SweetRN007

Hey guys ! I'm really trying to get more insight on Goodwin university's online nurse practitioner program ? If anyone that has been through their psych or pmhnp program can you fill me in? is it really doable as they claim it is while working full time? It's a part time program that can be done in 2 years but how is the workload ? how are the classes especially patho, pharm, and physical assessment ? Do they provide power points , study guides , instruction? thank you!

Nurse_love - you will do just fine !! Although you will have a lot more autonomy ... You will find it much easier than your current job ... I will start home health on the first of October .. But I currently work as a Rn supervisor in a assisted living facility all by myself .. I am the only nurse .. I have to do the med pass , respond to an emergency for the whole house which has over 150 residents , and critically think on my own .. There are no lpns or RNs besides me .. All I have is CNAs under me and sometimes they drive me crazy ... Its hard to be on your own and take the iniative ... But its possible ..But I've always felt scared to death with the the thought of ICU nurses job and how they handle so many drips at one given time .. I haven't ever worked in a hospital .. Just ltc nursing homes and assisted living --- So I feel like I really need to get my feet wet in a hospital floor...I will be starting the hh job in two weeks and will keep everyone posted on how it goes :)

Sorry to hear what happened to you... That was certainly disgusting!! I could imagine everything in my mind as I was reading your post .. I would've been grossed out also .. try to take it easy ... We all have bad days .. Don't be too harsh on yourself , nurses are very well needed ..you might want to go back into the hospital or work in a outpatient clinic which might be less stressful than a hospital ... **Hugs**

the salary for the position was almost 72,000 which includes compensation for gas, they dont pay extra for mileage ...i shadowed with a nurse for two days, the second day in six hours we had only seen 7 patients and still needed to see 5 more... they were a mix of skilled visits and med admins, about 5 were skilled and 7 were med admin visits...there was a lot of driving... i just told the company I cant do all that driving and resigned...and the better news is, i just got a job with another agency better and bigger agency (new england home care) that has a quota of 30 visits a week which is the norm, 6 visits a day for a 40 hour week.. which is a lot more reasonable thanks everyone for the input , im so glad i wont be working with them and driving all over the place ..

Chuckster: And i think what you are saying is very true . Even if all 12 patients were a mix of med admins and some skilled dsg changes and treatments in thr same facility it can still take 8 hrs easily to do all the work and chart and how do they expect to add travel time and charting to the mix

Thanks everyone for replies and great input!! i shadowed with a nurse today, and visited her patients with her.. she had about 9 med admins and 3 skilled visits.... the med admins were fairly quick...they were title 19 patients here in CT who are behavioral health patients that are non compliant with their meds so they need the meds adminstered by a nurse... being a case manager she has to order meds if they run low, re stock supplies, do recerts , admissions, transfers, discharges , she starts at 6 am and finishes her visits by 1pm, and then goes home to tons of charting... i think im going to tell this place that i just want to do to per diem... they r in for their profit...the lpns go well over twelve visits some do as much as 18-30 med admins a day which include bid meds...but they dont have the case management portion, and they work crazy hours... i cant see myself doing that and risking my license, and being a RN i would have to do the case management part which would be really hard..

Thanks for your replies ... The agency seems to think that I should be fine because they are mostly med admins ... But it does include recerts, weekly vitals and wound measuring ect :..I will definitely ask the nurse who I will be shadowing how she does it.. But I also think 60 visits is too much in a 40 hour week ..do u guys have med admin visits or prepourin ur mix of daily visits? What kind of patients are u seeing daily?

Ive been offered a job with a home care agency to do sixty visits a week per their quota. It will be for a RN case manager with mix of mostly med admins, SOCs, recerts, transfers and discharges. ... The company seems to think I wont have a problem at all meeting that quota and most nurses go well over the quota and earn extra money for going over. I will have to do 12 visits a day ... some of behavioral health med admins and and some a skilled visits .. but most agencies here in CT are requiring 25 or 30 visits a week ..making five or six visits a day... which sounds alot more possible than sixty visits.. do you think i will be able to handle sixty visits a week, i will be sallaried, and the salary includes my money for gas.

