a.malone

Thanks Ivan and Water Lily..good stuff. I really appreciate it! I think we have decided to not decide! I am going to push pause on this decision until our oldest starts preschool and we have the last baby..all this fall. Spring semester, Jan, i'm going to commit or quit and plan to return later. Your comments are very encouraging to me! I think it would indeed be worth it and I have one grama retired and one retiring this fall....I think we can do it! Blessings!

"Family friendly" as in...I was hoping I would get some replies from NPs regarding their hours and what is required of them so that I might have a better idea of what challenges I would be facing as a FNP opposed to a RN. This is indeed different for everyone but i'm asking the obvious. Thanks!!

BCgradnurse, Yes, this helps me tremendously. I will even read your reply to my husband! This is very encouraging and really answers my flexibility and lifestyle questions. I think I may have a say in my clinicals because the person who negotiates them is also faculty in the BSN program I attended and has become my friend. If she isn't retired by the time I start I should be in good shape. I know what you mean about networking also. I'm pregnant with my third as i've shared and my ob/gyn also attends my church. I joke with him a lot that he'll have to give me a job if I keep having children...i'll have to pay for them at some point...he laughs...but has seriously told me that is a very good possibility. I may do a clinical with him as well. I live in a tight knitt medical community that is in Vanderbilt's backyard...so in one sense there are a lot of NPs...but in another most of them move away or stay in Nashville. I'm looking for something in a bit more rural area...so I should be in good shape. Your job actually sounds exactly like what i'm hoping for and envisioning!! That is indeed VERY doable. Actually my best friend, who has no children, is seeking her administrative license, and she is already in that boat with the phone calls and hours..not very family friendly. Well again, thank you, very helpful!! I have a couple more questions for you...I think i'm leaning toward pressing on and sticking with NP...I wasn't going to go here...but I will...it seems to me the "morale", if you will, of NPs is a bit higher than RNs...have you noticed this? Also, do you think it will be easier to do clinicals while the babies are so young? Is the pay decent (a community health center is were I think i'd most like to work as a NP)? What was licensure like? Is it comparable to RN boards? Thanks!!!

Can any NPs advise me? I am deciding between finishing my MSN/FNP and remaining a RN...which is the more family friendly career path?

All of you have such good points, thanks so much for your reply. I roll all of this around all the time. If i'm going back it has to be this Jan to make my 6 yr window...and i'll JUST be sleeping through the night with the newborn. I won't start clincals until the fall though.. 92mxmom: yes the course load is worrisome to me. I think I can suck up the time away...what worries me more is that i'm going to be nutty like I was in undergrad nursing. My BSN about pushed my husband to the brink of sanity because it usurped every ounce of energy I had, physical and emotional...anybody else go through this? So far grad school has been easier...I wonder if it is because I took research to get my BSN and had a crazy hard class and was well prepared for the grad level. I wonder if the other classes will follow suit? Do any of you out there know...grad school so far is like a refresher of the BSN with just a little more reading and a bit more free thinking...will the courses linked to the clinicals be as painful as the BSN adult health and maternal child...or will it be the diagnostic/assessment driven side of the same material? 92mxmom and I could really use an answer on that I think..? Good luck to you 92mxmom in your decision also!! Moogie: I hear you!! I thought perhaps I would go with RN and just say heck with it. The DNP won't be too much more than the MSN...my husband is grand-fathered in as an OT with his masters and the new OTs are all DTPs now...but it hasn't hindered him at all...experience in HIS field still pays much more and from what he has gathered they have more education but not much...The "D" makes the public feel warm and fuzzy I guess. So with that to say...I don't think the DNP will be any more daunting than the MSN...just might take longer!! Indeed nursing has to wait...my husband told me yesterday that I just need to have this baby in October (our third), reapply for spring, and see how the next three or four months go. Thanks so much for your insight and honesty. You sound experienced...any answers to any of these questions? Mex: you present the flip of this coin...knock it out because when they are teens I REALLY want to be able to go on fun vacations in the summer and have the pursuit of education be all about them. I just REALLY want to have moved on in life and not have that feeling like i'm still waiting for tomorrow. When I get this then i'll... You know? Thanks for your opinion!! All of your opinions and ideas are so helpful...can any of you help to explain how hard or how doable the classes associated with clinicals are? I'm good with academics and actually struggled more with clinical rotations in undergrad. I can recite the text but can't start an IV..lol. Sad but true. Any insight into the real world of NP and how family friendly or lucrative it is vs. staying at the RN level?? Thanks!

