I first read it.

Thanks so much for the comments! I think that makes sense about feeling overwhelmed at first when you learn about everything you have to do. I decided to stick it out and try to get myself together. Thanks so much for the encouragment everyone! LeesieBug good luck in school. It's nice to know somewhere, someone is feeling the same as me. I really recommend part time!!! Even going part time, I wish I had less hours to work, but that's not an option for me.

Yes the papers are horrendous!!! We have to write a proposal for a research project...a paper that is stretched out over 3 semesters. I couldn't care less about designing a research project either, and I can't even come up with a topic right now that I would be interested in absorbing myself in for three semseters. Oh yeah, and I have papers in most of my other classes. They must really want to weed out people this semseter!