anny08

Hello everyone, I recently graduated with my FNP degree but will be starting slowly on my DNP this coming fall. I am looking for employment as a Nurse Practitioner in my area to work full time while continuing on with my education, but also know for my DNP program that I may need time off for on campus seminars, orientation etc. I have heard mixed reviews about whether to tell your employer you are pursuing this degree, since there are alot of mixed feelings about it voiced by other professions..i.e. MDs etc. Although I have not found a job yet, I am trying to decide if it is wise to mention I am continuing my education during the interview process etc. Many of my fellow classmates have said they do not believe it is a good idea to tell, but I want to feel I can be open and honest about it. I plan to work in the outpatient setting for quite some time; possibly teach down the road, but mostly pursuing it for my own personal and professional growth. For other DNP students out there, did you mention you were continuing your education? what kind of response did you get? Thanks!

the biggest difference between an RN and NP is that as an NP, you have more autonomy and are able to diagnose and treat patients for a variety of conditions, depending on your scope of practice. For example, if you are sick and go to a clinic to be seen, you can be treated by a NP. As a RN you are still caring for the patient, but you get orders for the medications and treatments from the M.D., PA, DO, NP depending on where you work. If you are sick and go to a clinic, the RN may be the one to talk your vitals and get initial information on what is going on but than you are seen by the health care provider for evaluation and treatment. The role of the RN and NP is various depending on where you work. Many RNs work in the hospital setting on various floors, such as neuro, med/surg, pediatrics etc and provide bedside care- passing meds, monitoring, IVs, etc. I'm not sure what you constitute as "minor" surgery, but as someone in the FNP program and hoping to work in the outpatient setting, I don't expect to do much "surgically" besides maybe stitches/taking them out, which is the only type of "surgery" I have learned in my program thus far. If you specialize, such as an Orthopedic NP, you can get certified as a first assist in surgeries etc. It all depends on where you want to work and do. Basically NPs are "advance nurses" because you are in charge of managing and treating acute and chronic conditions. My FNP program is focused on obtaining a thorough history, performing an accurate physical exam, assessing what I think is going on/the diagnosis and the plan in how to care for the patient. If you go the PNP route, you would only be able to care for kids; if you go the family route you can treat across the life span. As far as teaching, many schools are transitioning to only allowing NPs to teach who either have or are in the middle of obtaining a Doctorate degree. There is speculation that by 2015 it will be required that all NP students will have to get their doctorate degree in order to practice and those who already have their masters at this point may be grandfathered in. It is unknown what will really happen, but something to know if you pursue an advanced degree-that by the time you do, it may very well be required to get the doctorate as well. I hope this helps!

I think those are great points to start with. As a nurse, you are making a difference in many peoples lives and it is very satisfying. One reason I love nursing is as you pointed out, it gives you freedom to move around-you can switch up your specialty, or even do travel nursing if you do not need to be tied down and want to experience other places.

I have not been in a similar situation, but I'm in a MSN program and 2 people have had babies who are in my program. As others have mentioned, the program should be willing to accommadate, since everyone is at different points in their lives and know that things come up. Good luck to you and congrats on having another baby!

I didn't really do many "practice exams", except for the one we took during our last semester and I did not do well AT ALL. I took the Hurst review which was amazing, and used a kaplan book with the CD to do many, many practice questions. I passed after 75 questions. Key-do not overthink the questions, remember ABCs and go with your first instinct.

Don't read too much into questions, and don't stress about getting As in every class. I did great in my pre-req classes, but when it came to nursing exams I always over thought the questions and stressed myself out. I didn't do as well on the exams, and when I would be happy to have passed there were people who would be upset because they missed 2 questions and got a 93%. I like to be a perfectionist and get good grades, but, as I'm now doing in my MSN, I don't focus on the grades as much but on what Im learning-I'm more stressed when I feel I don't know what I need to for my career, not the grades. Grades are still important if you are going to apply to go back to school, but focus on your knowledge, the grades dont always reflect that.

It depends on the nursing school you attend as to how much experience/exposure you get to each area. If I remember correctly, I spent 7 weeks in L & D and also 7 weeks in pediatrics, with the other half of each of those semesters in Med/surg. But for me there was also community health which wasn't like being in med/surg and pysch which is good exposure for everyone because you will deal with psych patients no matter what area you are in. I think you would be just fine-many of the people in my program wanted to do L&D or peds as well and they all made it!

Yes. One of my best friends in nursing school, and who ended up being my maid of honor in my wedding, was the same way and still is. She had another bachelors first and went back because she wanted to do labor and delivery and thats her passion. She still is working on actually getting a job in that area, but has worked as a nurse for 2 years now and knows that she will land her dream job eventually! and is considering applying for a midwifery program. Even though I didn't identify myself with one area of interest in nursing school, certain clinical rotations I definitely loved more than others, and Im sure thats how it is for a lot of people. It has its tough points but if you know where you want to work when you are done, great! You will be fine :)

It was a GREAT class. My professor was a difficult one, but I made it through ok. You do have to study a lot but it's all worth it in the end. So far it's one of the classes I've learned the most in by far out of my MSN program.

When I graduated nursing school, it was also in December. Some of my classmates were applying around August or so, others waited until they were done. I started to apply around end of October/beginning of November, because it takes awhile sometimes for them to review your application, and for me I had to have an interview with HR first, then the manager. The job I ended up taking wasn't offered to me until end of December. Some of my classmates that waited couldn't find jobs in the area and ended up having to move elsewhere. I would suggest starting to look into options and seeing what is out there and available. The hospital I started at didn't require the license before I started but now it does so I would check into that because depending on your program it takes awhile to get your access code to take the NCLEX. So I would recommend applying the last few months of your program. Hope it goes well for you good luck!

Yes, I believe they always do interviews-but someone in the program with me had hers over the phone. I hope you hear from them. The nice thing about Duke is you can apply for any semester to start, so you could always apply again to start in the spring.

The program is going well. I decided to split up the FNP and DNP. I started in the fall and realized how much there was just for the masters portion and will take one part at a time (my original plan through my advisor had combined my classes with masters and doctorate, but it would have postponed me receiving my masters for a few semesters. I'd like to get out sooner and work as a NP for a bit and then I can continue with the DNP online (which its all online anyways). I am not aware of how many people are doing the program online. I know there are some because when talking about placements, my course coordinator mentioned that they have to help place in other states. I'm not sure about the process for applying to the online vs on campus. A girl in my class is moving to the mountains in June so she is switching to online/long-distance in the fall and didnt have a problem doing the switch. Good luck with applying-might as well try it wouldn't hurt :) --And even though im on campus, some classes are only available online. This summer I will be taking 2 online and then have my clinical and on campus class. The online classes are working out well, which originally I was skeptical about them (im not an online class person typically). Also residing in another state could be beneficial as well. I'm not sure how they determine your clinical placements, whether you find it or they do etc but they were a little misleading in how far our clinical placements would be or where we would be placed. Last semester I was 1 and 1/2 hrs away, and this summer I will be an hour.

Hello, I am starting the FNP program next week here at Duke! I just moved after getting married a month ago from michigan with my husband to Raleigh this week. I was actually pleasantly surprised with my application process (and I did apply for the FNP-DNP just like you are interested in-I definitely agree with the whole switch coming up its better to just get both at once!). I graduated December of 2008 with my BSN, and started working on a med/surg floor in January of 2009. I just quit my job a month ago due to my wedding, moving, etc so I had just about a year and half of experience. Duke does not require experience, but they highly recommend having a year of experience when applying. I also applied to UIC's program and did not even get an interview. However with Duke, I got an email for an interview! So I flew down and was nervous, only to find that myself and another girl were "interviewed" at the same time and basically told that based on our application we were more than qualified to be admitted, that she would recommend to the committee that we be admitted to the program, and that she just wanted to make sure what we were looking for in a program fits what they teach and provide! I also had been on the phone a few times with the admissions coordinator before going down there so I received some statistics-there are 40 spots for FNP students and it all depends on the year and how many apply as to who gets in/etc. Last year he said not everyone got in, while the year before everyone was accepted. It just depends on the number of applications. The GRE is now being required only if your overall undergraduate GPA is not 3.4 or higher. I had transferred and had not done well at the first school I attended, therefore I had to take the GRE and submit it. I did not do very well but my scores were never brought up so I do not think they pay as much attention to that (while for their PA school, that is a large indicator for if you will be considered for an interview or not). I hope that helps! I will be going to school year around (possibly finding a per diem RN job once I get settled in here) full time-so after 2 years I can take the boards for my masters and then I will continue on 1 more year and finish my doctorate (which is all online by the way!) All in all, i'm sure it all depends on what your resume looks like, experience etc. But I would not consider myself as one with a ton of experience either-I'm 23 and aside from my 1 and 1/2 years of nursing experience I don't have much else. I did, however, go to Africa last year and do some volunteering abroad-which they seemed to like since I believe a lot of their family NP program is focused towards underserved areas/people. I also think with the price of attending Duke is what deters some people away...and having the reputation of being a very good school I think people might assume they wont be considered. It all depends on the program-while the PA program is one of the most competitive in the country, I don't think that is quite the case with the FNP program good luck!

thanks for the info-sure I'd love the website and check it out. Yes, I am more interested in getting out of michigan haha-but I want to go where it's best for me and I feel I will get the best education. Grand Valley does have the DNP now-I have talked with an advisor there-but they only have ANP or PNP, not family. I will probably apply there anyways.

I recently passed my NCLEX exam and I am working as a RN on a med/surg unit in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I am interested in going back to school (probably applying for fall 2010) for either ANP or FNP through the new BSN-DNP track. I have been on aacn website with the list of DNP programs, however I'm having a hard time distinguishing which schools have campus-based education for the BSN-DNP track and which are only distant learning. While I've seen many people post asking about distant learning programs, I am very interested in schools that are campus-based. I am 22 years old with the ability to move and go to school anywhere and I do not feel I learn very well through online courses. Does anyone have any good suggestions on schools that offer the programs on campus?