CCNP-FL

I'm an Army Nurse in the National Guard. Just go and get your BSN from any accredited program and then access into the military as a nurse. Don't waste your time going in enlisted -- it will hold back your time getting your BSN done for up to a year for basic, AIT, etc. The only reason I'd say to go do that is if you just want the personal experience of being an enlisted Soldier. The moment you have an MOS (after AIT), you will be deployable, however. My best advice is if your goal is to be a nurse in the Army, then get your BSN and then start the direct commission process. Alternatively, as someone else said, you could do ROTC, but that will take a significant amount of time. It is the route I took and really didn't improve my standing as a nurse, but gave me good foundational officership skills. If you do the SMP Cadet gig, then you will get practical experience and earn time in service (for pay and retirement) at a reserve or Guard unit as Cadet. That might give you the fulfillment of service and better understanding how the military works in-uniform. You can do ROTC and/or SMP, you don't have to do SMP -- but it provides an extra paycheck and potential scholarship + practical experience. You are not deployable as an ROTC Cadet. Things to think about. Also look into other branches like the USAF and USN which also use nurses. I'm in the process of attempting to go to the USAF Reserves and leave the Army National Guard. Food for thought. Feel free to PM me if you have questions. Good luck with the process and decisions!

Thanks for the response, Bluebolt. I kept looking for some post-masters programs and noticed a couple do exist. It would be nice not to take the theory classes all over again. I have always been impressed with my CRNA colleagues and think that being dual certified would be helpful. Working as an intensivist NP has been very fulfilling and "filling in" for the anesthesia team during bedside ICU procedures got me thinking about CRNA. I'll keep looking into some of the PMCs. Thanks for the advice!

Greetings All, I'm an Adult Health NP with (approaching) two years of critical care medicine experience. Additionally from 2013 to 2015, I was a bedside critical care nurse. I'm also finishing up a post-masters certificate in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care with a graduation date in August this year. I looked through old posts on the subject, but am looking for a little advice for my situation: I'm privileged to have the opportunity to serve in the National Guard as an Army Nurse, but the Army does not utilize Adult Health or Adult-Gero Acute Care NPs. I'm assigned to a case management role. I have read extensively of the need for CRNAs overseas and have been thinking of making the transition, but am having trouble finding any schools that offer a significant advanced placement for actively practice acute/critical are medicine specializing NPs. Is anyone aware of any such schools? Any general advice is appreciated as well! I've never taken the GRE, so I'm presuming that will be the first step in exploring this, but I thought I'd get some advice/feedback from the community at-large. Thanks!

To answer your question: Yes (in my opinion). As a critical care RN at my civilian hospital, I actively serve on the Code Team. We are also the rapid response team and go to pre-Code events as well (this differs on hospital, though). This would fulfill your "thrill" search, I suppose, but it will never compare to anything you did to earn a CMB or EFMB. Trauma ICU or Trauma ED may be more to your liking. I work in a South Florida non-trauma center, so the population in critical care are primarily elderly chronic disease patients (COPD, CHF, etc.) so the patient population is likely different from what you're used to. That may depend on your location, but there's a lot of geriatrics in critical care in America these days. So I will say that you may like the Trauma ICU or Trauma ED at a large teaching or urban institution. I think that 50% of our jobs as critical care nurses is teaching family/patients so that may fit with your wishes to interact with patients. The other half is clinical assessment and incredibly close coordination with medical providers (PA, NP, MD/DO). I think you would enjoy the critical care setting for the academic challenge and the responsibilities of being a code team member, etc. That or the ED. Think about becoming a PA if you like the autonomy of the medic, however. Many 68Ws I've met decided on PA instead of RN, though you may not find a lot of people thinking about that on AllNurses . On my part, I've spent 6 years in the ARNG and have worked in a variety of civilian and military settings, but my experience has been primarily civilian. From long-term to critical care, I've worked the spectrum from PCA, LPN, RN, and now starting as an NP. I think if you do decide to go the RN route, nursing school will expose you to enough of each specialty that you'll be able to decide what you want to dabble in coming out of school. Good luck on your decision!