Was your part time job and is the job you are applying for more lucrative than if you were a RN? Do you think it is harder or easier to find part time work that fits with your home situation? The big picture...can I tell you...when I look down the road in life I think the NP would be wise to finish and would be more lucrative, provide more options, and be a good career as my children grow older and eventually leave. The flip side is I can say all of this in regard to the RN...it will be more lucrative as I progress through my career (of course not at the level of the NP), I still have limitless options in regard to specialty, and would still work with my family as it grows. So if NP is what I want...? You know I guess therein really lies my dilemma...I cannot get a clear picture in my head of what my life will look like as a RN versus a NP. Any insight here? Any NPs that have been RNs...is it better...just different...I understand the difference in the role and what each nurse does...but I also know that school and real world are quite different. Once I became a RN my job exceeded my hopes in some aspects and were also very dissapointing in others...will any of you NPs looking back say that being a RN would have been easier on your family or more flexible or less stressful...? Thanks again!

The thing about this debate that gets me is this...why are we as a profession so divisive about our own? The title RN carries much prestige in our society and has an incredible reputation...we all agree that this role is indispensible and held in high regard. So is that of the NP. As many NPs that are trained in this manner...something is working because from what i've read the role of the NP is developing the same great reputation! As a RN in a teaching hospital I had NP students in this 3 year program, 1+2yrs, follow me. They could not perform my duties and lacked my assessment skills and training. However, as we all know the education that supports these skills is a huge foundation (ADN vs BSN). They were being trained for a different role and will attain those skills needed in their specific role as they proceed. I say more power to them and let us support this, as it is a system that is working. They are not watering down the profession of "nursing". Every single patient i've ever talked to, has told me they prefer their NP over their doctor because "nurses listen". The NPs I know who have went through this type of training do indeed grasp the concepts of nursing and are patient care focused providers. We are so desperate for nurses...in our community we will take all the help we can get. I say let's push on and support these programs. As long as we are providing quality care and fostering the fundamentals of nursing as a profession...I say rock on!

