MissBehavin

It is not unheard of but...... MOST medical schools see a BSN or nursing background and are NOT impressed. I have 2 friends that went this route. You are considered a "non-traditional student" (which means you will have to work twice as hard, and have better grades then the "traditional" candidates. Oddly enough you do not have to major in Biology or Chemistry, most prefer a Liberal Arts degree (with killer grades in upper level chemistry and physics, and shadowing a doctor or volunteer work). When my friend (a BSN with about 5 years experience, and a 4.0 science gpa) went on her interviews for medical schools. The FIRST question they always asked is "why are you considering a career change?". They dont see nursing as linked to medicine (very sad, but true). They also are very aware of the "nursing shortage" and do not want to take nurses from a field, that they feel is under staffed and needed. She was accepted to one in the end, but she had to work twice as hard. I do know that DO schools prefer someone with a medical background of any kind. They can compete for the same residencies as the MD's, along with having a few just for DO's. A DO is in every way equivilent to an MD the training is just a little different (more holistic/focus on the total person). I am doing a BSN to MSN (ACNP) route myself, after heavy consideration of medical school. I think that since DO's have a more holistic view, if I were to have gone to medical school, it would have been the DO route. Ask yourself "why am I drawn to nursing?" For me it was the patients, I like spending more time with them, educating them, and getting to know them a little better. That is why I decided to become a nurse practitioner, I still get to be a nurse, and have the autonomy I wanted. GOOD LUCK and Best wishes whatever you choice is :)

I was 23 for my BSN. ( should have been 21 with my ADN but had to stop due to heart problems). I will be 25 with my MSN :)

I think perhaps it was more SHOCK, if you started nursing school 2-4 years ago (heck even a 1 year ago) there were so many jobs, hospitals were recruiting, there were sign on bonuses. Everyone heard stories of people going to a hospital, saying they were a RN and basically being handed a job (not really true, but everyone has heard the story). Many people go into nursing as their second career because of the job stability. I know several people who worked really hard and externed in hospitals (where they are under contract to work for "x" amount of years) that were let go after finishing nursing school, because the hospital couldn't afford to hire 20+ nurses. I think it is just a shock that when they started all they heard was "nursing shortage" and now new grads can look for 6 months before finding a job. It shows the sad state of the economy more than anything.

At my hospital they prefer new grads in Critical Care to nurses with only floor experience. This is because they can groom new grads to do things the way they want them done, where as other nurses have developed bad habits, and their own way of doing things (quote from neuro ICU manager, not personal opinion). Not all new grads are cut out for critical care, but my hospital lets them at least try, and are given a LONG trial/preceptorship. There is no better a place to learn how to prioritize than critical care. If you really want a job in critical care go for it, study hard, and if you have to complete a senior practicum or preceptorship try for an ICU spot (or perhaps extern/intern in a ICU). I completed my practicum in Trauma ICU at a level one trauma hospital.

I took ALL my nursing pre-reqs at a community college, a lot online. Then got my BSN at a university. I start at Vandy in the fall. As long as your GPA/GRE are competitive they dont care where/how u took it.

Hi I am starting Vandy in the fall for my ACNP. One of the reasons I applied there is that I loved the sub-specialties they offered. But now I am torn between Trauma and cardiac surgery, and would love some input. FYI; I also would like to first assist later in my career. Heres some info about me... I do not have a lot of experience in trauma (basically my practicum in TICU (which I loved), and about four months (part-time) in a level one trauma ER (with no trauma rotation )). But I am a total adrenaline junkie and I love critical, coding, get your hands dirty patients. Even the words blunt force trauma and mechanism of injury get my heart racing. I think I would enjoy this area because I work better under pressure, and I love to critically think, and want hands on automomy. I have heard that a lot of trauma NPs are not part of the initial resuscitation and stabilization (which would make me sad, but I really enjoy critical care as well). Now for cardiac surgery, I have a lot more expreience in this area. In 2006 I had to have emergent open heart surgery for a golf ball size clot in my right atrium (which lead to a pulmonary embolectomy and large PFO closure). Since then I have had a bond with cardiac surgery patients. I was a nurse extern for a year on a thoracic telemetry unit and have a pretty large knowledge base in this field. Most of all my patients are always so thankful because I take the time to explain what they will feel, see ect. after the surgery. I am honest about the recovery, pain and emotions. I never tell them my full story (I dont feel that is professional) but I tell them i have been there and understand (they usually ask, since you can see my scar and medical alert necklace in scrubs). I do feel as though I can make a difference in these patients lives. So I guess I am looking for opinions, input on what you think I should consider. Plus the following.. Are you happy in your fields? Which do you think has a better outlook and more jobs trauma or cardiac surgery? Does the adrenaline of trauma wear off? Can ACNP (with a RNFA) assist in trauma surgery? What are your hours, pay, and burn out rates? Has anyone gone to vandy for these (what was your experience in your specialty)? and if u went to vandy is it possible to split your time in 2 specialty areas (or will that make you unable to practice in either)? Lastly, I do not believe there is a trauma NP cert, is there one for Cardiac surgery? Thank you all so much