Hello all: I recently completed an ANP program and am waiting for my license to go through. Took and passed the AANP ANP certification exam last week. I was hired by the intensivist group that provides critical care services to the hospital in-which I have been a CCU floor nurse at since 2012. I know the system well and have worked at all levels from PCA to RN throughout the hospital. My questions are: 1) My employer doesn't feel it necessary for me to go back for a post-masters in AGACNP, but I have applied and am planning to do this in January. Most probably at Jacksonville University which isn't far from me. Would this benefit me or am I just in professional student mode. 2) I'm beginning a new role in the same unit in-which I have worked as a floor nurse. I foresee some growing pains, but how would you guys best address this? I have many friends and good relationships with the nursing and medical staff, but this will be a new role. How did you guys make that transition? 3) I'm looking for FCCS courses to take with the SCCM. Any other courses you guys would recommend? 4) I live in South Florida. I have not talked salary yet, but the group is paying for malpractice insurance, my credentialing, etc. I've been an RN for five years with the last three in critical care. This is my first job as an NP. I am unsure how to broach the subject of salary as I really have never been aggressive about this at any level of nursing. 5) Any bits of advice, I'd appreciate it! Thanks! Kevin

RN-MSN - University of South Alabama ADN-MSN Program for students w/ a bachelors in another discipline.

There are MANY schools and as previous posters have said they have varying requirements. University of Miami, Nova Southeastern, many of the South Florida schools offer either a bridge for holders of Science baccalaureates. The requirements are all different, but I suspect with a few google searches you will find an enormous number of schools that don't require a BSN in itself. Look at University of South Alabama for a good quality distance learning site that offers a bridge.

I get the meaninglessness part and understand it really is just a title thing. For me it was one of simple perception. Honestly, I was surprised the intensivst group hired me as well. I have worked with them for two years, so it may have been a good personality-fit or they just liked me. Either way, I am going back for a brick-and-mortar post-masters AG acute care certificate program at University of Miami or Nova Southeastern. Thoughts? Comments? I'm not looking forward to more school, but I think it is a reasonable thing to do here in South Florida where NP jobs may not be around forever in such quantities.

I'm following this too. I am in-the-process of applying to post-masters AG Acute Care NP certificate programs. I work in critical care and got hired as a critical care NP, so I feel I need to do this. Unless someone can convince me otherwise with some insight as I am not totally looking forward to more school lol.

I liked South, but I went there out of pure convenience. I am a full believer that you get out of school what you put into it. I honestly wasn't a very dedicated student. I spent most of my time outside of practicums learning from the CCU physicians I work with who let me tag along after work or when it was slow in the unit. IT worked for me because the group welcomed me aboard before I even finished school. Really, I saw unless you're going to have your eyes set on a top-notch school, South University is as good as the next one in-regards to what you'll learn. You won't get the extra courses like a suture workshop like at Nova Southeastern University, but in the end, I think really it is the degree and the certification that is the cake. I can live without the icing since I got a good job out of school. Just my two cents though! That said, if you have the opportunity to go to a good, top-notch school, I would take the opportunity! I am doing this in my post-masters studies if possible as I honestly do regret going to a place I am not really proud of saying I graduated from.

