bijou214

I have been a NICU nurse for almost 2 years now and I love it. I love the NICU population. However, within the next 2-3 years, I want to go back to school for my masters but I'm not sure if I should get a NNP or a PNP. My ultimate goal is to work in a NICU follow up clinic. I am very interested in development. My original plan was to get my NNP, work for a few years and then transition to a follow up clinic later on in my career. But recently, I have been told that most NPs in follow up clinics are PNPs. Does anyone have insight into this? Any advice on what you would do? While I love the idea of being an NNP, I don't know if I want to work in a hospital for the rest of my career. Thanks.

Maybe this was just your school? I got a stafford loan my sophomore year of college, where I eventually graduated with BA. Then, 2 years later, I got even more stafford loans (larger amount offered to me) for my BSN.

so, i just re-read my post and realized it's incredibly long. i apologize in advance. anyway... when i was little, my parents always encouraged me to be a doctor. i loved bio and chem in hs (i was a huge nerd) so i went to college thinking i would be a chem major and pre-med. once i got to college, and didn't have my parents nagging me all the time, i realized that i was way too cool (or lazy... whatever) to go to med school. i completely lost interest in studying science. i graduated with a ba in psych, worked in research for a year, hated it, and decided i needed to get back into healthcare like i originally planned. so i did the math. as a second degree student, i would be able to finish nursing school in 2 years, take/pass the nclex, and depending on the specialty, have as little or as much work experience as i felt was necessary, then msn or dnp in 2 years. if fast tracked, i could be at the top of the nursing profession in 4-6 years. for med school, i would have to take 2 years of pre-med classes (including calculus because med schools don't accept ap credit from hs) take the mcat (death), 4 years of med school and all the boards that go with it, 4-6 years in residency, i don't even know how many years as a fellow (1? 5? i have no clue), then maybe i'd become an attending physician. i'm not even sure if that's the path. all i know is just because i have an md after my name, doesn't mean i am any where close to being "all the way" in medicine. so that could be 12 to... who knows how many years before i was at the top of the medical profession... plus, what if i want to have a family within those 12 years? is that going to delay me? i can put off a family for 4 years... but 12? i'm impatient. i also knew a girl who majored in nursing as her traditional undergrad degree and then went to med school. she worked like crazy to get in all the nursing requirements plus the pre-med sciences. the content may overlap but many med schools don't accept the nursing science courses. she had to take a 5th year to graduate with her bsn. she thought that her nursing school experience gave her better bedside manner than a lot of her med school peers, but that's about it. to sum up: if you start med school in 2014 at age 30, you will be well into your 40's before you are at the top of the medical field... assuming you don't run into any road blocks along the way. whereas you could definitely have your msn or maybe your dnp (depending on school and specialty) by 30. and if nothing else, nursing school is tedious (6 hrs of lecture plus 16 hrs of clincal a week... for one class!) and very few courses will overlap with pre-med requirements. med school is even more tedious and the life of a resident makes me want to cry a little... so why would you put yourself through the extra torture? as for my experience with doctors... i work in a teaching hospital. 90% of the attendings on my unit are awesome. they are mostly in their 50's-60's. their awesome-ness comes with experience. teaching hospitals also have residents. the first year residents (a.k.a. interns, a.k.a. i graduated from med school last week) rotate through my floor every month. if they are smart, they know that they are clueless. they ask questions. they work alongside the nurse. unfortunately, some of them are idiots and think they know everything. these docs put patients at risk. i have seen them do incredibly stupid things that could have killed the patient if the nurse hadn't stopped them/fixed the situation. the fellows can go either way. some are super knowledgeable and you know they will make great attendings. others ask me if they can place the iv on my patient because they need practice. you know who is really good in the hospital? nps. they know their stuff... at least in my specialty, the nicu, they do. and most of them love to teach and answer questions. special props to nnps and future nnps!

omg, that's awesome.

i actually had a co-worker experience the opposite problem. one of the residents who had done his rotation 3-4 months ago was back on my unit for on-call duty. we were just chit-chatting when "sally" walks past. he looks her up and down then whispers to me... "woah, i don't mean to be rude but... sally got fat." i reply: "dude, she's 8 months pregnant."

