cougdogrn

I am a FNP in WA and work as a inpatient hospitalist. :)

I purchased my designated pharmacology CME through mycme.com

Hi I graduated from Gonzaga's FNP program in May of 2013. I loved the program as I was able to work full-time through out. I had 3 job offers before I even graduated and I do believe attending a well-known university helped me stand out among others. It's a great program, I highly recommend it. :)

https://allnurses.com/nurse-practitioners-np/passed-ancc-fnp-837739.html hope it helps! :)

I took ANCC FNP exam last month - I wrote a fairly detailed post about it if you're interested. I used the fitzgerald book and the ANCC study book (i purchased directly from the site) which I found was very helpful. It is essential to know the various types of research studies which I could not find in any of my study books. Also know the developmental, social, family theories. I don't remember any questions regarding exact dosage of medications and I believe there was little peds/women's health on my exam - those are not my strong areas so I would remember if there were a bunch of those questions. I also recomend purchasing practice exams from familynpprep.com - they are expensive but worth it. I purchased 5 and took one per day during the 5 days leading up to my exam.

If she had one last year at diagnosis and it was negative for hpv/atypical cells then I would probably wait until age 21 to repeat unless there was indication for further testing which I believe is immunocompromised states or HIV.

I think it is helpful to think with each patient: 1. Why are they here? 2. What is the goal today? 3. How can I assist in reaching the goals to discharge etc.? Reading the H&Ps, progress notes and consultations are extremely helpful and I highly recommend it. Make it a habit for each patient. All of this will come with time. Hang in there. :)

I did not receive a test score when I finished the real exam - I don't know if they send it out with the certificate and pin, but i havent received those yet. I think anything >350 is a great goal with those tests - so good job!

Did you already have your ANCC validation of education form filled out and sent in by your university?

In regards to the test scores on familynpprep.com: Test 1: 368 Test 2: 405 Test 3: 427 Test 4: 431 Test 5: 396 Hope that helps? My goal was to get over 350 on the test because that was the passing score I think... Soundofmusic: what is ANCC waiting for to complete your application? transcripts? Also, they only release authorization to test every Friday so that may be what's taking a while too...

You know, i thought it was helpful but not "$150 helpful." I started to memorize the questions and answers which is counterproductive and I saw a lot of the same questions multiple times while doing practice exams. If I were to do it again I would probably not get the APEA Q bank and just stick with the ANCC book (and if you are doing ANCC really study the first few chapters - know the theories and research study models), Fitz book and familynpprep exams. The clinical questions were not super specific - just know the general info about various conditions.

I just graduated as an FNP and had 3 job offers w/ 2 of them being unacceptably low in my opinion. As a staff RN I make $30/hr w/ only 4 yrs experience. Job offer #1 was for an orthopedic clinic (assisting in surgeries as well as clinic) with 70k base salary plus bonus if able to bill over a certain amount (like $150k or something) so I would have to totally depend on making bonus in order to make more than I do as a staff RN which IMO is not acceptable. The second offer was for a women's health clinic with a graduated salary starting at 68k then increase to 75k after 6 mos. The third offer was for a hospitalist position w/ 110k base salary if i work 14 shifts per month. I could make more if I pick up more shifts. When I first started interviewing I wanted at least 85k. I think it is better to shoot high because they will always talk you lower. Ps. I live in Eastern Washington State.

Yes it was the 3rd edition ANCC book: Family Nurse Practitioner Review & Resource Manual - 3rd Edition APEA q bank: APEA - Advanced Practice Education Associates 5 exams I did week of test: FamilyNPprep.com - Your #1 source for passing the Family Nurse Practitioner Hope this helps!

Hi Lynn I decided to withdraw my application from AANP - don't really see a point in taking it anymore. Best of luck to you!