Today, I successfully passed the AANP ANP Certification Exam! I wanted to share my strategy for passing as I found the exam quite easy after my preparation using only about 100 study hours following two years of lackluster performance in NP school. So, if my lazy-orifice can make it, then so can all of you! PREFACE & BACKGROUND: I will preface all of this with my experience: four years as an RN, two in critical care. I had never touched primary care until my practicum experiences. I followed three internists and one CNM in my rotations. I went to Nova Southeastern University (Fort Lauderdale, FL) and South University. THINGS I DID NOT LIKE: I touched the Fitzgerald (Fitzgerald Health Education Associates) review questions application and the ExamEdge questions as well, but didn't find them useful during my review OR in retrospect. ExamEdge's questions seemed out-dated and Fitzgerald's seemed too esoteric quite honestly compared to the actual exam. KEY POINTS WERE "KEY": When studying, I always was sure to memorize key words, phrases, or specific rule-in criteria. "Bulls-eye" for Early Lyme Disease, Saw Palmetto became Saw P(rostate) to me, "Pearly" was a key word for Basal Cell Carcinoma, etc. If there was something that made a disease process or a lab value unique, I committed it to memory using some kind of mnemonic or phrase. For example: Herbal Therapies: St. John's Wart = "You need Jesus (for depression)!". Saw Palmetto = Saw P(rostate). Soy Bean Isoflavones = Soy beans look like ovaries to me (estrogen-like). Wild Yam Root = Wild Women (for hot flashes). MY OBSERVATIONS: Let me just say that I was not a great student. I focused too much on working in the ICU than on my primary care practicums. I say this because I didn't start preparing for the exam until three weeks prior to graduation and spent only about 100 hours studying for it. If my crazy-a@# can pass this exam, then anyone can! I primarily used Leik's Review, Hollier's Online Review, and her MyQBank. I got a good night's rest and ate well for the three-days preceding my exam. I did the same thing I did when I took the NCLEX that worked for me in-regards to rest-prep, I suggest you guys draw on your feelings/experiences from that as I think it was similar (or we can learn from our NCLEX rest-prep mistakes). MY SPECIFIC PROCESS: I spent a few hours each day going through each lecture section on APEA's Online Video Review. I didn't do more than 2-3 hours or 2-3 lessons depending on time so I could really focus on material and not overkill a-day with LOTS of information. This was my process in a nutshell: APEA MyQBank: Exam Mode, Subject-Matter Test, All Available Discipline Questions (ie. Cardiology has 99 questions available). Get a raw score. Do NOT look up rationales/answers. APEA Video Review: Watch and take notes on the provided syllabus. Leik's Review Book: Read corresponding discipline section and take notes on APEA's syllabus. APEA MyQBank "Patient Management": Tutor Mode, Subject-Matter Test, All Available Discipline Questions: Get rationales and answers as you go and then retake after to ensure 100% retention. Each time I took a "pre-test" (step one) I would get in the 60s and not look up the answers. After I did the video review sections (for cardiology, etc.) and read Leik's review for the same area, I would retake the same questions in tutor mode where I got the answers in real-time, read all the rationales no-matter if I got it right or wrong (step four). I would usually get 70s or 80s on my post-tests. By the end of four weeks, I had gone through all of APEA's Video Online Review Course and most of Leik's book. I did ALL 1,200 questions on the MyQBank. I did a few of Leik's questions in the back of the book. ON EXAM DAY (TODAY): In retrospect, Leik's questions (back of book) were similar to the AANP ANP exam. Questions from MyQBank onAPEA were almost exactly the same as the actual exam - in-fact, I'm almost certain some of the questions were nearly identical. I am convinced that Hollier's online course and the MyQBank (which I did all 1,200 of the Patient Management questions on) was what made me pass today. I strongly suggest her course (or a similar one) and a massive QBank like the one in the back of Leik's book. I think if I had realized Leik had practice questions first, I might not have bought MyQBank, but in retrospect it was worth it because you could build specialized tests and such and get real-time feedback and statistics. LINKS TO MY FAVORITE RESOURCES AND COSTS: Title: Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner Certification Intensive Review Author: Maria T. Codina Leik MSN APN BC FNP-C Link: Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner Certification Intensive Review @ Amazon.com CONCLUSION AND APPLICABILITY This is just to share how I made it from lackluster student to NP-C in just a few short weeks. I spent many hours on this forum wondering when I should take my exam and looking for advice. I DID take the AANP practice exam and scored at 67% before starting review at all and did NOT look up the rationales and answers. I retook it AFTER I did all my review and scored an 88%. This process worked for me, so perhaps it will work for others. As such, my friend just took the AANP FNP exam and was successful with a very similar strategy, so I suspect this may work regardless of which specialty you are taking from the AANP. Good luck to you all on your exams!

Question: Possibly a dumb one. I was searching through the Cedars-Sinai website and couldn't find the application and program information for the NP "residency" program. Can someone hook me up! I know this seems ridiculous, but I really couldn't find the page. I was thinking about some of the programs in NY and PA, but this one looks interesting for me (next year) :).

Hello All! I am happy to say that I have finished my ANP program. It transitioned from ANP to AGNP around the time I was half-way through. My school verified with AANP that I can take either the AGNP-PC or ANP exam. My intent (and what I am currently signed up to take) is the ANP exam. My decision of this was because I felt that the title of AGNP-PC pigeon-holed me more (on the surface, not substantively) into working in the primary care setting. I understand that this may be meaningless. I have been studying hard for the ANP exam and have the Leik ANP study book. I have been taking ANP practice exams and scoring well. I have also taken the ANP-centered APEA review course. NOW (after all of this), I have thought to ask the question: Is this a stupid decision? Should I really just be taking the AGNP-PC exam? I already have accepted a job in the ICU as an NP, so maybe this question is moot...but still: Thoughts? Advice? I appreciate it! (*I do intend to return for a post-maters in acute care anyway...). Thanks! Almost NP-C (hopefully) Kevin

Any advice on the most expedient/cost-effective PMC in Adult Acute Care? I'm a CCU nurse finishing a primary care adult program looking for a good acute care program so that I can bridge my knowledge into the provider role for an ICU. I have found plenty, but most tend to be almost as long as the MSN programs themselves. Thoughts? Advice? Thanks!

Hospitals typically advertise these "CCU Residency" programs on their hiring websites. Mine, for instance, just hired 5 nurses for the 12 week program. They are not always easy to find and typically require telemetry experience, but exist :). Good luck!