My orientation was 12 weeks. I started in the "transistional nursery" for 2-3 shifts. My preceptor and I shared 3 feeder/grower kids as an assignment. I got accustomed to the monitors, alrams, and basic infant care. Then we moved into the more intensive end of the unit and I had a NC kid. Then we added CPAP. Then a vent, etc. We balanced taking on higher acuity and/or taking on more patients at once. I did 4 weeks of days, 4 weeks of nights, then back to days so I could start doing admissions/going to deliveries. At the end of each shift my preceptor and I would discuss how the day went. How do I think I did, what did I succeed at, what could I spend more time on, etc. By week 10, my preceptor would go work on the staffing schedule and leave me to run around on my own. She was there if I needed her but she said she was confident in my skills/judgement so I should be too. There were always other RNs in the bay with me so even if my preceptor wasn't there, I always had help. As for stress of work vs. school, well my last final in school was Dec 18, 2006. I started working Jan 15, 2007. So, I had barely a month off before I started orienting to the NICU. Personally, I found it much less stressful than school. I went through a second degree program so my program was 16 months straight through. By then, I was SO SICK of school that work was a welcome change. I liked that when I got home, I was done. I didn't have to think about anything else, if I didn't want to. Also, the way I learn on the job and the way I studied in school were very different. In school, I felt like I was just studying and loading my brain so I could spit it back out on some test. Cram, cram, cram, then unload. And you know you, as a NICU nurse, you will never need to know like 70% of what you are studying. At work, I feel like it's more of a process. I'm building and internalizing useful and applicable skills. It just felt more natural so I wasn't too stressed. Plus my preceptor was really good about asking me if I was overwhelmed, did I want help, did I want to move on or do that skill one more time, etc. ALWAYS ask for help. It really comforted me that at work, it's a team effort and no one (if they are worth anything as a nurse) would let me drown. You don't get that at school. You can't ask someone to help you take your test. The only thing that is worse about work is that it's much more physically demanding. My feet were KILLING me for about the first 5 months. Then I guess my body realized that this is sort of the status quo and my feet got a little better. One last tip: If you do find that work is stressing you out, but you don't want to burden your family, vent to your nursing school friends or fellow orientees! That helped me alot. We would exchange ridiculous stories, make fun of residents, and just laugh at ourselves. It really helped to hear that I wasn't going through it alone and laughter really helps you unwind. I hope this helps, and sorry if I babbled on too long!

my favorite moment: i had 26 wk twins who went through the typical preemie course. twin a was a rock star and had already been discharged but twin b was still working on PO feeds. man, was he frustrating! he would always wake up 5-10 minutes before i was ready, screaming his head off for a bottle. the second the milk splashes in his mouth, nothing. no suck, no cry, no nothing. he would just stare at me like i was some crazy woman, or as if i had offended him in some way. i would sit with him for 30 minutes trying every trick in the book (including begging and bribing )... and he'd take 5 mls. maybe. just when i'd get fed up and threaten to never PO him again, he'd give me this sly little smile and then doze off. talk about melting your heart... ok, you win. we'll try again next feed.

The hospital I first worked at had a mandatory residency program for all hired new grads. We met every friday for... a month? I can't remember how long exactly. Initially there were some skill workshops and a lot of them did not apply to me because I was NICU and the skills were for adult floors. But as time passed, there were lots of workshops about being a new nurse and adjusting from "novice nurse" to "competent, skilled nurse". It was also a time for us to vent and share experiences with our peers. We met again at the 6 month mark and had a "graduation" at the 1 year mark. My unit also sent me to a separate week long NICU Basics class. The new hospital where I just got hired is also sending me to NICU classes (since their population and acuity is a little different from my previous job and I have less than 2 years experience). They meet once a week for 2 months. I think this hospital also has new grad programs but I don't know what the details are. I know I will be going to the NICU classes with mostly new grads and new to NICU nurses.

the "why stick the baby twice when the lp is just 1 stick" excuse for not giving pain meds is one of my biggest pet peeves!!! i remember i was maybe 1 month off orientation and holding for an lp. i asked the docs what they wanted to do for pain. the resident gave this excuse and looked at ME as if i was barbaric for thinking we should stick the baby twice. in fact, he told his intern that it's better practice to just stick the baby once for the lp. THEN. gah! then he proceeded to allow his intern to do the lp. the intern missed. the intern tried again. the intern missed. the resident tried. he missed. the resident tried again and got bloody fluid. they called the fellow. she tried and missed. she tried again and finally got clear fluid. can we please count the sticks?!?!

I think it all depends on the hospital/unit/manager you are applying to. I applied in Oct '06 and got offered the job on the spot. I graduated Dec '06. Started Jan '07. A girl in my class who graduated with me applied in Nov '06 and she was told that they were not hiring any more new grads at that time. One of my co-workers said she also applied in Oct '06 and she graduated May '07. She started working July '07. We all applied to the same position in the NICU. The hospital we work at has new grad "residency" programs every few months.

Two of the nurses who work on my unit just got engaged last month. They seem to be happy and obviously had no problem working on the same unit.

