CecileSF

Definitely not too old. I've had people in my NP courses who had long careers and then went back to school. They have fufiling careers as NPs now and their experience helped them transition. However, ALL of them took a substantial pay cut because they are now "new grads" and get paid an entry level salary. You have to decide if the pay cut is worth it.

Given comparable pass rates. I would attend the less expensive option. The curriculum is the same in all schools because boards require that FNP students take a specific set of classes. USC does not offer any extra classes or resources that other nursing schools don't have. Although the school is in Los Angeles, USC hires outside for profit companies which are not located in the area, to manage major parts of the program such as curriculum information and clinical sites. Students have to correspond with these companies and the university itself during the program. Unfortunately, USC is not accountable for the quality of these contracted businesses since they are not part of the university. Most state schools in California are streamlined and a great value for the education.

The FNP field is extremely impacted and many new grads have difficulty finding jobs. However, I found that some students know this fact going into their programs and are not expecting wages to be much higher than an RN. At least in my state. Those who I know are primary care physician have job offers before they even finish residency. PCPs are still in high demand, but NPs are not. I understand it is different in other parts of the country, but this is the case where I reside. Good luck to you all

Hi and congrats! I wanted to give some helpful tips to the people who are starting. Keep in touch frequently with your clinical placement coordinators and get updates. Although USC finds clinical placements for you, there are students held back a semester due to lack of preceptors. The program has some great professors, so far I haven't run into any major problems. There are still many technical difficulties, as most online programs. We use a platform called 2U, started by the founder of the Princeton Review, and is a contracted for profit company specializing in online education. So when you have issues, you won't be contacting USC directly. Just be sure to make that distinction and always tell your professors when you have issues. It is also very difficult to have a job with clinicals, even on a part time schedule. Good luck!

In some high acuity cases nurses are taking care of pregnant women along with all their co morbidities, the antepartum(pre-delivery) patients come with all their med-surg issues with pregnancy on top of that. Heart conditions, long term illnesses, psychiatric, pregnancy induced diseases you will find them all in a labor and delivery department. I'll admit that the L&D is not as acute as ICU; however, there have been so many times where the L&D nurses have to know how to stabilize a very sick patient before transporting to more critical care areas. People seem surprised when nursses mention women with insulin drips and PICC lines in some of the high acuity L&D units.

Almost every nurse I've know has either cried or were on the verge of crying as a new nurse (and beyond). It is stressful and nothing in school prepares you for the realities of nursing. You are are on information overload and learning so much. One day you will be yelled at by a doctor, nurse, or patient and have to handle it with grace. It does get better, but just realize that there will be a lot of highs and a lot of lows.

I've stayed overtime to chart before because treating the patient is more important, but I really keep it to a minimum to cover myself if I ever have to go to court. Some days it is so busy in my department that I don't chart anything except for meds, orders, physician interactions for 4-6 hours. I make notes on my paper for everything else and back chart. Honestly, doctors want to know you gave treatment/meds in a timely manner, not that you did your 30 minute charting according to protocol. My priority for charting is 1)protection from litigation and 2)giving the oncoming nurse enough info to do their job. And I never double chart unless it is absolutely necessary and the info cannot be seen from another place.

You deserve to be on vacation and have some time off. You will come back relaxed. I want you to realize that being off and taking your PTO will not affect the unit. Sometimes managers will try to guilt trip people into coming into work when we are short staffed. Nurses should not be the ones to fix the staffing and work problems of the facility. You will remember the great times you had in life, your friends, and your family. That patient, nurse, and doctor working while you are off will not even remember that you were off and the unit was short staffed by the next pay period. In the mean time, good luck finding a better job. I've had doctors even telling each other to just let the on call doctor take over the patients duties while they have important occasions. The patient will have a good outcome whether or not you are there, and there is competent care. Thats really all the patient remembers, that some one was there to help them.

I had a same issue when I a switched to a new job after a few years of working. I am still a fairly new nurse but not a new grad. I went from a busy high acuity hospital to one which is less busy and I thought it would be easy. I am introverted and awkward so I didn't always get become great friends with my coworkers, but my skills earned their respect. At my new job, I had to prove myself all over again, it was like being a new grad. The senior nurses, and even younger nurses, would hover over me and give me advice. Because of this, I have gotten negative feedback because I did things the way I was used to, not how the culture of the new facility does it. My skills were rated very highly though. My confidence went down hill. It will take time, but the longer I work there the more trust my coworkers will give me. Hang in there, it will take time to get used to this new setting, although it is slower paced. I feel like learning the routine and getting along with your coworkers is half the battle.

It really depends if you are up to the commute. You can always change your mind and move. Socal has one of the worst drives, even if you are going against traffic. I've done 1.5hr commutes in traffic to clinicals, and that was my limit. But I have many many classmates who where driving an hour to class or clinicals. I live in a big city area so driving long distances in traffic is not uncommon.

It really depends on the situation, nursing practice areas vs. break room. However, I do admit that I have many co workers who speak their own language in public hospital areas. Some people just don't care and do what they want despite management asking them not to. One time I asked a nurse to report something for me and she said "I just did, you just didn't understand because I spoke in my own language to the receiving nurse". I had to pick my battles because the nurse has been helpful to me, so I let it go. There have been many situations like this where I wanted to make a comment but didn't because you will make enemies very quickly.

It's easy to pick on the young people and take advantage of them. I was a new grad just a few years ago and I did not get bullied as badly as some of my friends and co workers when I started. From the stories my fellow nurses have experienced AND watching extreme bullying happen to others, I am surprised those nurses are still in this industry. But it does not stop at new grads, the worst bullying I've witnessed is actually among experienced nurses.

It's hard for people to understand. And also, its very common for nurses to just take a nap in the morning so they can do things during the day time. People just assume they can stay up on only 3 hours of sleep. Sometimes it's guilt too. Night shift can be just as demanding as day shift, I can't even count the days where I went without a lunch or breaks at night.

Managers and favoritism is very common in nursing, thats just how it is. I suggest that you make it know to your manager AGAIN and any other direct higher ups that you want to do day shift. This is not discrimination from pregnancy. Because at your work there is no set seniority path, like officially written, you need to make your preferences known. If a day shift position ever opens on your job board, go ahead and apply for it if it is publicly posted (internal or external posts). After you applied, tell your manager you have applied and the steps you can take to make it a reality. It seems like most positions for day shift may be done informally at your hospital so this is not possible, but if a spot opens up give a friendly reminder to manager that you would be willing to fill it. I would even tell your coworkers too keep a look out for you.

Would be nice to get rid of 12 hr shifts where it is so busy where I don't get a lunch or break.