ChiaLing

I saw that post a few days ago and I'm working my way through NPfinder. Thanks for the tip, though.

Hello: I am a first-year Family Nurse Practitioner student, and I am looking for a clinical preceptor in a family practice setting. I am looking for a clinical placement approximately 2 days a week, and I would be able to start immediately, after the appropriate affiliation agreement and paperwork with my school is squared away. I've tried cold-calling places and have gotten nowhere. I have tried asking other boards here in allnurses.com (California forum, graduate school assistance forum). I'm a student member of my state NP association, have gone to meetings, and have inquired about preceptors without much luck. Please PM (private message) me if you would be able to help. Thanks so much!

Hi everyone: I am a first-year Family Nurse Practitioner student, and I am looking for a clinical preceptor in a family practice setting. I am looking for a clinical placement 1-2 days a week, and I would be able to start immediately, after the appropriate affiliation agreement and paperwork with my school is squared away. I've been cold-calling places and have gotten nowhere. I'm a student member of CANP, have gone to meetings, and have inquired about preceptors without much luck. Please PM (private message) me if you would be able to help. Thanks so much!

Dear pinoyNP: Thank you very much for replying to my post and taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate your willingness to help me. Your answers were great. I'll be sure to PM you if I I need more details. Thanks again!

Really? 20 people have read this message, and nobody is willing to help me? (bump) Please? Your confidentiality will be maintained at all times, of course. Much appreciation to any APN who can answer the above questions for me.

I am seeking a nurse in an advanced practice role to interview via e-mail for a school assignment; would anyone be willing to help me? I am interested in anyone practicing as a CNS, primary care NP, ACNP, CNM, CRNA, or case management. Primarily, I would like to know: * Your work setting and practice environment? * What challenges and opportunities you face in your advanced practice role? * What you like best about your role? * What would you change about your role? Many, many thanks to anyone would who be willing to answer these questions for me! It should be a fairly quick and easy thing to do. Please PM me.

Don't beat yourself up. Sounds more like a system error to me. Color coding is potentially confusing - why not use military time, or spell out more clearly AM and PM? Does your hospital use incident reports or med error reports to improve systemic issues?

I thought that medication reconciliation was one of JCAHO's National Patient Safety goals. Shouldn't all hospitals be doing this?

There is a new program at the University of Southern California, in their School of Social Work, that combines nursing and the MSW degree/Case Management Certificate. I know you don't have an RN yet, but this may be an intriguing option for you. More info: USC School of Social Work: Nurse Social Work Practitioner program

http://www.smartscrubs.com Their scrubs are so comfy, and they have a great selection of prints.

I rotated through the ED as a student, and felt so overwhelmed with the stimuli, the noise, the chaos ... I am currently precepting in the ICU, and am loving it so far. Am I at a disadvantage in a future FNP role if I hated being in the ED? Would critical care provide a good background for future FNP practice? Thanks.

Timothy, THANK YOU for posting that! I'm in my final prelicensure semester, and your advice is GREAT! I'm saving a copy for future reference.:)

Our instructors generally preferred to be called by their first names. Reason? They explained that they viewed us, the students, as professionals and future colleagues within the nursing profession, and so we were all on equal footing. I did have one professor with a Ph.D., but on the first day of class she smiled and said, "You can call me Dr. [last name] if you want to, but I'd really rather you just call me [first name]. Dr. [last name] just sounds so pretentious." Don't worry, your professors will let you know the first day of class how they prefer to be addressed.

