Murse7

nothing, just not for me. Not interested in primary care, or children/children's parents. The ER was enough of that for me, haha.

Hi all. I'm starting the preclinical phase of an ADN program this fall, and am strongly considering advanced practice nursing. A couple of the nurses I work with are in ACNP school, and it sounds like what I would consider pursuing (interested in either that or CRNA, definitely no FNP ). I've looked into various programs and am familiar in the settings ACNPs work in and the training, and now I'd like to hear from actual ACNPs Where do you work (ICU, ER, etc)? What role do you play in that setting? How much autonomy do you have? Do you get to see patients from admission to discharge? What procedures do you do? Any other information about your career as an ACNP would be helpful. Thanks!

Sounds good. I'm pretty familiar with the medical school application process (strongly considered it), and I'm sure that none of the 131 AAMC accredited medical schools offer an MSN to MD program. They are pretty strict on not accepting credits from non-medical schools, or advanced standing for PAs/NPs, and that one must complete the pre-med sequence and the MCAT to gain admission. The only exceptions are accelerated programs that accept you out of high school (BS or BA/MD programs) or early assurance programs for undergrads with very high overall and science GPAs. If anything, there would be a PA to MD program first, as the course structure is more transferable to MD schools.

we're talking about MSN to Doctor of Medicine programs? None of the accredited American allopathic medical schools have MSN to MD.

There are no MSN to MD programs. If one would like to become a physician, they need to complete the pre-med requirements, take the MCAT, and apply and attend an MD or DO school. There are no shortcuts.

I start pre-clinical phase in the fall, and I've been an ER tech for two years, and an EMT for a a year before that. I've seen and interacted with various types of nurses, including ER, ICU, med/surg, and OBGYN, and am really attracted to ICU and ER. I was considering med school, however I'm just really more attracted to nursing and advocating for the profession.

As a CNA or tech considering nursing or any other health care education, you should be constantly paying attention to what is happening on your unit, as this will help you immensely in school. This is what motivates me to go to work each day. The job may be tedious, and not as intellectual as what we really want to do, but the learning process is what makes it great, from patients, nurses, doctors, etc. Read the charts, learn a little more about the patient so it doesn't seem like if you're just doing "tasks". Ask the nurses and doctors to explain things. I think this will help me so much when i start nursing school.

Yes, you can be a nursing major and pre-med. You can be pre-med and any major, as long as you fulfill the pre-med course requirements. I've known a few nursing students that were also pre-med, as they didn't know what they wanted to do, or wanted the clinical experience. For the latter, I'd say just do CNA or EMT-B, and you can get clinical experience a lot sooner. Also, they may ask why you were a nursing major and pre-med if you don't intend on practicing nursing. I worked with one nurse that is now applying to med school, and his brother was a nurse and is in med school now. From looking at many nursing programs, the science courses do not fulfill the pre-med requirements, or all of them. The pre-med requirements are: -1 year of General Biology with Lab -1 year of General Chemistry with Lab -1 year of Organic Chemistry with Lab -1 year of General Physics with Lab -1 year of English -some ask for a semester or year of Mathematics Nursing programs typically do not ask for a year of General Biology, but a year of Anatomy and Physiology, which does not count for the General Biology requirements usually. Chemistry in nursing school also varies, and none require 1 year of general chemistry and 1 year of organic chemistry. Some will have a "general and organic chemistry" or "general, organic, and biochemistry" course for health students, and this does not fulfill the chemistry requirements. It has to be chemistry for science majors, and its a year of each type of intro chemistry. Some nursing schools will allow you to substitute the pre-med sciences for nursing sciences (such as General and Organic for the health science chemistry). Also note that the nursing science courses, like patho and pharm, will not be included in your science GPA, as they will be counted as "allied health". You may get away with it if it's in the biology department, but usually it isn't. Hope that helps everyone! (old thread)

So I've been nursing-obsessive lately (excited for school to start), and I found this show, 13 Weeks, which was a reality show from a couple years ago that followed travel nurses with Access Nurses, and they all lived in the same house. So basically Real World/Big Brother with nurses. Hilarious. I only started watching, so we'll see if it's good. http://www.nursetv.com/video/1

Hopefully I'll be official on monday, but I will be taking: Fall A&P I physical science for hcp's psych 101 english Spring A&P II microbio calculations for medication administration epidemiology or statistics or pharmacology in health and disease (for surgical technologists mainly, but it focuses on anesthetics and anesthesia equipment, and i'm thinking about ACNP or CRNA). then hopefully nursing courses in fall 2010!

