cherryames31

I agree to that online isn't going to be a time saver per se, albeit it increases your flexibility. But it's going to be impossible if you work full-time and go to school full time and have a family. It's really recommended that you either work full time and do school part time, or vice versa. Ideally, not working at all :).

Check out Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. I just got back from my orientation, met all the faculty, and know that they do care about our success. They are approximately 30-34000 depending on FT vs. PT status.

I will be starting an FNP program this April through the online Frontier program and still haven't quite made up my mind about going full time vs. part time. I currently only work 32 hr/wk night shift and would prefer to finish in 2 years vs almost 3. I'm single with no family committments, but I'm also a little nervous about starting grad school as I haven't been in school for almost 7 years and have no idea how I'll do with the workload. I really want to maintain other non-work/non-school committments and relationships without being stressed to the max as well. I have the option of cutting down on my work hours, financially speaking, to even 16 or 20 hours a week, but not sure that that's necessary at this point. I guess I'm not sure if it'd be wiser to do my first quarter part-time and see how it goes (they say to expect to put 30 hours in a week part time), and then bump up to full time and cut down on work hours second quarter after seeing how it goes... What kind of study/reading committment do people actually put in doing full time vs. part time and is the recommended study hours (30 hrs for part time, 40 hours for full time) a realistic predictor of what you do? Any thoughts from those who've done it?

I'm relocating to Minneapolis in January and would be interested in doing agency work, instead of being staff RN for the increased flexibility. I'm a pediatric nurse. Are there any reputable nurse staffing agencies in the area? I'm not sure where to start looking.

Hi, I'm an RN BSN with 4 years acute care experience in pediatrics, one of those years was PICU. I'm considering relocating to Minneapolis but wasn't sure what job prospects in pediatrics tend to be like in Minneapolis? I would really love to work at Children's hospital, as that has been my experience. Is there anyone on here that currently works there and could tell me what they think about it? Would it be very hard to get a position there? Thanks.

I'm just looking at Texas pediatric NP programs. Anyone here going through the NP program at UT Arlington? Honest opinions? What do you think of Arlington area? Anyone know how it compares to UT Austin in regards to NP program caliber?

So I've been thinking a lot about going for my NP. My 4 years of experience is all in pediatrics so I'm leaning toward PNP, although FNP is definitely a possibility. I've never done primary care before, all my experience has been acute care/intensive care, so I'm not sure yet what to think of it. I love to be challenged (I loved the ICU environment) and know that I might get bored if I did the exact same thing everyday. HOWEVER, I really do want a life outside of my job and hope to have a family someday...so along those lines, I need a career that might allow me flexibility in hours, no on-call, etc. I'm looking at a school that does a duel certification PNP in acute and primary care. But for me, flexibility is key. Maybe I should just pick one? Can anyone speak to what it's like...primary vs. acute...when it comes to flexibility in job hours, being able to move if necessary, time outside of work, family life, etc? Thanks :)

I like PICU because it still includes the peds...with extra and interesting challanges :) Out of school, I worked for 2 1/2 years on pediatric med/surg floors in Children's hospitals, 6 months of that I was travel RN. In the beginning, I felt like I was learning a ton every day, there was a lot of variety, interation with the kids and families, etc. My first two years, we had the luxury of talking amongst ourselves and picking our patient assignments (I see how rare that is now). I found myself actually picking the sickest and most involved of the patients on top of my other busy assignments...because I really enjoyed the intellectual stimulation. This may sound morbid to anyone but a PICU nurse, but I actually enjoyed being the nurse who helped that kid who was starting to go downhill that day on the floor...nobody else really wanted to. While there's always something new to learn, I found myself getting really bored on the floors, even being a travel RN. I ended up moving and alas, no med/surg position...but tons of PICU. I couldn't believe it! I had found my niche, and didn't even know it would be. (I had interviewed for PICU as a new grad and the manager scared me to death...never thought I'd give it a try after that) I love the chaos, the highly increased learning curve, the invasive procedures, helping families in times of intense stress, actually finding that the docs find the nurses' opinions and thoughts imperative to patient care in the PICU. When children die or are close to the brink, you're the one the families can lean on in their suffering. Or you're the instrument that helped save that child's life. I've got a very one-track mind, I enjoy being able to focus all my energies on one patient, one family...instead of the multitudes. Just one of the disadvantages is that the PICU can take it's toll on you emotionally. I guess I wasn't prepared for some of the social situations that you'll encounter. I knew that in peds you not only take care of a patient, you take care of the whole family. In PICU, you can take care of families who are severely stressed, financially in ruins, slightly neurotic, potentially abusers or negligent, agressive, and on and on. In PICU, you can't just come in do your patient care. Sometimes I spend a lot of my shift talking on phone to families, smoothing things over with them because I can't get a single doctor with a second to talk with them, teaching, supporting... I leave some days with my emotions completely tapped out. It's rewarding, but exhausting at times. Anyway, I think it's really helpful to know your skills, your likes and dislikes, what kind of nurse you are before venturing into the PICU. You might potentially consider shadowing a nurse for a day in the PICU to get a good perspective. Good luck to you as you search out the possibilities.

We currently have an ACNP working in our PICU and she does an amazing job. She is the one constant between all the rotating residents/fellows and she really knows the patients...and although she has a similar role as the resident, she definitely has not lost that nursing perspective. Hey, I've even seen her help a nurse change a bed, you won't catch a doc ever doing that :). Anyway, I was just wondering if there were any other PICU nurses who work with any NP's in their PICU's? What do you think of the role and would you consider pursuing it? Pediatrics is my love and I'm considering the various NP roles...just not sure if clinic work is for me, or not.

Hi, so I've been working in the PICU for about a year now, so while I'm not a wealth of experience, I have seen 3% saline used quite frequently for post-op neuro kids, controlling ICP, cerebral edema/hypertension, etc. I'm not exactly sure what led to the cerebral edema in this child's case but using 3% saline is used for it's osmotic effect. It's hypertonicity is going to pull that extra fluid off the brain, decreasing the edema and swelling (vital to his brain survival). A sodium of 127 is very low and 3% saline is not too agressive a treatment. It is commonly used as a continuous infusion ranging between 0.1 and 1 ml/kg of body weight per hour. You're right in that you don't want to bring up the sodium too quickly, so it's important to monitor as frequently as possible the sodium levels. In these cases we're usually checking levels every two hours. The low sodium could be caused by a few things. Due to stress of surgery and possible fluid overloading, sodium levels can drop and fluid is going to start leaking into tissues, thus leading to this kids cerebral edema. Not sure on the exact location of the tumor or their approach during surgery, but if it is anywhere near base of the brain sometimes the pituitary gland is affected...leading to changes in the regulating of antidiuretic hormone and sodium/fluid shifts. Anyway, not sure if that helps. So actually I wanted to ask you a question, if you don't mind? You're on the Mercy Ships, am I guessing correctly? I'm seriously considering coming to volunteer for several months at least later this year (I'm going to apply in these next couple weeks), and I've really been wanting to find out what it's been like from a nurse's perspective. I actually asked them if they could put me in touch with someone on the ship to talk to, but nobody has gotten back to me about it, so it's kind of funny to hear you mention this on here. Maybe you wouldn't mind sharing a little about your experiences on the ship and what you think about it? (this is my first time on here, not sure if have to start another thread, or can give out email on here?). I hope you enjoy the rest of your experience there.