Wow, I had almost forgotten about my initial post! Just for fun I thought I'd update. My, the things that happen in two years! I got accepted into a direct-entry MSN program and am now finishing up the 3rd of 4 pre-RN semesters! I will be eligible to take the NCLEX in January 2007 and I LOVE nursing school and clinicals. I am so glad that I decided to take that leap into nursing! Once I get my RN, I'll be working full-time (probably in med-surg, as I want to get a good foundation) as I continue graduate studies part-time. If all goes as planned, I'll be graduating in 2009 with an MSN/FNP. As for my parents, well ... my mother came around and seems excited for me. My father is still kind of on-the-fence about nursing, but is slowly showing some more support. I try not to let his attitude affect me though - after all, I am an adult, and I need to do what makes me happy in life. I would encourage anyone who is interested in nursing to explore your options - there are so many choices available to you as a nurse. Thanks for all the encouragement, folks!

Daytonite, thanks for posting those links to the articles about documentation. I'm still in nursing school, and my classmates and I are always saying that we ought to have a course in documentation. Those articles were very helpful.

Suzanne Gordon has some great work, too, although they tend to focus more on how difficult today's nursing is. Try Life Support: Three Nurses on the Front Lines. I read this book when I was taking prereqs and it totally inspired me. Also try Nursing Against the Odds, which tends to paint a more troubled picture of today's healthcare climate, but I thought it also vividly described the nursing role.

Flyingfish2u, I also PM'd you. If you are interested in direct-entry MSN programs, you may want to consider the following schools in the Los Angeles area: Western University (Pomona) Asuza Pacific University (Asuza) UCLA is starting a new program for Fall 2007Other BSN programs I can think of: Mount St. Mary's Loma Linda UniversityGood luck. :wink2:

I had a nightmare of a time applying to CSULB's acc. BSN program last year. (You are talking about CSU Long Beach, right?) I had to contact so many people and jump through so many hoops getting old course syllabi and old course descriptions to establish course equivalency (can somebody tell me WHY a standard general and organic chemistry course sequence from a UC school is NOT automatically equivalent at CSULB??), and I found that people at CSULB were hard to get a hold of. I visited no less than 3 departments at CSULB and talked to at least 5 different people to try to establish course equivalencies. And then they changed the entrance test requirement, too, after I had already taken the old entrance test. Then they denied my application because I sent "unofficial" evidence that my critical thinking prerequisite was in progress and because I hadn't taken sociology (even though when I applied, I was told that sociology was NOT required, and could be taken concurrently with the BSN courses). The application process was so FRUSTRATING because they were (1) disorganized; (2) inconsistent; and (3) they changed the admission requirements midway through the application process, after I had already sent in my materials. I'm sorry if you're caught up in their application process right now. Having been through it myself, I'm not surprised that they're changing their program all of a sudden. I would be very surprised if they actually establish criteria for opting out the BSN within a reasonable time frame. If it makes you feel any better, I did not have any problems with other schools I applied to - only CSULB was a nightmare. Good luck to you.

I had a nightmare of a time applying to CSULB's acc. BSN program last year. (You are talking about CSU Long Beach, right?) I had to contact so many people and jump through so many hoops getting old course syllabi and old course descriptions to establish course equivalency (can somebody tell me WHY a standard general and organic chemistry course sequence from a UC school is NOT automatically equivalent at CSULB??), and I found that people at CSULB were hard to get a hold of. I visited no less than 3 departments at CSULB and talked to at least 5 different people to try to establish course equivalencies. And then they changed the entrance test requirement, too, after I had already taken the old entrance test. Then they denied my application because I sent "unofficial" evidence that my critical thinking prerequisite was in progress and because I hadn't taken sociology (even though when I applied, I was told that sociology was NOT required, and could be taken concurrently with the BSN courses). The application process was so FRUSTRATING because they were (1) disorganized; (2) inconsistent; and (3) they changed the admission requirements midway through the application process, after I had already sent in my materials. I'm sorry if you're caught up in their application process right now. Having been through it myself, I'm not surprised that they're changing their program all of a sudden. I would be very surprised if they actually establish criteria for opting out the BSN within a reasonable time frame. If it makes you feel any better, I did not have any problems with other schools I applied to - only CSULB was a nightmare. Good luck to you.

Thank you - I've found a nurse to interview for my assignment!

