Joan Z

Issue 1--the program director, by using your school information to benefit a "good friend", is behaving in an unprofessional manner. Plus, she is trying to undermine one of her program's graduates? Also unprofessional. Issue 2--"hounding" is NEVER pr...

Yeah! Way to go!

Don't do it. Why is your program director "hounding" you? It is common for programs to want to know jobs and salaries, but that is for the program, not for a "good friend". This is business. You do not want to get to be a blabbermouth in this busines...

I agree, this is crap. I never heard of such a thing. Can you find numbers from your area for starting NPs?

We had a few post-masters students in our FNP program, I believe it was called a certification for them. When they applied for the boards they had to submit all transcripts plus whatever it was they got from the program.

I'm guessing "telephone order verified" by some provider... We used TO/Provider name/VBR (verified by repetition). And speaking of orders, I got to write referrals to other providers today... I can't get over how much fun this is... and we get paid t...

You bring up a number of interesting points. In terms of accreditation it would be nice to have similar and high standards to the other health care professions. I am not advocating kowtowing to another group, but if they do something better I'm all ...

David, what do you mean by "protection"? In addition to phone conferences with preceptors, my school sent out an instructor for site visits once a semester. We also worked with SPs (simulated patients) on the visits to campus and these interactions w...

I was going to say that I agreed that finding a preceptor was the worst part... but I think I'll agree that it is ONE of the worst parts. When I was interviewing schools the one I went with said "oh, don't worry, we'll find you someone." Ha! You say ...

I think I must have misstated the situation. The program specified experience with pediatric pts (and other groups), however, this could be done in non-specialty settings such as family practice. Adult track students needed to spend time with adolesc...

I hear you, it is way cool... One of my MD partners lets me write out orders for the inpatients since I'll remember stuff like that. Must be the nursing background! And I'll say, this is SO MUCH BETTER than waiting around to take the cert exam!

I am envious of your time in OB! Realistically, around here none of the family docs do OB; if an established female pt shows up with a missed period we can do a urine test, maybe a pelvic, then she is shipped off. We do not do anything related to the...

I am sorry to hear you have seen a LOT of unethical doctors. What do you mean by this? What is your practice situation? The quick answer is, of course I would... in practice, it would depend on what you mean by unethical. Something that harms a pt? I...

I took the ANCC boards. This was recommended to me by all of the NPs I know who all stated that although the AANP was a more clinically focused and clinically relevant exam, the AANP was much less organized than ANCC and this would be an issue for th...

I fully agree. I went out of my way to find a pediatrician because I needed that. My program required no set hours but "some time" with OB. This was a problem since no NPs and none of the family docs do OB in this area, so I found an OB/gyn who was w...

For me, it really depends. If I know the pt well (and it is an established pt) I can write something. I have a little notebook where I write down the pt's name and what I did so that I can get to the chart and make a note. This is a major liability i...

Ah... I've heard (including on this forum) that if you can pass one, you can pass the other. My opinion was that anyone with a decent background and a solid review effort would pass the class. I didn't go to any classes but used CDs and the text of t...

Curious, why would you apply to both? I seem to recall hearing that AANP didn't certify in some specialties, but if you're this far along you probably know that they do whatever field you're in. I waited for what seemed to be forever to hear from ANC...

I know folks from both places and no one has reported any problems finding a job.

As with all jobs, you need to weigh the pros and cons of all the alternatives, including supporting yourself (and possibly a family), the activities involved, and the fit ("morals and values") of the place. You have a while to go before you graduate,...

Hi country mom, I was in a similar situation, perhaps a bit more remote. I wound up doing a mostly-online program, all online the first year, the second and third year required monthly campus visits (an 8-hour drive). I worked full time up until the ...

Actually, it might be a good thing to get some experience with other ages and different types of problems. My RN experience was mostly a CICU, some distant ER work. I did part of my clinicals with a FNP in an ED setting. I loved that time, really hel...

My 0.02--it takes a few years of practice to write concise yet thorough SOAP notes. Unfortunately at the beginning they take forever too. Ask your preceptor for suggestions to cut things down. We had two versions of notes when I was in school--one fo...

There are lots of books of just exam questions--if you go to Amazon and look for "nurse practitioner certification exam" a bunch will come up. I think I bought 5 or 6. In terms of rationale the Fitzgerald review course is available on CD and is excel...

My epocrates subscription is running out and I am wondering about renewing it--does anyone have a favorite PDA program for use at work? I got my iPAQ and epocrates together a year ago and sometimes it seems a bit cumbersome. Any suggestions (includin...