I just wanted to share my thoughts as many of you are taking your boards soon. I passed my ANCC FNP exam today. In January I sent my application to ANCC and pre-registered to have my transcripts sent from my school to both the ANCC and BON. I graduated on May 11 and my transcripts were sent from my school on May 20th. It took about a week and a half for my transcripts to arrive and be processed at ANCC/BON. I got my ATT from ANCC on May 31st. During this time I decided to register for the AANP exam as well (figured if I failed one I'd have the other to fall back on). AANP processed my application fairly quickly and I got the ATT one week (today) after my ANCC (except you really have to wait like another week to actually schedule exam for AANP as prometric has to give you the identification number whereas ANCC gave me the number immediately...so that was kind of weird). Before I had scheduled my exam I started reading through Fitzgerald Nurse Practitioner Certification Examination and Practice Preparation 3rd Ed. I also have her CD's as well as Barkley's but really didn't like hearing their voices and I don't do well with auditory learning anyways. One week before my exam I started to really study - I finished the Fitzgerald book - while studying I actually made notes of things I needed to remember or what I thought they might ask me - so I have a huge notebook of notes that I intended to go review but never did. I still think this really helped instill some of the tough stuff. I also did the APEA Q Bank and I think it was helpful although a little pricey. I started to memorize the questions/answers after awhile so that wasn't helpful. 5 days before the exam I bought 5 practice exams from familynpprep.com and I did one each evening after studying - I recommend this! I studied for like 12 hours each day one week before the exam - I did this for NCLEX too and it seems to work for me. I went back through the questions and read the rationales for each one - even ones that I got right. Another thing I did was research something that I didn't know if it came up in the practice exam - terms, meds, diseases etc. I think that was very helpful. One last thing I did was I bought the ANCC book from the ANCC site - it also was pricey but contained extremely valuable information about the dreaded part of the ANCC which was the professional/legal section. At least read the first few chapters if you can as some of the questions were derived directly from there. Unfortunately I did not have time to finish the ANCC book prior to my test, but I actually plan on referring to it for practice as well - it's nice and thorough. I know a lot of people don't want to sign up for the ANCC d/t the legal questions etc. but actually it did not seem like there were THAT many and I think you could use common sense to answer quite a few of them. That being said, the questions that I really had NO CLUE were some of the legal/research ones whereas the clinical ones were pretty straight forward. WHEW! So hopefully that helps anyone studying right now. I know I was really looking for some udpated information while I was studying and couldn't find much. ps. my exam did not tell me I passed right away - the screen was blank for a long time then just told me thank you. I had to wait until the lady printed it out and gave me the paper saying I passed.

On my unit we provide primary care nursing. So, CNA work is RN work as there is no other healthcare provider besides the RN. I have actually learned to love providing intimate aspects of nursing care...which in my opinion includes CNA work. Besides, performing CNA work allows the RN to observe the patient from all angles and see the big picture. Any nurse that cannot/will not perform CNA work doesn't usually work out at my hospital...even if you end up being a CRNA in the future, you're going to have to put in some serious time on the floor/unit in the mean time.

I would have offered to get her new pills and if she declined and wanted to eat them off the floor...fine by me! I would not have documented it anywhere and I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought.

There is a liquid Gabapentin and it has to be refrigerated, ask the MD to order that.

I have one year left of my NP program and have worked full-time throughout. I do not have any kids. The first year I worked 8 hour shifts 80pp. I realized that once I started clinicals this would be impossible. Luckily I was able to move into 12 hour shifts 72pp. If I had not switched to 12 hour shifts I would not be able to go to school and work full-time, plain and simple. Now that I am in the full swing of trying to schedule clinical hours and work it is beginning to be quite difficult. For example, I have ONE day off in June that I am not either at clinical or work. It is beginning to get harder and harder, and so far I have been able to trade days with coworkers. Although, I would cut back to part time work if I could...

Hi On my unit we have a Code Stroke Coordinator RN who assumes the role of code stroke RN and other various duties such as gathering info re: our stroke patients, whether guidelines were met etc. On the days and weekends that she is not on the unit, one of the staff floor RNs has to take the code stroke beeper. They usually have a full load of patients as well as the beeper. We respond to all ER code strokes. If there is a code stroke on the floor, our rapid response ICU RN will respond to the code first then call us if it looks like it could be a possible stroke. If the floor RN has to leave her patients for a code stroke, a beeper RN will come and take over her patients until she returns. Now, if there is no beeper RN (which is usually the case) then the other nurses and charge RN will absorb her patients until she returns. This is not working out well for us lately as we have switched to a primary care nursing model which means that if the RN leaves the floor then really there is no support staff to assist with cares etc.