At vandy both the ACNP and Adult NP programs have HIV subspecialty routes (however they recommend that you do the adult NP program so you are treating out in the community). If you want to do peds right off the bat too, you should prob go the FNP route and let the program know you would like to do clincal time in HIV/AIDS. GOOD LUCK :)

I worked for 1.5 years at a level one trauma hospital in AZ. ( I had great reviews the whole time). I applied to 5 units, and not even an interview. 800 bed hosptial- 20 job openings (which is good, other hospitals have hiring freeze)-30 externs-20 students trained on campus= no jobs. I am moving out of state.

"""Sorry, can't give you a CRNA perspective cause I am not in that profession. However, I've not heard of states that give CRNA's a NP license as well. That does not mean that it's not happening, I just am not aware of it. I am aware of advanced practice nurses who carry both ACNP and CRNA credentials. There is a program somewhere in the south (I forgot exactly which one) where ACNP students are guaranteed admission to the school's CRNA program after completing their ACNP.""" The program in the south is Vanderbilt. They work with MTSA (middle tennessee school of anesthesia), however it is NOT guaranteed admission. 2 of the ACNP classes ( I believe they are Patho classes) are taught by a prof. who teaches at MTSA. (His classes are supposed to be very intense, but very worth it). If you graduate from Vandy with your ACNP AND do well in his class, you can get a priority interview at MTSA.

The movement is now toward acnps. Arizona was the first to pass regulations about who can work in the hospital-er setting. However acnp can not treat peds so programs like vandys joint acnp-fnp is gaining intrest since you get both certs.

Even if she does go into an area of nursing without a lot of blood/needles, she would still have to make it through school with A LOT of the above mentioned. Perhaps Psych nursing, primary care physicians office (the MA's do most of the injections), School nursing (however u see a lot of blood in the form of bloody noses and small accidents), she could do healthcare admin (with an RN degree), legal consulting, tele nursing, nurse recruiting. The options really are endless, but that depends just how much she cannot stand blood. Their is a difference between I cant see a trauma pt and I cant draw my own Labs. Although their is a lot of stuff I didn't think I would do well with, and I managed through and that stuff barely effects me now. :)

If u wanna do it, go for it. *build it and they shall come* :) You can get some great ideas from blogs that sound similar. Try looking at the happy hospitalist, panda bear MD and nurse K (and other er and nurse related blogs) on blogspot.com. Good luck!

It was great :) I got my acceptance letter the night before the open house, so I wasn't so nervous. I was very impressed with the professors, they are very approachable. For such a large school, they really made it seem intimate and made time for individual questions. We were given time to talk with current students, and the school encouraged them to be VERY honest. They talked openly about the heavy workload the first semester, trying to have time for family, working versus not working during the program, and of course paying for tuition. I really appreciated the school allowing time for us to do this. The dean was vey open and funny, not so rigid like deans at other schools I have visited. It seems like the school of nursing is a big family. They were very open that their program is expensive, but work hard to help you find ways to pay for it. Going to the open house assured me that I made the right decision for me. Not to mention that the campus is beautiful, and I love the Nashville area.

Just a side note. Some programs like VANDY accelerate their masters NP programs. Most of their NP programs are about 43K for the year (and your done). Some state schools are cheaper, but when you add up the expenses of going 2 years it comes to about the same amount. Just a thought. Good luck wherever u all decide to attend.

I got into Vandys ACNP program I found out on friday which was great because I was already in Nashville for the Vandy open house, which was the next morning. I am very excited, I am moving to Nashville in May.

CONGRATS! Are you going to the open house on sat? I am still waiting to hear from the ACNP program, but I will be at the open house.

Hi Just wondering if anyone else was attending the Vandy Open house this sat Feb. 28th? I leave on wed., I am very excited and a little nervous Good Luck All