I'm currently a first-semester nursing student in a direct-entry master's program. Really intense, but I'm loving it so far! I have a nurse interview assignment due on Oct. 7 for a professional nursing role class, and am looking for any one nurse to answer some questions for me. (E-mail is fine, although if you're in the Los Angeles, CA, area, then I'm certainly open to meeting in-person or talking on the phone.) The questions will deal mainly with some basic biographical information (name, location, education) your nursing role and responsibilities what guides your nursing practice your role as a member of the healthcare team career management I am interested in training to be a family nurse practitioner, so if you are an FNP, I would be especially interested in hearing from you. Really, though, any nurse who is willing to help me out is greatly appreciated! If you're interested in helping out a new nursing student like me, please PM me (click on my name up at the left) and I'll send you my questions. Thanks so much in advance for your help! :bowingpur When I finally get my RN, I'll be sure to pass on the good karma!

I know this is sometimes hard to do, but hang in there! Keep on trying. I think that your 3.4 and 3.8 GPAs are a great sign that you can be a motivated and dedicated student, so don't let your lower GPA from earlier discourage you. What kind of programs are you applying to?

To the point: Is anyone else having difficulty applying to Cal. State Long Beach's Acc. BSN program? I feel like I've been jumping through a bunch of hoops and I don't know whether this is a normal feeling to be having ... - Had to dig out old course syllabi and catalog descriptions of courses to establish course equivalency for my prerequsites (never had to do with any other schools I applied to) - Hard to get a hold of people who were supposed to review equivalencies - felt like I was being ignored. Emailed, called, fought through L.A. traffic to get to the campus, only to be shuffled around from person to person - Nursing dept requested my official high school transcript (no other schools I applied to asked for this) I just got a letter saying that my application could not be considered because I haven't taken a class (which I was told was NOT required) and because the "proof" I submitted for another pre-req in progress was not acceptable... I'm just so frustrated. For me, the whole application process for CSULB has been such a maze, and I'm wondering if it's the way the program is run, or if it's something that I am doing wrong... Has anyone else had problems applying to CSULB's Acc. BSN? Should I keep trying? I've read on other posts that this is a great program, but I'm about ready to throw in the towel and give up on this school ...:stone

To the point: Is anyone else having difficulty applying to Cal. State Long Beach's Acc. BSN program? I feel like I've been jumping through a bunch of hoops and I don't know whether this is a normal feeling to be having ... - Had to dig out old course syllabi and catalog descriptions of courses to establish course equivalency for my prerequsites (never had to do with any other schools I applied to) - Hard to get a hold of people who were supposed to review equivalencies - felt like I was being ignored. Emailed, called, fought through L.A. traffic to get to the campus, only to be shuffled around from person to person - Nursing dept requested my official high school transcript (no other schools I applied to asked for this) I just got a letter saying that my application could not be considered because I haven't taken a class (which I was told was NOT required) and because the "proof" I submitted for another pre-req in progress was not acceptable... I'm just so frustrated. For me, the whole application process for CSULB has been such a maze, and I'm wondering if it's the way the program is run, or if it's something that I am doing wrong... Has anyone else had problems applying to CSULB's Acc. BSN? Should I keep trying? I've read on other posts that this is a great program, but I'm about ready to throw in the towel and give up on this school ...:stone

I can't wait because I'll finally be learning how to help people manage their health! I loved A/P and I'm SO looking forward to really working with people and helping them feel better and heal! I am SO over running endless radioactive enzyme assays and torturing mice! (Lots of respect and admiration for people in biotech, but the lab work was just not for me!) I can't wait to say, "Yes, I am IN a nursing program! I will be a nurse practitioner!" Funny, lots of people have also mentioned to me that I should be a nurse... actually when I was talking to people about how dissatisfied I was with my lab work, people would always say, "Have you ever thought about being a nurse? You'd be good at it." Can't wait! (although clinicals are starting to scare me now...)