Wow...each of you REALLY helped me. I was SO hoping for this! I replied to all three of you..please feel free to answer any questions from my reply...thank you SO much for your time!! Sheri-FNP-C, Exactly the same...really want to be home with them and really cannot imagine leaving them. I think you are right, six weeks in the grand scheme isn't the end of the world. And yes, the NP hours and no weekends is very appealing. If I do quit and stay with RN i'll have to work in a surgical center or dialysis or something...I don't want to miss any of those weekends or nights. I thought hospital twelves were going to be the end all of all and a dream...wrong. I left at six and got home at eight-thirty and it took me two days to recover from the pace of the unit I was in! So ya, mommy job and hours are a top concern also! So you are working four days a week as a NP? I wanted to do the same...but get licensed before my youngest starts Kindergarten so I can be all in..she is just now turning 3. Big question for you...how did you do with classes such as pharm and adult health? As most of us are...i'm a perfectionist and what i'm more afraid of...other than physically leaving the little babies is the emotional expenditure of studying. I really checked out on my husband and family when I went through the BSN program...with a husband that works in healthcare as well and three babies...I can do a class at a time and make my window...but can I do an eight hour clinical day and come home and lay it down and be all in with huband and babies....how did you do with that. I don't want to stress my husband out like I did in undergrad. My A+ mentality about pushed him to the brink..lol..but from what I read most nurses seem to have this trait! This degree and licensure is no joke...i'm really mostly worried that I won't be able to do well at it all, so my husband will suffer, again! So far it has, surprisingly, been a bit easier than undergrad. How do you split yourself...i've only been a mom for three years. Bonosgrrl, Thanks...yes I was wondering...as they get older and in elementary school I think it will be even harder. I think now it will be hardest on me...since they are so little. And anything goes with grama. And my two oldest would be in preschool two days a week by that time also. But my husband is an OT in a hospital. His hours are great 8-4:30 but this being said there is no way he can change them. I did think to ask him to take his vacation in the middle of the six week clinicals between grandmas. Uuugghhh...it just hurts my heart because last night I was up between 2 and 4 with them...they tag teamed me. BUT because I don't have anywhere to be the next day it doesn't matter...I am in sweet mom mode and am very collected...i'm worried that i'll be frantic to get them down and choke my husband for sleeping through the drama. lol. Of course he'll have to help and is very willing, but will I be able to do this...yes moms do it all the time...but I never knew how in the world they did. The odds of having someone wake up are very good with three toddlers all a year apart...and having to be in that level of clinical the next morning...how do you do it? Are the clinicals, licensure, certification as hard as i'm envisioning them to be?? BCgradnurse, Your point hit my heart...do I really really want to be a NP. I had a corporate career before becomming a RN. it sounds strange but I lived alone all my 20s...had a career...got married at 30...went back and became a RN...THEN had the babies...this whole feeling of needing something for myself is kind of just not there anymore. I feel like my whole life has been about me (went, did, spent, wherever/whenever) and all of a sudden, and very unexpectantly, my heart is all for my husband and three babies. I've really changed since my first was born almost three years ago. It is like the reverse...I didn't realize I would feel this when I became a mother!! I was all guts and glory when I became a RN, drove a jeep wrangler, and thought I was pretty much the center of the universe (actually called my mother to exclaim "Hey...i'm not the center of everything."...she laughed and said "I know, isn't it great?" lol). Indeed it is great!! Now I drive a minivan, am lucky to have my teethbrushed by noon, have given up all my rights-moods-free time-etc...AND I LOVE IT. Lol...very strange motherhood!! All this to say...do I want to be a NP...I want to go back to work in a job that is VERY conducive to being as "all-in" with these kids as I can...will not require me to make my husband nuts because I come home war-torn from "the unit" every day...I want a great mom job that I will also enjoy as my children get older and eventually start their own lives..which path is this? I think I would enjoy NP more than being a RN in the hospital which is all I know. Here is my question for you...do you find the daily grind of being a NP more or less taxing on you and your family? I've heard it is actually a lot less stress once you are a NP...is this true? I love being a nurse and I have several roads to take as RN that will allow me to get the mommy job...but is NP going to benefit the fam better in the long run and when my children are in highschool and college? What do I want to do...great question...my husband keeps asking me this as well. I wish I could get a picture of what my days would look like down the road...any ideas here now that you are there? Thanks again, Allison

I'm with traumamike on this...I live in a town that is in Nashville's back yard. Vanderbilt University School of Nursing cranks out NPs through the bridge program and you don't need ANY nursing experience to enter! All you need is a bachelor's degree in SOMETHING...ANYTHING...and they bridge you in. You become a RN in one year and your next two years are spent becoming a NP. The program is renowned and the grads are very well received in our community. RN and NP are such different roles in healthcare that many physicians seem to like new grads, as traumamike explained. I'm a RN with no experience working toward FNP...in some instances it is all about who you know. I have many friends in many different areas of nursing and medicine. I hope and believe you can sell yourself and your willingness to learn in nursing, as in any career! Good luck!

