tellabella21

As a new NP it maybe harder for you to find a new job so if your really unhappy I would look for something else before resigning. But you never know the new provider...who and whenever they start maybe great and you may love your job again. I live in central Texas where NPs seem to be a dime a dozen and it was hard for me to find work as a new grad. Finally I took a PT job that after I started orientation and nearly completed it did the other provider tell me they where quitting leaving me as the sole provider but it worked out and I love my job. So you never know how things will be but I would make sure that you tell "them" that all of the responsibilities could not be dumped on you. I required the company that I work with give me longer appointment times and I will not except walk ins, etc.

Does Kaplan have an FNP program in your state? They are fairly easy to get into. I would just keep trying. If a school turns you down ask for an interview to explain. Sometimes it takes putting a real person behind a transcript. After reading some of the other comments some people mentioned that you could get a master's degree then do a post masters program. If you choose to go that route go to a school like WGU where you can move at your own pace. I know some people who has gotten their masters degree in 6 months.

I know what you are talking about. As an RN I've always received an offer for every job that I applied for. As an NP I received a fair amount of offers for part-time work, (some where kind of ridiculous... one day a week position) every full-time job I applied and interviewed with as an NP I've never heard back from despite sending thank you for email and doing what the experts recommend etc. Because I was not getting hired for a full time position I when ahead on an excepted a PRN position that provided me with a supervising physician so I could get my DEA. After having my DEA I found that it was easier for me to get job interviews but again no offers. After four months I of looking I am now working one part time position and three other PRN positions which I hope combined will consistently add to full time hours.

Flipper, like you I thought I had a job, two in fact, lined up for me when I completed my NP program. One employer had to the the fill the position sooner and the other one gave me a similar excuse as the one that was given to you. I'm finding that every job that is posted requires experience and a DEA number. I live in Austin where the need for NPs is not so great and all the jobs I interviewed for where given to another applicant with experience...grrr... I finally found a job that is not ideal however it seems like a good starting point. It's a per diem position so there was no benefits or perks other than the flexibility of the schedule and the work itself. Texas requires that we have a supervising physician so I could not get my DEA number until I accepted a job that provided a supervising physician. I'm not sure what the job market is in your area but if it's similar to mine, I had to pay for my own DEA number. It did make me more marketable when applying to companies and I found getting interviews a little easier.

I'm a new grad FNP and have been interviewing. I live in Austin, Texas and have been presented with the following offers: At a retail clinic $93k, $5000 per year in tuition reimbursement for student loan payment, $1500 per year CME, three weeks PTO, one week for CME. Another company where I would round at nursing home started new NP at 104K $2000 for CME and 4 weeks PTO. I also was offered a job at an pain management clinic for $110 and similar benefits. All of the jobs included reduce costs for health insurance and matching 401(k). As a new NP it is challenging to know if what is being offered is acceptable without asking our peers for advice. Hopefully you can reach out to a few in your area who will give you guided advice. Nurse practitioners are abundant in my area and if I where to relocate to Dallas or Houston I would expect to make 120k per year. One word of advice is I was offered all of those positions pretty early on and they get filled very quickly. I would definitely renegotiate the salary and the conditions as some of the other members have expressed and if you can come to agreements I would take the job.

I think that you should fake it until you make it. Get come confidence and start applying to any and every job. As a new grad it is HARD to fine employment. Your 1st job might be something that you really dislike. It make take you a LONG time to find a job so don't waste your time now thinking about quitting!

Yes. In my MSN I had to complete a research project. I completed my MSN about 4 years ago and the topic is not relevant to where I'm at today. I do thank everyone who has replied to my question because it has allowed me to really think about what I want to study and try to find a way to make it interesting to myself. In practice I always find that patients lie to me about diet and ecercise so I think I going to go with that and try to implement a policy change at the clinic where I work.

I maybe one of the only ones but I do think all of those classes are important in some way. With that said I don't think I need a whole semester about research methodology, advanced research utilization, nursing theory, etc.

Do you find is easy to balance school, work, and family life by taking 1-2 classes a semester? That is the type of program that I chose to use and on paper it seems easy enough I just hope I don't have a rude awakening!

That's kinda what I'm expecting from my DNP program. I start in two days and I feel the degree maybe pointless besides being able to say "I did it" and when it is all said and done that is important to me. But to be fair, that is how I felt in my MSN; Leadership and Admin. I had to write a 50+ page thesis and learn how to do white papers while wondering when will I ever use this. Now I see that I am a better nurse after having my degrees because I approach things differently and I'm hoping after completing my DNP it will have a similar effect.

