lealee

Agree that your school should let you give a failed checkoff a second try. You do need a chance to show that you can correct what you did wrong the first time. Does your school have open lab times where you may be able to get extra practice in? If so, utilizing these lab times would be my advice to you. Don't be afraid to ask questions if you feel you may be misunderstanding something. Also, don't be afraid to contact faculty members about how you are feeling; as the PP mentioned, that is what they are there for. You said something about needing a medication? If you feel you are failing due to some type of anxiety, or otherwise, I would make sure to contact your health care provider about that...they can lead you in the right direction. Good luck :)

Medical Assistant in a doctor's office type setting can also be great experience, although it probably won't give you as much of a "foot in the door" for an RN job as working as a CNA would. I also second what someone else said about working as a unit secretary. I have known a handful that got hired in their same facility immediately after graduating.

Thank you everyone for all of the responses! I think this has somewhat helped me to solidify what I already knew. I think I will continue to follow my NP dream after a few years of experience...we'll see :) I'm set to graduate from a nursing program later this year and I love the nursing perspective on patients. I also do not want to sacrifice family life to med school and residency, as some of you had also mentioned. Thanks again!

I am new to allnurses, so I hope I am posting this in the right place... I have always been interested in becoming an NP, and this is actually what drew me to nursing in the first place. However, I do have some questions that I am hoping to gain some insight from...my questions to you experienced NPs would be: How truly autonomous are you in your practice? (I think this may vary by state?) Do you feel well respected? (I've seen some pretty nasty internet talk regarding NPs on various forums, and was wondering if this actually carried over into the real world...) and the most important question I have... Do you feel NP school provided you with a thorough enough knowledge base (or in other words...did you feel comfortable practicing as a relatively new grad NP)? Looking back, do any of you wish you had became a physician instead? (please no flaming...just an honest question...I'm aware that most NPs probably had no desire to become a physician) Sorry for the long post...I guess what I'm really getting to is, would you become an NP again if you had a "do-over"? I'm just trying to weigh my options to see if I am following the right path.