karol_d5

In my opinion, MGH is too expensive given that you have so many state schools in the area that offer you the same degree. I live in the area and went to Salem State for the accelerated program. I also considered the ADN which will be cheaper and getting the BSN could be done at a slower pace when you are already working as a nurse. However, having only an ADN will limit your job prospects and you have to know that you will not be able to work in the big city hospitals with an ADN, you are looking at long-term care and outpatient clinics. You have to decide what is more important to you. I would also ask programs that have the ADN to BSN options to see if they take transferred credits, I know people that have done these programs and a lot of it it's completing the liberal arts courses that you do not get at the ADN level, there are nursing classes but they are leadership, community, and so on; I have not seen many that have to have a clinical. Good luck with your decision!

I'm very glad I found this thread. I have been looking to return to school to obtain my NP degree for a couple of years and one of the things that have stopped me from actually going is that the curriculum doesn't look strong enough to give me confidence to practice independently. I have been in school for many years and actually started an NP program and then switched to administration because the program was lacking. I always thought it was just me looking for an excuse but for a long time I've been very critical of the nursing curriculum and skeptical of programs that do not require at least 1 year of nursing experience. I have a heavy science background with my undergrad and I'm amazed that nursing programs do not require chemistry or biochemistry. Thank you for adding the list of recommended readings and I'm glad there are others concerned with the state of nursing education.

I am a nurse at a health center, I work in the OBGYN department so your department might be different if it's pedi, family, or adult. I can tell you that it is not for everyone, I have met a lot of great nurses that simply do not like working in the clinic, if it's not urgent care then you might not be able to have a lot of "hands-on" opportunities, unless your office performs certain procedures that require special training. What I like about my job is that I am able to get to know my patients and see them for an extended period of time, I have been working there for 4 years and I see some patients returning to care for their new pregnancy, so I get to know them well. You will probably do a lot of phone or in-person triage, that requires good assessment skills and learning to ask the right questions, a lot of critical thinking to determine the best course of action. Immunizations and injections are common but one thing I see in some nurses is that they see immunizations as just "giving shots" but in my department we take every patient contact as an educational opportunity for the patient and the family, so we provide a lot of education to our patients at every encounter. You might get some wound care and IVs but it depends on your department. Just like pfchang said, we need more information to help you better.

Hi, I work for a community health center as an OBGYN nurse. I absolutely love my job for 2 reasons: obgyn and patient population (low-income, first generation immigrant). I was recently offered a new position within the health center from one of the doctors in the senior management. The position is for a clinical documentation specialist. It a really hot topic in the clinic now because of changes in the way we will be refunded by the insurance company. The pros are that I will be getting training in coding and doing something new (hoping that it will look good on my resume), it falls along the lines of my masters degree (nursing administration), from what I read it involves a lot of critical thinking, and I'll be working directly with the senior management. Cons are little to no patient care, zero OBGYN exposure, and I fear it might take it farther away from patient care and my ultimate goal of becoming a women's health NP. I know I cannot advance clinically unless I return to school for my WHNP but I'm just not sure if this job will take me in that farther away from this goal or it might be something that will not really harm me at all but give me an extra edge down the line. Thank you in advance!