Wow, that is a lot to take at once! I completed my FNP and was only allowed to take 2 courses per term which was full time. I took patho and health assessment in the same term and felt like it killed me. If you could take less I would advise it but if not and your current course load is the expected amout I was advise that you just devote as much time as you can to studying. I had to study all the time! I had no life outside of school. When I started my clinical rotations I had to quit my full time job and decided to be a poor, unemployeed college student. That decision was one of the best thing that I would have done. I still had to study all the time but not having to work made my life so much easier!

I know some LTC NPs and would agree with traumaRUs,that they take calls for two faculities. I am not sure about the pay though. Beside the call rotation the work hours are 8-5.

I think that a lot of the problem is that college has become big profits for universities. Professors are hired to fill a spot, as I experienced in my FNP program, and don't really have much of a say so in how the class is formatted. At least that has been my experience with online classes vs traditional ones and I am finding that most DNP programs are online. So far my BSN was completed in a class setting and my MSN then post masters certificate was completed online.

To study for my exam I purchase Barkley & Associates, Inc. home study course, Amelie Hollier's home study and CD's and Fitzgerald's. I got them all about a year before I graduated and listened to them all the time. They helped me with school assignments and in clinicals. All of the review courses where good and I don't feel that one is better then the other. Nor do I feel that I could have passes the exam with one review course and not the other. I think that Barkley delivered more information then Hollier, but Hollier had a different method and teaching style that was easier for me to learn. Fitzgerald, I found to be kinda boring to listen to. Very different then the other two review courses. I feel that she delivered the material on a much deeper level then what is needed to pass the exam. I liked listening to the other two then returning to Fitzgerald because she made you understand the why's and how's. In her 2015 review course she said a former student told her that she was too in-depth and I would agree. She also said that what makes a question a test question easy is knowledge and I would agree! I think that the AANP exam was much easier then I though it would be. Barkley and Hollier may help you pass the exam but Fitzgerald helps you be a safer provider. I also had Hollier's Certification Practice Questions and Fitzgerald's Certification examination Preparation and would refer to them for school exams, etc. I purchased Leik's book in my last term and read through all of the information gradually. I was nervous because I all of the reviews that stated there was a lot of miss information however I only found a few! My last month of school I tried to focus on completing the exam questions. I stopped using Fitz because I was scoring low. I starting focusing on Hollier's and Leik's questions. For any question that I miss I used a note pad to make a list or made flash cards of anything that I needed to review like S/F of Ca blockers. I was focused on understanding why I missed the questions. I think that was important. Doing that I realized that I kept missing questions about a certain medication and, low and behold, that drug was on my test. I was scoring anywhere from 70-90's%. Leik's questions are most like what is on the exam and I loved the way the material was presented. With Hollier's question book, they are not like the test exam (too simple) but if you take them and notice there are some that you keep getting wrong it may help to understand why. I went through all of Hollier's system practice questions twice (once for my school exam and another for the cert exam) I was scoring mostly mid to high 80's. The last few days before the exam I did 4 practice exams. For any system that was lower I just reviewed the material again. I completed all of Leik's questions once then focused only on the missed ones. For my school's final (8 days before I took the exam) I had to take Barkley's test questions exam. I scored 73%. 2 days before the exam I took the AANP practice exam and scored 84%.( I did not have any of those questions on my exam like others have said.) All in all, I felt the exam was easy because I prepared very well. Time really helped me! Having the time to go through the home study courses and practice exams! I think it was important that I practiced the test questions and used a note pad for a quick reference to review material that I was week in. I kept reviewing that material. The home study courses can be punched on ebay or amazon (thats where I got them). Going into the exam I was nervous! But there where only two questions that I had no idea what they where talking about. I didn't even flag them to go back too! I flagged 12 others, mostly because I thought that I had to spent too much time thinking about them and wanted to have another look later. I finished my exam with over an hour left and reviewed the flagged questions. I thought about going over all of them but decided not to. I took the post exam survey and had step out of the room to get a printout of my results. I felt that I knew most of the questions but was still nervous however I PASSED!

I do agree that most capstone projects are pointless. I know there are better things to go with our time. I have a MSN where I had to complete a capstone project much like the one that is required for my DNP. Its just frustrating that I have to spend another few years and so many dollars completing this.