I am a Clinical Technician, also known as Patient Care Technician, Patient Care Associate, etc. PCT's and CNA's do similar jobs, and some PCT jobs ask for you to also be certified as a CNA. PCT would give you more nursing experience, since you not only get all the experience as a CNA, but also more "advanced" skills as well. Clinically, the only skill CNA's really have is taking vital signs, which of course is really important in nursing/medicine (as far as knowing those values). As a CNA, you also help with activities of daily living (ADLs), activities such as bed baths, ambulation (walking), feeding, putting on clothes, positioning, toileting/bed pan, etc. As a PCT, what you do depends on where you work. I work in an ER, and in addition to some of the above (in the ER, the vast majority of times, it's unnecessary to do bed baths, or oral/hair care, for example. we do have to put in bed pans at times, and help with ambulation, especially for drunk patients, haha), we also can start IVs, draw blood, do EKGs, give oxygen through various masks/cannula, foleys, fiberglass splints, hook patients up to the cardiac and oxygen saturation monitors, transport, minor (very) wound care, stocking the department, blood glucose check, drawing and running venous blood gas sample. Again, this depends on the facility, and when working in the ER, you have a greater scope of practice. As a PCT, expect to at least, in addition to CNA activities, draw blood and do EKGs. I'd stay with the PCT program if you're looking to get into LVN. Note that many PCT jobs simply ask for BLS certification, and maybe CNA as well, though it depends. They teach you everything on the job. My job asked for BLS and EMT-B certification, though now they only ask for BLS.

I am a Clinical Technician, also known as Patient Care Technician, Patient Care Associate, etc. PCT's and CNA's do similar jobs, and some PCT jobs ask for you to also be certified as a CNA. PCT would give you more nursing experience, since you not only get all the experience as a CNA, but also more "advanced" skills as well. Clinically, the only skill CNA's really have is taking vital signs, which of course is really important in nursing/medicine (as far as knowing those values). As a CNA, you also help with activities of daily living (ADLs), activities such as bed baths, ambulation (walking), feeding, putting on clothes, positioning, toileting/bed pan, etc. As a PCT, what you do depends on where you work. I work in an ER, and in addition to some of the above (in the ER, the vast majority of times, it's unnecessary to do bed baths, or oral/hair care, for example. we do have to put in bed pans at times, and help with ambulation, especially for drunk patients, haha), we also can start IVs, draw blood, do EKGs, give oxygen through various masks/cannula, foleys, fiberglass splints, hook patients up to the cardiac and oxygen saturation monitors, transport, minor (very) wound care, stocking the department, blood glucose check, drawing and running venous blood gas sample. Again, this depends on the facility, and when working in the ER, you have a greater scope of practice. As a PCT, expect to at least, in addition to CNA activities, draw blood and do EKGs. I'd stay with the PCT program if you're looking to get into LVN. Note that many PCT jobs simply ask for BLS certification, and maybe CNA as well, though it depends. They teach you everything on the job. My job asked for BLS and EMT-B certification, though now they only ask for BLS.

Hi all! I'm going to be starting nursing in the fall (well pre-clinical phase, but still excited ), and am looking for a part time job. I've been a clinical tech in an ER for the past two years, and loved it. However I'm really interested in critical care and cardiology, and am considering going on for ACNP or CRNA, but that's way down the road . I've been applying for new tech jobs in the area, and recently found one in "CTS", which I assume, from the job description, is in cardiothoracic surgery. Does anyone here work on a CTS unit? What happens here? Is it "critical care"? What types of procedures are done on these units? What is the nursing like (less intense than ICU, more intense than med-surg, etc)? Any info would be great. It's obviously a telemetry unit, but I can't find much more info than that.

PA's can do the same things. They don't have to ask "permission" to do something, and when PA's and NP's work in the same practice/unit, in the same capacity, they do the same thing. The original name for PA's was not "physician assistant" but "physician associate", and some PA schools, such as Yale, still use that name, and some jobs are listed as that. Supervision is something that many NP's bring up in criticism of PA's, however PA's typically do not have direct supervision, where the physician is watching them. PA's can diagnose, order tests, interpret them, call for consults, etc., all without the physician directly supervising them. Why do people choose PA school? Because they want a degree that follows the "medical model". Because they want to be able to switch specialties when they decide to. Because they want to be trained in surgery (a much larger (30+%) of PA's are in surgery than NP's, and PA's can first assist. There are also PA schools, like Cornell, that focus on surgery.). For people that have an undergrad degree in a science, such as biology or chemistry, it's easier to go to PA school than NP, as it will be a 2 year program, instead of 3+. Also, yes, there are various degrees availabe for PAs, such as associates, bachelors, and masters. Most jobs as for at least a bachelors, and the profession is moving towards the masters level. Either way, all PA's with all degrees are taught to the same level, and all pass the national licensing exam for PA's, the PANCE. PA school is not based on the degree conferred, but on the knowledge taught and learned, which is the same in all degree programs. Having said that, for RN's, it makes more sense to go NP/CRNA, as it only takes 1-3 more years, instead of going to get pre-reqs you might not have had (usually biochemistry, general bio, organic chemistry, as ADN/BSN have already taken A&P, microbio, etc.), then a 2-3 year program. I personally am interested in ACNP or CRNA.

because they are licensed to practice medicine with the supervision (not always direct) of a physician. It's two different jobs.