Averykat

I thought it was an excellent review, definitely worth what I paid for it.

For the position I took it's 20 days/year. The other one was only 2 weeks.

I had two offers, both were salary for full time work, M-F, no call, similar benefits: one was for $100k and one was for $120k. I ended up taking the one that paid more because it was a better fit overall.

I'm a PMHNP in the Boston area, graduated in May 2013. There were a couple people in my program that had jobs secured prior to graduation and a few more that had started interviewing, for the most part they had started pursing this on their own. I didn't start looking until I passed the ANCC exam, and once I put my resume up on a few job search engines I got at least one call a day from recruiters. I secured a job within about 6 weeks of looking/interviewing; the job I took came from a recruiter seeing my profile on LinkedIn and contacting me. There were a fair number of PMHNP jobs listed, but a lot of the calls I got were for jobs that were not posted. I'm in touch with a number of new grad PMHNPs and they did not have a problem finding employment. It was by far an easier job search than when I was a new grad RN.

Northeastern University does. They also worked with us to make sure it was a good fit (if you were interested in inpatient or outpatient, etc.) and paid attention to location preferences. I was in their PMNHP program.

I'm also interested in the responses as I'm looking at this program (hoping to start it next year, I just started working and want to get settled in at my job first). I'd like to hear about how much time per week you spend doing class work and if it's easy to balance with a full time job. Thanks. -Kate

I just graduated from the Evening ADN program at MassBay. Overall I felt it prepared me well for the NCLEX, I passed on the first try and it seems like many others did also. You will want to have all your pre-reqs done before you start if possible, it will really help keep you from feeling overwhelmed. You are in class more nights of the week in the beginning of the program than at the end, it usually is not 4 nights a week. There were many people in the program with children who worked full or part time and they did just fine. I don't have children yet but I was working full time and did not have a problem doing well in the program. Be sure to do the assigned reading in addition to studying your notes from class. Some instructors were wonderful and inspiring, some were just so-so, but ultimately the responsibility is with the student to put in the effort. Good luck!

I took the Psychology CLEP. The college board website had a practice test for the subject and a study guide that you could buy for I think about $10. I used the practice questions as an outline for what material to study. Also, the study guide gave a breakdown of what percentage of the test would be on particular topics - 10% history of psych, 15% on methods of testing, etc. I studied a little bit each day for about two weeks and had no problem passing the test.

I'm in an evening program so our clinicals are mostly at night, but we have a few on the weekends during the day. The day clinicals may be a little busier, but I've found I get a little more time with my patient at night because they're not going out for tests or having the doctors coming in as much. This can be helpful particularly when you're a beginning nursing student and it takes you longer to do your assessments and nursing skills. The nurses are busy regardless of what shift you have clinical on, but when you're a student and only assigned one or two patients, the night shift may feel a little less rushed. -Kate

"The Practice Doctorate is designed for nurses seeking a terminal degree in nursing practice, and offers an alternative to research focused doctoral programs (i.e. PhD programs). Though only a handful of practice doctorates currently exist, more than a dozen new programs are taking shape nationwide, and several have expressed interest in seeking accreditation." Does anyone know what schools offer this program now? -Kate

Do you sweat more or is it just the odor? If it's a sweat problem, I swear by a product called Certain Dri (I get it at CVS). You put it on at night and it totally helps with excess sweat. I only need to use it once a week now and no more sweating through all my shirts! Oh wait, I forgot again, I'm a girl, we don't sweat, we GLISTEN!! :roll -Kate

Does anyone know the approx. salary for a CNA in any of the Boston hospitals? I'm a nursing student now and am thinking about leaving my current job to work as a CNA/PCT/PCA if I can make it work financially. I've heard that some hospitals pay a bit more if you're a nursing student, and also that you have a good chance of being hired as an RN if you're already in their system when you graduate. Any input would be greatly appreciated! :kiss -Kate

I just ordered those same shoes! They're really comfortable. I think you would be fine with them - they're not open-backed clogs and they have a low heel. They may not be trendy, but I'd rather have comfy feet than look pretty at work. :) -Kate

I had a co-worker who would always say "You never seem to amaze me", which totally negates what I think she's trying to say. The word is cease, woman, CEASE! My boyfriend likes to torture me by saying "irregardless". And people who "could care less" about something. Um, okay. I know contractions can be tricky, but the expression is "couldn't care less". Thank you, I feel better for having gotten that off my chest.

I'm a student now and one thing I really appreciate about my instructors is that they recognize that students have different learning styles. Whenever possible they have us read something, then they lecture about it, show visual examples of what they're lecturing on, and if applicable let us physically do what we just learned. This really reinforces the concept, and if I didn't quite understand something just by reading it, I have other ways to learn about it. -Kate