NerdDoc

akulahawkRN and ThatBigGuy are on the right track. Avoid a high-carb breakfast that's going to spike your glucose and then drop. Also avoid eating a big meal. Eggs are great for breakfast. If you like eggs but don't have time, hard-boil a dozen and keep them in your fridge. If I don't have time for breakfast in the morning, a hard-boiled egg and a cup of coffee holds me over just fine until lunch. Aside from that, some granola bars and a 1-liter bottle of water really should be all you need in addition to a small lunch. I think much better hunger than I do full and I always avoid big meals when I'm working.

Hi there and congrats! I'm headed into my last year of my BSN-to-DNP and some of us have been able to work, but those that are have been going pretty crazy. I was working part-time day shift about 2 days/week for the first semester, then cut back when I accepted a 50% teaching assistantship and had to quit my RN job altogether almost a year ago - it was just too much. We've only got about 8-10 in our full-time cohort and I'd say it's pretty much split down the middle. I know two people who are both working 12-hour night shift and one of the has been able to work pretty much full-time throughout the program. Several in my cohort quit their RN jobs the same time I did - it just got to be too much. This summer I decided to take the summer "off" and I'm not working at all. I've been doing a lot of clinical rotations and putting the hours into my practice transformation project and I don't know how anyone is working this summer - I still feel very behind. We also had about 4 people drop during the first semester because they'd been out of college for 10+ years and just couldn't do it. If you haven't been out of school for very long, you should be okay hanging on to a part-time job at least at first. Our program tended to switch our required days around quite a bit which messed with lots of work schedules, so make sure you get firm answers from your adviser and program director on what days you'll be required to be on campus. Work doesn't get much priority, I've found - no matter how much a program advertises that they'll work around your schedule :)

If you don't want to do research, you really need to take a serious look at a PhD. In my DNP program I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of PhD's and that's what they're all about. The students working toward their PhD are living and breathing research. Once they're done, they've got to write grants to get funded - that's how they get paid and justify their contribution to the university that they work for. I didn't want anything to do with research either, I wanted to be a provider. Now that I'm almost done with my DNP-FNP, I'm finding that while I still want to be a provider, I really want to find a way to make some sort of bigger contribution in terms of primary prevention and community service. I don't want an academic career though... so I'm not sure what my "job" will end up looking like when all is said and done. In your case, I think you can rule out a few paths: You don't want to do research - PhD should be last on your list You don't want to be a provider - FNP, PMHNP, ACNP are off your list As others have mentioned, what will a DNP add for you? What about an MBA?

I'm about to head into my last didactic semester of my BSN-to-DNP program and I have to agree with a lot of the comments here. I've found that my program is trying to create a really well-rounded FNP AND an expert in dissemination of evidence all in 8 semesters (2 of which are summer semesters). I feel like the skill set of my cohort is all over the board. Some tend to be really good with nursing theory, but are very weak clinically. Others are strong clinically and very weak when it comes to the theory side. I agree that the DNP might be useful for someone who's an NP and wants to either teach or transition into more of a leadership role, but it's been my experience that it doesn't really add much to clinical expertise - if anything, I think we've been prepared poorly in relation to our "3 P's" at the expense of delving into evidence-based practice too heavily too soon. I'll also add that it sounds like there's still a debate about tenure with the DNP, since tenure (at least at my university) pertains to research contribution. The whole point of the DNP, I feel, is to stay out of research and focus more on incorporating new evidence into existing practice. Until that debate's done, tenure may not be an option for DNP faculty.

Seems a bit sexist. I'm just sayin...

I agree that I shouldn't be surprised that things have gotten harder, but I find it odd to require that each assignment score at least an 80% or better - that's what the cumulative grade is for. I've had classes where certain evaluations, such as an OSCE, have been required in order to pass the entire class, but I haven't heard of such a requirement on each assignment in a class before. I'm just wondering if anyone else out there has similar expectations. I've got a 5-semester cumulative GPA of 3.7 and find it a little insulting that this class would fail me for scoring a 79% on a single assignment... just doesn't seem like a fair assessment of my understanding of the content.

Hello all, So I'm headed into my 5th of 8 semesters in my DNP program and we've just received our summer syllabus that's got a pretty significant change to grade requirements. While our college has required that students maintain at least an 80% in a class to pass, there hasn't been any requirement on specific assignments. My current class is requiring that we receive an 80% on each assignment, including forum posts and attendance. According to this new policy, I would have failed all 4 classes which I received A's in last semester, because I failed to post a discussion on time (2% of my grade), or received a C on an assignment. Has anyone else heard of similar policy? I'm not sure what my rights are as a student, but I'm hoping this is something I'd be able to appeal if I had high marks on all of my other assignments. Thanks for any feedback!

I'm currently at Washington State University and I have to sit in class to watch my instructors stream from another site. I'm paying $16k/semester and I've just started my second semester. I'm seriously considering switching to an online program since the quality of my instruction is pretty sub-par. I'm curious about the 3 P's - ours are being taught with powerpoints and an instructor that spends 3 hours per week talking about her experiences in clinic. Then we're left to completely teach ourselves patho, pharm, and phys assessment. Can anyone give an idea of how those 3 classes are taught in some of these online programs? IMO, those are classes in which powerpoints should be banned.

You've heard about the ObamaCare thing, right? If "they" were dreaming when they were talking about a physician shortage 5 years ago, they definitely aren't at this point. The percentage of med students who are even interested in primary practice is tiny ... the percentage of those that ARE who actually end up there is just as small. Regardless of the number of schools out there, that percentage isn't likely to change, perhaps even with an increase in pay.

I'm not sure what your experience was as an RN, but that kind of environment can exist just about everywhere. I worked in the largest ICU in my region for several years and our floor was known throughout the hospital as being by far the most hostile. Complaining (not meant in a negative way) only gets you so far, regardless of who you complain to. You've already confronted the MA apparently, which in my opinion is the best way to handle the situation. Next, maybe you should try something different: 1. If you hear a complaint from a patient, hand them a piece of paper with the MA's boss's contact information on it and urge them to bring it to that person's attention. 2. Pull the MA into their boss's office and the 3 of you have a talk. Go in prepared with a list of specific examples, keep your cool, and provide not only criticism but suggestions on how to correct the problem other than firing the MA. This shows that you value the MA and want to help rather than simply eliminate a problem. 3. It sounds like you're part of a large organization. Find your code of conduct and pick out specific spots where it's being violated. This was the thing that finally worked for me. There was an RN on our floor who constantly harassed me until I'd finally had enough. I pulled out my union handbook (I'm so not "that guy") and showed my manager, in front of the offending RN, the parts of the policy that she had violated by treating me the way she had; I gave specific examples of each violation. Like TraumaRUs points out though... if this is an obvious problem and nobody wants to do anything about it, I wouldn’t want anything to do with that kind of management. Good luck!