I am so sorry to hear that you still havent found a job. What county of Connecticut do you live in that it has became this difficult for you to find a job. I mean ANY job.. have you tried everything possible.. I think a Nursing Home would be a better try for you initially , since you are a new grad. You can build your foundation where it is more stable, chronic, long term care, and get your one year experience on your belt. Then you can move on to a hospital. This way you can build your confidence in the nursing home and not be considedered a "new grad" when entering a hospital job. You know how in nursing school, we were taught any time you change jobs you are a novice, so once you go into a hospital, they will put you on orientation again, so dont worry that you will forget your skills in a nursing home. Just go for it, try to find a job at a nursing home. If not there, then try a doctor's office. Go to monster.com and apply to all the jobs. Atleast start some per diem job, or something like that. I mean LOOK EVERYWHERE rather than only hospitals. Hope I helped.

Thank you everyone for replying to my thread with your assurances and well wishes. My sister's baby is doing excellent, he is almost 37 weeks, and is catching up to his due date which was April 20th... he is out of his isollete and is in a crib..they are increasing bottle feeds slowly day by day... his IVH stayed where it was and is not causing any harm... the picture looks perfect ...this is because of everyone's prayers... thank you so much again!!

Yes you are right Janfrn, they are giving him cafeine to help with the apnea.. and as you said, the blood transfusions are because of so many labs he gets drawn which are making him anemic.. So far the baby's hanging in there.. but my sis told me that his grade 1 IVH turned into a grade 2 IVH.. so they are monitoring it.. .. we are worried about that.. hes a little fighter.. he is off of phototherapy.. and he is only on 21 percent oxygen on his cpap.. which means he is doing excellent on the respitory side.. i hope all stays well.. i will keep you guys posted..

Thank you for sharing your personal story with me... its always great to hear about success stories from preemies themselves that know it better than us all.... my sis's baby needs blood transfusions.. im not exactly sure why... she was saying that its because of the apnea spells?.. and he is going to be put on the ventilator again.. cuz he keeps forgetting to breath... but how does that have a connection with a blood transfusion... his pda is 75 %closed... so hopefully the med (indomecin... if thats how you spell it) might do that trick... he was off photo therapy lights, but bilirubbin started to go up again.. so hes back on the lights... other than that, he is stable.. i guess all this is part of the "roller coaster"

Thank you guys, so far, so good, he is now 10 days old... and is fighting everyday.. he still has the photo therapy lights, and is doing good. They have started giving him very small amounts of breast milk and are monitoring him for any signs of infection , but things are looking great so far... everyone's prayers are really helping... i will keep you all posted :)

Thank you for the heart warming reply... you are right... .. thats all im doing is supporting my sister and loving my nephew... i havent been down for the last few days, cuz ive run down with flu.. and i dont want to bring any germs to the hospital.. my sis still hasnt been discharged.. since she keeps getting unexplained fevers.. please keep the baby and her in your prayers :)

Hey Nicu Nurses.. My sis just delivered a 24 week and 2 day baby on Jan 1st... she had an infection that caused her to go into preterm labor.her baby was 751 grams at birth.. . today her baby is a week old... she asked the doc when the baby was 4 1/2 days old about what the survival odds for the baby were.. and he said 50/50... .. the baby is doing good so far.. he is on cpap.. therefore hes breathing on his own... although he forgets to breath sometimes, and the alarms go off... once hes stimulated he starts to breath again... docs said that every day is a new day... what does that mean?... how do 24 weekers do on your units... do all survive? if not... what are causes of death... ... ?.. im so worried for my sis... i hope her baby makes it.. but it scares me that the doc says that every day is a new day.. so far.. he had a grade 1 IVH.. i dont know how thats doing.. he had a PDA trying to close with meds.. and now they are doing blood work to see if he has any infection... he is on a cpap.. and is getting some breast milk ...docs say he is doing good on the respitory side.. he has jaundice... therefore hes on phototherapy... how does the picture look to you guys?