Bidwillty

I did critical care until deciding to go back to school I then moved to the ED, it definately helps with schedulding, from a school-work-clinical aspect, and also you learn a more problem focused approach and deal with all age groups, and disease processes, which was a great help with the FNP program

I passed ANCC today, strangest exam ever, lots of theory, research related questions. Good luck to whoever has still got to do it, I am glad that monkey is off my back.

I got mine, took 6 weeks, and someone I know applied same time as me, paid the extra $$$ to expedite and we got our letters same day. I test on friday, keep fingers crossed.

40 patients a day is an exaggeration or you are obviously working 20 hrs a day or not offering good care. Be realistic please.

I am completing my FNP degree, and I have done clinicals in our local Level 1 trauma center ED, with the Docs and midlevels, you see a lot of primary care in the ED's, becasue people have no other options, my course director was fine with me doing clinical hours here and as an added bonus, I got a whole lot of practice with all my skills.ie suturing, I&D, xrays, splinting etc

There are always going to be the " haters", do wht is good for you, letting other people influence your life is really not practical.

you can work, do clinicals and go to school, but it sucks you dry and you barely recognise yourself and your family start to wonder who you are, but its only 2 yeasr, so go for it......

I am graduating in May and have paid for school while going, no grants, tuition assistance etc, the school I went to ahd a payment plan each semester, so the fees were divided over about 4 equal payments. See what the school will do, many of them do have payment plans and will try work with you. Tuition reimbursement requirements change and you may not want to commit to staying when you finish. Good Luck.

The VCNP conference is in Reston, VA from march 4th -7th 2009, usually well attended and informative. http://www.vcnp.net

I graduate in May 2010, I have continued to work full time in the ER while going to school and found it was a great help in practising my advanced assessment skills and the docs have been awesome in letting me see pts and report what I think, then when they have seen the patient we share ideas or they point out what I may have missed. I love the enviroment but the NP's and PA's there still do shift work and work weekends, holidays and nights, thats what I would like to get away from, bedside nursing adnd 12 hr shifts for 18 years, I am ready for something different. All the graduates from the group ahead of me in my area got jobs by word of mouth, so there is hope when I finish.

As an ER / ICU nurse, in my last year of my FNP programme, I have noticed those of us with the clinical experience definately have an easier time, both in clinicals and in many classes. It has also been a help in getting practice sites, whichs is not easy in a smaller area with a PA program and med school in the area and all students looking for sites. The students with little or no RN experience have verbalised there frustrations in the clinical expectations they have faced, during there clinical roatations. Just my 5 cents!

kids is not my forte, but that being said, I am currently completeing my peds rotation in FNP and thanks to a phenomenal preceptor I have learned so much. I am not a peds person but I do think all that I learned will benefit me in my future rotations as well.

I am currently an ER nurse and have 10 months left till graduation as an FNP, many of the docs I have worked with have offered me a job, even though I would be the first NP, (they currently only have PA's), I know the offer was made based on my ER and critical care background. You have to market yourself and also FNP lets you see all ages as well as ob/gyn, you canot do that with ACNP for the most part. Hope that helps.

I am currently completing the peds part of my fnp program, dont let it deter you, I have limited peds exposure, just find yourself a great preceptor, thats what will make or break peds. I am really enjoying it which is a huge surprise to me. !

it is very possible to go to school and work, it just requires good organisational skills and sticking to a schedule.

In our NP program the requirement to pass is 82% on tests, it deos not included any papers, logs anything extra in your grade. If you dont meet the 82% in tests you fail, even if your overall grade is in high 80's or 90's %.

Everyone needs to remember, if there were enough american nurses working or being educated there would not be the need to hire foreign nurses. We are here to supplement an apparent shortage and we pay taxes, license fees, do nclex, do and english exam, which I find ludicrous since many of us are trained in english and english is our first language. Dont categorise all foreign nurses, some of us have a lot of knowledge to share.

I agree we need to educate americans first, but thats where we as nurses need to stand up and say something, we cannot educate nurses if there are not enough educators, the pay rates for teaching are pathetic to say the least and there is not enough nurses who have graduae degrees wanting to work for peanuts and I cannot blame them. I recently completed a year long graduate teaching fellowship during my MSN programmed and let me telll you it was a ton of work for very little compensation. I enjoy teaching but will not consider doing it full time when I can make almost double in the clinical setting. So maybe we should start with getting things in place to adequately educate those wanting to be nurses here in the US and then we can make everyone happy and not blame others who come here to earn a decent living that they may not earn in their home country.

As a foreign trained nurse I can see both sides, I did pass NCLEX the first time, but in defence of international nurses many of us work with an expanded scope of practice because we do not have the extra staff like respiratory therapists, NP's etc, those roles in the hospital fall to the RN, so that being said NCLEX does not allow for the autonomy many of us have. I was asked to come and work in this country, I am currently pursuing my MSN and have had to jump through many hoops and spend hundreds of dollars to get my foreign degree broken down to the american equivalent. Not all international nurses are bad, but that being said not all all good, but the same can be said for those who trained in this country.

FNP exposes you to all ages seen in the ER, you will feel more comfortable in the ER with the high acuity patients if you have any clinical background in ER or critical care to draw from.

My program requires 90 hours for womens, 90 hours for peds, 90 hrs for acute, 90hours for chronic and then we are required to do a 280 hr preceptorship in family practice. Hope this helps.

Hi Everyone, I am a FNP student and plan on doing my capstone on the topic of ADHD, I would appreciate any insights from those in practice as to how they handle this diagnosis, do they treat based on psychological testing or based on parent request, thanks in advance.

i phone, would not be without it, ton of free apps that I use a bunch.

apply for student loans, do what works for you, I am in an fnp program and work full time to pay for it, have a family as well, its hard but it definately is doable. Good Luck and remember its only 2 years, you can do anything for 2 years.

HI, I am currently doing my MSN, but really do not have any ideas for my capstone, I would be really happy if anyone has ideas that I can hear about, I obviously do not want to reinvent the wheel, but do want to do something interesting. I have a critical care/er background. Please give me suggestions. Thanks.:typing:banghead: