caitiecait

I just wanted to follow up and say that I accepted a full time rn position at my dream job in allergies and asthma!!!!!!!!! Right now I am on cloud 9 and couldn't be happier! :) and getr this ill actually make more money than at my back breaking poop cleaning icu job lol. What I love about this office is that they are very pro np including all the doctors and continuing your wducation! I plan on going back next year or so. I also want to get certified as an asthma educator! I love all the educatioal growth opportunities and I'm just so happy! Just wanted to share!

I can understand what you are asking. As I can relate. Right now I have been an ICU nurse for 2 years. While I enjoy taking care of sick pts (love multiple gtts, vented pts, crashings pts, and runnning codes) I also hate some of the politics that go into nursing. There is nothing worse than being tripled with 2 stable pts and one critically ill pt, then having to transfer out your 2 stable pts and admitt a new pt from the ER and complete the oodles amount of paperwork that go with that admission and all the orders. Sometimes I feel like I need to clone myself bc it is impossible to be at 5 places at once. Where I work at I am constantly "on demand" by the doctors, family, physical therapist, chaplain, occupational therapist, dietary, respiratory, lab, and oh yeah, the pt! Sometimes I just want to call TIME OUT! I need a break too, but even that isnt always gauranteed. I find mysef playing catch up with my charting on break or scarffing my food down before I get my next admit. I admit, most days are chaotic and when I have a day off my body aches and my back is killing me, and Im only 24! So yes to answer your question, I pray to God that being an NP will result in better job satisfaction. Dont get me wrong I love nursing but I feel we need an advocate because I believe we get the short end of the stick and it is not always fair! I look forward to going back to school and one day becoming an NP. Do I plan to work in the hospital? H*ll no! I plan on working in an office M-F 8-5 weekends and holidays off. After working my behind off and then going back to school I feel that is very much so owed to me, and anyone who disagrees with me can beat it! Another factor that I believe that may play a role in job satisfaction, is right now I work in a tertiary setting. By the time the pts come to me, they are already sick. They are already in ESRD, or CHF, or HTN, or DM. I want to work in a primary setting where I can focus on pt education and primary prevention. Pt education and primary prevention can be applied in any setting, womans health, pediatrics, community, and adults. I think taking care of "people" before they become "patients" will better improve our work place satisfaction!

PsychRN, I knew somebody who take that statement too literally. What I mean is that I am most certainly not the ICU nurse I am now versus what I was 2 years ago as an RN, and I most certainly will not be the same nurse I am today in another 2 years. Nursing school gave me the basics. my career however sculpted me into the nurse I am today. I can critically think, advocate for my pts, educate, and even run codes and delegate tasks, I do these things with confidence because I know each day I am still learning and I will never stop learning. To think that I will graduate with my MSN and become an expert FNP is just untrue and plain scary! We must realize our strengths and weaknesses and focus upon them to improve ourselves; by doing so only makes us stronger and better providers. Oh and PS: this is my edgy ADD side speaking, I could care a less what Joe SchmoMD thinks of me, if I did I would never survive this profession!

I agree with the above post. I am comparing on campus programs close to home, to online programs backed by a university far from home. The problem is I want to work full time and the on campus programs require you to attend classes and even one of the campuses here, the classes are online or by satelite! So what gives?! Plus it would be nice to not have to take the GRE. I have a 3.5 undergrad, and have been an ICU nurse for 2 years and working on my CCRN, I think I can handle grad school and I do not need a GRE to tell me how "smart" I am. A couple of FNPs that work in my hospital did not like their "on campus" program and if they had it to do all over again they would have gone somewhere else. I read these threads and I hear great things about the online schools and how much they learned that I think that either way it doesnt matter. I have compared the curriculum of these 2 online programs that I am interested in to these 2 on campus schools and guess what?! Not only did I like the online curriculum more, but I found that they were more challenging!! As with nursing school I did not become a nurse until after I started working. And I think that it doesnt matter where you earn your degree, if you are a great provider people will come to you regardless of where or how you earned your degree. And once you become an APN and gain experience that will be reflected too. It is all in what you put into your education. Whats so great about technology is that if I like a program that is offered in Indiana, or California, I do not have to live there to earn my degree, all your need is a computer. When it comes down to it, we all have to pass the same test!

I am thinking that if I can not find a job in allergies and asthma as a RN, I am going to go look into Mother Baby! I am considering shadowing! I hope it all works out!:redpinkhe

Brenda, Thank you so much for all the feedback! You have really been helpful! I think I am going to go ahead and apply for the program and hopefully start in Jan! The program sounds perfect! It sounds like you get to know your fellow classmates too. So how do you not have a thesis? If you plan on going for your DNP will you need a thesis??

How long does it take to complete the program if you go part time? I would like to be done with program no longer than 3years and ideally 2 years. The weekly posts where they questions that you had to answer in APA format and then comment on someone elses post? How long in length do they have to be? How about tests? Do you take your tests under blackboard where its timed? Thats what we did for our undergrad. Ii love reading and studying but when it comes to writing papers and APA format I get the heebie jeebies lol I guess it's something I'll have to get over once ur in grad school! How about a thesis? Thank you for all your input it really helps with the headache of choosing schools!

What would a typical school week consist of assignment and test wise? I know they use blackboard but do they give you powerpoints and lectures on the computer? What type of assignments do you have to turn in, and how many papers do you have to do? How many hours a week did you focus on school work? You say you worked full time, but for those who can not work on the weekends is it possible to still work full time, or do you have to cut your hours back once you do your clinicals? How easy is it registering for classes each semester. Sorry this is alot of questions:eek:

Thank you that does help! I think I will start looking at places and asking different FNPs questions on how they got started. Also can I ask you; you are a WHNP, would I be able to work in womens health as a FNP? I know in FNP school womens health is one of the areas we go over. i find womens health interestingbut since I find other things interesting too I wouldnt want to focus my degree on womens health. So is it possible to get a job in womens health being a FNP :)

I guess Im just a little disappointed because I was under the impression that we are in dire needs for nursing instructors! There is so much advertisement here in the state of VA on how nursing instructors are needed, and even a $20000 scholarship towards school if you promise to work as a nursing instructor in the state of VA for 2 years. I have a fiance soon to be husband that I also have to consider when it comes to relocating. I just thought that once I get my MSN in nurse education the doors will open for full time faculty position and having to move to just get a job was out of the question! Also we should atleast get paid descent (I know it will be less than a staff nurse but for all the work you put in it should be atleast in the mid $40000s). I love to teach and I will look forward to getting my MSN once I know there will be jobs waiting for me once Im done.

In my area FNPs can work in the hospitals and in the office. Other states will only allow ACNPs to work in the hospitals and FNPs to work in primary care. I however, only want primary care. I like the advice on going to different allergy and asthma groups and introducing myself. I would like to one day work for one as a RN:nurse:

I have 2 years of critical care experience. I am thinking of working in a primary care setting while I am in FNP school. When I go to apply for a job as a FNP, will I be penalized for only having 2 years of hospital experience and the rest in primary care? Do they prefer a FNP to only have hospital experience? Just a note, I only want to work in primary care as a FNP and not work in a hospital. My goal is allergies and asthma.

I have heard great things about Indiana State University's FNP online program. I was wondering if anyone on here has heard anything or has gone through their program? Did you work full time during the program or advice not to. Or is it the type of program that you can work full time for the core classes and part time or PRN for clinicals. Do the instructors stay in close touch with their students and make you feel apart of your online community?

Thank you for the encouragement :) I guess I am so use to seeing FNPs in the hospital that I thought it would be taboo if I said I did not want to work in the hospitals and only work in the office. I think what I am going to do is try to see if I could work for the allergest.Maybe that will open doors for me?! :) Also how stressful is it to be a FNP in an office? Do you enjoy iy. What is the day to day for a FNP in an office only setting?

I am considering FNP, but I do not want to work in the hospital! If I pursue my FNP, I would only want to work in an office. My actual dream is to speacialize in allergies and asthma. But because that is a speacialty do you think I will have a hard time finding a job as a FNP in a allergies and asthma office. I do not want to do anything else but this and I feel that I would have a hard time finding a job. As of right now I work in critical care and am considering finding a job at a allergest office. I guess I just want to make sure that I would have a chance in pursuing this and if it is possible to not work in a hospital setting. Also I do not want to work in a free clinic, urgent care, or public health. I know I may sound demanding, but I truely want to pursue this and I just want to know if the chances are agaisnt me.