I graduated as a second degree from Penn in Dec 06. I know I'm answering pretty late, and someone else gave a pretty detailed reply but I thought I'd just throw in my two cents... 2) How do you like the program? From reading other threads it seems that the first year of any accelerated BSN program is very very intense and many people give up. How stressful is it? What is the surviving rate? Personally, I did not think the program was too intense. If you do the work, you will get good grades. The program is not intended to make you fail. I think most second degree students are pretty committed to nursing when they come in and continue on with the program. Quite a few students from my cohort did, however, choose not to return for their MSN at Penn. Many decided not to come back to Philadelphia and one or two were actually dissatisfied with Penn in particular. 3) How is the typical week of the program, especially in the beginning? (how many days in the classroom/lab, how many days in the hospital doing clinical) I think the previous poster covered this pretty well. Yes, you are squeezing an entire sophomore year into 12 weeks of summer but trust me, it is better than dragging it out over two semesters. That is what I had to do (they had fall starts back then) and it was torture sitting through some of those lectures! Sooo boring and not at all stimulating... Expect your core nursing classes to be lecture MW 9-12 plus 6 hr clinicals on TR. Some clinical sections, however, can be on the weekend and some are 12hr on just one day. You will also have X number of lab modules that you have to finish by the end of each semester. You can set your own pace with these but I think it's nice to get them out of the way asap. Then you have more time to focus on finals! Senior year, the clinicals become 8hrs long but everything else is about the same. 4) How are the classes? Do we have exams (multiple choice, short answers, etc) papers, etc, etc.. you know, schoolwise. Expect that your core classes will be based on NCLEX type questions. Personally, I did very little reading from the text books, especially for med-surg (with Ann-marie Walsh Brennan). I literally studied out of the Saunders NCLEX prep book and got an A. The core classes also like to throw in at least one paper and/or presentation. You will also have paperwork (logs) for each clinical as well. The amount you learn and the stress you experience with clinicals is 100% dependent on the personality of your clinical instructor. Ask around about good teachers. Personally, I recommend Susan Roan-Chang or Jennifer Seneca for med-surg/gero if they are still available/working. If you want an easy case study class (one of the requirements), take the HIV one with Carol Vinvent. It is one of the most interesting with the least effort. I have also heard good things about Stella Volpe (usually teaching something related to nutrition or fitness). 5) Do you know anyone who has a nurse student blog which we can read? Don't know anyone with a blog but I am willing to answer any questions about Penn. I went there for undergrad as well as my BSN and I'm going to start my NNP in the fall of 2010. 6) How is driving in the snow? Do we need a car to go to clinicals? Can we carpool? I don't have a car so I can't say anything about driving in Philly. You don't need a car for most clinicals but for OB, psych, and community clinicals having a car is VERY useful. OB clinical sites like lankenau, riddle, and Delaware need cars. Usually they are good about pairing people with carpools. Same goes for psych. There are sites in NJ and a few others that are a pain to get to by public transportation. Community clinical sites are either clinics or home health care. Obviously you need a car for home health care. You will not get to do home health care if you don't have access to a car. My year, you had to go to one of the community clinics (half of which didn't have nurses on site! You followed a doctor or NP and learned very little) or Stinson house which is a really good site. You will do a lot of hands on care here. The wonderful people who work in the School of Nursing's student services office are really good at what they do (especially Adam Sherr). He isn't even in charge of the grad students anymore but he still takes care of me! I guess that was more like my whole dollar than just two cents but I hope it was useful... sorry if I rambled on... :imbar

I tried to read through the thread to see if there is an answer to my question but I don't think I found it. I currently live in PA. I have started the application process for endorsement. I have already asked PA BON and my school to submit the appropriate paper work from their end. I am just waiting for the fingerprint card to mail in the actual application. Everything I have read says this process will take 1-2, maybe even 3 months. I have to move to CA in July. How will the change in address affect my application? Do I just need to re-contact the BON and update my address? Or do you think I should wait to submit my appication until after I move? Or should I let things be and rely on the post office to forward my mail? Finally, with the fingerprints... do I need some official person to take the prints for me? Or can I just buy an ink pad and fingerprint myself? Thanks.

triplets: angeluis, angelezell, angeleena nevaeh (dad's name was angel) triplets: mikah (muh-kye), mikal (michael), and markell twins: crystal and cristal (like the alcohol) shamij - pronounced like "semaj" but mom wanted a different spelling... defeating the purpose of naming the kid after dad (james). ny'ji - mom spent an hour deciding where to put the apostrophe... and whether or not it should have an accent mark somewhere. and a co-worker swears he went past the well baby nursery and saw a kid named swedish fish.