Wow this is such a hot debate at the moment. First of all I LOVE the few LPNs that work at my hospital. For the majority of them you would not know that they were LPNs instead of RNs. In fact my best friend is a LPN on a Neuro floor at a major hospital. I really dont think most nurses think badly of LPNs, however there are many that do not want to have to take the time to properly supervise them (ie; do the assessments, IV push meds ect.). The majority of the hospitals in the Phoenix area are no longer hiring LPNs. (not because they are badly trained but because they feel it is unsafe for a RN with a full patient load to have to supervise, assess and give meds on the LPNs full load of patients). In fact if you want to work in a hospital in AZ, you must get hired as a CNA/PCT first (most hospitals state that they will try to honor your education and promote you as you continue on), so you then make the transition from CNA to LPN. Talking with my friend (who FYI is an amazing LPN, and will make a amazing RN), she feels pressured everyday to work outside her scope of practice, and says she rarely feels covered. She does her own assessment and then asks a RN to do the offical assessment (most of the time they are mad, because they have their own to do). She has her IV certification (a requirment in AZ to work in a hospital) but she still cannot push meds. This is frustrating to her and the RNs because most of her patients have narcotics and other drugs that must be pushed. Okay as for people saying their training is not as good, I think they should just say not as long. Yes, their are some programs that should be shut down (same goes for RN programs though). Here in AZ most of the community colleges required you to have the same prereqs-coreqs for LPN as RN. In fact most of them are the same program. To be an LPN all you had to do was complete the first two blocks (of four) and take your test. Then you could choose wether or not you wanted to continue to the next 2 blocks. So in essesce the quality of the training is the same! The RN just has more of it.

Don't beat yourself up for sure. Have you heard the saying "nurses eat their young" yet? It seems that way to many nurses forget that they were once a student themselves. You answered a question, and you did the right thing by explaining to her how to get the answer (instead of just telling her what the answer was). I do not want to make excuses for the student but perhaps she is not good at math (not good in this job, but we do have calculators for a reason), or simply forgot how to calculate the correct dose. As long as she is actually checking her math (with someone), asking questions, and not giving medications alone she is practicing safely in her scope. However if she is not doing her checks or 5 rights, then it needs to be brought to the attention of the instructor, before a error occurs.

I think it really comes down to what you want to do with infants. Perhaps you want to run or work for a daycare. You could be a nanny and advertise that you especially love infants. A nurse in the NyICU is a good fit if you want to help sick and premature babies. There are a couple of jobs in some hospitals where you just work in their nursery (but rare, and you usually rotate between that and couplet care). However nursing school is long and you do have to rotate through other areas, and see blood. You may be surprised at how you handle it, when you know it is to help someone. Perhaps early childhood develompment or psych and work in the hospital as "chid life". In my hospital the child life specialist runs playrooms for sick children (from 1yr-17yrs), talks to them about their illness, family, and feelings. Although this does include speaking with children whose parents have just died while in the hospital. There are not a lot of jobs dealing with such a specific age range, but if you broaden it slighlty I think your possibilities will be endless. If you do choose the nursing or medicine route it is always rewarding. and there are advanced practice areas (ex. Neonatal nurse practitioner). Good luck and let us know of your future plans.

It changes each semester usually 3-4 days on campus including clinical. To break it down it is usually one or two days of class 4-8hrs (rarely is it 8 hours) each. One to two days of clinical usually one twelve or 2 eights. Most classes are 8 weeks, so you only take 1-2 classes at a time. After completion of the second level (of five) the pace begins to slow. For level 5 we have one day class (5 hours) and 2 12hour clinicals. To be more specific about 40% of the classes are done in the first 2 weeks of the semester, before clinicals start. You will go to class 3-4 days for those first weeks. When clinical starts it cuts to 1-2 days of class plus the 1-2 days of clinical. They do try hard to keep the days the same throughout the program, or at least give you ample notice if the days will be changing.

CONGRATS! Let us know which you choose. Penn or Hopkins holy cow thats a hard one, I am not sure there is a wrong choice between the two. lol

TO ANPFNPGNP question I am planning on moving to Nashville from Arizona. I have extended family there and my father and grandparents are only 200-250 miles away in Illinois. I decided that it was better than having to fly there every month. I am nervous about it, but my fiance is very supportive and can move just about anywhere with his company. To all This school is expensive, but I have heard from many it is worth it. The University where I recieved my BSN has a FNP program (no ACNP) and it came to about the same price because it is 3 years long. I think that choosing a school should be about fit for the person not just the price. I love the subspecialties (trauma, neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery, Emergency ect.) that Vandy has to offer, and I am willing to spend a couple of years paying for my loans. Good luck to everyone waiting to hear from their schools of choice.

I have applied for the ACNP program with the Fall 2009 start date. I just recieved a letter about finacial aid, here is a breakdown of the cost for the one year (3 semester) MSN programs (must have Bach. to go this route). ACNP $40,326 FNP $41,360 Adult NP $40,326 Pediatric NP $40,326 Neonatal NP $40,326 Psych/Mental health NP $41,360 Midwife (4 semesters) $54,802 additional fees (lab ect are about another 4K for the whole program) Hope this helps

How did your retake go? Did you get your app fully in? Let us all know how it goes, good luck. The advisor told me the average GPA was less than a 3.5 with a GRE of around 1150. So don't give up. :)