BSN/RN IN NEED OF ADVICE... I am currently studying for my MSN/FNP through an online program at Tennessee State Univ. I am a stay at home mom and pregnant with my third child in four years. I became a RN, worked eight months at Vanderbilt, then got pregnant and had hyperemesis. I've been home since then and plan to stay home until my unborn (youngest starts preschool). In the meantime i'm working toward the MSN. This to say, by the time I have to leave for clinicals I will have a 4, 2, and 1 year old at home. My clinicals will require me to be gone 40 hours/wk for four consecutive semesters for 3wks, 6wks, 3wks, and another 6wks...and after these four semesters i'm finished. Both grandmothers will have to fly in to be with the little people while i'm away as we have no family here being former military. This will strain both sides of the family but they are all willing to help. My dilemma is this...should I proceed with the MSN or walk away. I am struggling with leaving my little people at such a sweet time for so long (I know this sounds ridiculous to some...but being home with them is all I know and such a blessing). I am happy with my current degree and licensure and can make a great living as a second income with what I have. On the other hand, I can't foresee in five or ten years what my career will entail. Will I regret not knocking out the MSN while my kids are babies or will I be just as happy being a RN? I don't want to go back later, it is now or never for three reasons. One, I have a 6 year window to finish with TSU and if I don't proceed that will close (don't want to retake those core classes). Two, I don't want to wait until the kids are in school because I want to enter the workforce in my mid 40s instead of STILL being a student. Third, if I wait NP will require the DNP and well, enough said. RN VS FNP...what role do I want? Both are appealing and I have equal respect and admiration for both roles. The money isn't a consideration in the immediate...but in 15 to 18 years i'll have children entering college, elderly parents, and be pushing retirement age myself, all at once. At the same time my husband is in healthcare as well, and we would be fine with whatever I decide. Will it be worth leaving my sweet babies in the long run? Is there a NP out there who has been a RN with advice? Have any of you been home with little ones? The time is fleeting and I want to soak it all in. But I have to decide now...my 6 years to finish this degree with TSU is closing. Do I proceed or quit? Do I stick with the education and licensure I am blessed to already have? Do I go for the MSN and suck up the heartache of leaving my babies...to think that in the long run it will be the better road? Help!!!

BSN/RN IN NEED OF ADVICE... I am currently studying for my MSN/FNP through an online program at Tennessee State Univ. I am a stay at home mom and pregnant with my third child in four years. I became a RN, worked eight months at Vanderbilt, then got pregnant and had hyperemesis. I've been home since then and plan to stay home until my unborn (youngest starts preschool). In the meantime i'm working toward the MSN. This to say, by the time I have to leave for clinicals I will have a 4, 2, and 1 year old at home. My clinicals will require me to be gone 40 hours/wk for four consecutive semesters for 3wks, 6wks, 3wks, and another 6wks...and after these four semesters i'm finished. Both grandmothers will have to fly in to be with the little people while i'm away as we have no family here being former military. This will strain both sides of the family but they are all willing to help. My dilemma is this...should I proceed with the MSN or walk away. I am struggling with leaving my little people at such a sweet time for so long (I know this sounds ridiculous to some...but being home with them is all I know and such a blessing). I am happy with my current degree and licensure and can make a great living as a second income with what I have. On the other hand, I can't foresee in five or ten years what my career will entail. Will I regret not knocking out the MSN while my kids are babies or will I be just as happy being a RN? I don't want to go back later, it is now or never for three reasons. One, I have a 6 year window to finish with TSU and if I don't proceed that will close (don't want to retake those core classes). Two, I don't want to wait until the kids are in school because I want to enter the workforce in my mid 40s instead of STILL being a student. Third, if I wait NP will require the DNP and well, enough said. RN VS FNP...what role do I want? Both are appealing and I have equal respect and admiration for both roles. The money isn't a consideration in the immediate...but in 15 to 18 years i'll have children entering college, elderly parents, and be pushing retirement age myself, all at once. At the same time my husband is in healthcare as well, and we would be fine with whatever I decide. Will it be worth leaving my sweet babies in the long run? Is there a NP out there who has been a RN with advice? Have any of you been home with little ones? The time is fleeting and I want to soak it all in. But I have to decide now...my 6 years to finish this degree with TSU is closing. Do I proceed or quit? Do I stick with the education and licensure I am blessed to already have? Do I go for the MSN and suck up the heartache of leaving my babies...to think that in the long run it will be the better road? Help!!! p.s..I posted this in post-graduate hoping to gain additional insight from a NP already in the field.

Bravo RN4NICU! I was hoping to hear this...medicine's focal point is treating the disease process...nursing's focal point is treating the patient! I was hoping someone would go there! Thanks!