FNPStudentLife

Thank you for your response. I’m thinking about giving a try to urgent care. I know that I won’t be able to work as urgent care NP right after graduation because I’ll be a new grad, but it will be my goal. I like the idea of “treat them and street them”. If it doesn’t work out, I like the idea of oncology. I’m glad there are a lot of options out there. I am a little burnt out right now , but you’re right, at one point I liked working with the patients, so not everything Is lost ?

Thank you guys for your responses. I do like the idea of working in urgent care. I currently work in ER and I like it because you “treat them and street them”, so maybe urgent care will my goal. Thanks again!

I know what you might think, why did I start FNP if I don't like contact with patients. The thing is, I didn't feel this way before I started the program. I've been an RN for 3 years, I started FNP because I wanted to get out of bedside. Demanding and understaffed work environment was getting the best of my mental and physical health. I thought it would be different in outpatient setting, since I'd be getting more respect and independence. I did a thorough research about what I'd be doing as an FNP before starting the program, and it seemed really nice, way better than bedside. However, I didn't really know what primary care really was before I started my clinicals. And now I have 4 months before graduating, and I'm realizing that's not really what I want to do. I just can't deal with people. I can't stand when they think that there's a magic pill to fix everything when they don't bother changing their eating habits or adding exercise regimen. Or when they come into the office not knowing what medical conditions they have or what medications they take. It may not be a big deal to many healthcare professionals, but I just cant imagine dealing with this for the rest of my life. Maybe I'm just burned out. I don't know. What can I do with my MSN FNP degree that doesn't require much patient contact?

The scheduled medication was Diltiazem 10mg. I administered Diazepam halfway (so 5mg).

During my 3 years as an RN, this is the first time that I've made a medication error. I was supposed to give medication for the heart rhythm, but instead, I gave an anxiolytic/sedative. What happened was the medication was not available in the Pyxis, so I went to get it from the pharmacy. The printed label on the packaging had the right name of the patient, the right medication name, and the right dosage. However, the inside of the packaging had a pre-filled syringe with the patients name, but a different medication name. The two medication names looked very similar (similar in length, first 2 letters, and last 2 letters). I scanned the patients wrist band and the PACKAGING (which I shouldn't have done...). And I pushed the medication that was inside. I was pushing the medication slowly constantly watching the heart rhythm and heart rate. Halfway through as I was looking at the syringe, I realized the syringe has the wrong med name and stopped. The physician was notified immediately and the incident report was filed. Thankfully, no harm was done to the patient, and s/he just took a 30 minute nap. There was a lot of risk involved though, the physician said its good I stopped when I did because if I pushed all of the medication/or if I had pushed too fast, it's possible that the patient would have to be intubated considering their medical condition and age. Few days after this happened, I received a notification that there will be an analysis review that I'll have to attend. I never attended anything like this. Is this common for medication errors? Also, is this something that will be reported to the board? Do I have to mention this when renewing my license? Did anyone had a similar experience?

When I filed the police report, I didn't disclose any information related to patients diagnosis, medical history, or anything related to medical care. It was strictly about the incident that happened. So there was no violation of HIPPA.

This happened yesterday. I did file a police report today. We'll see what happens.

I walked out of the room, called security immediately. Then informed my charge nurse of what happened. I had to step out for few minutes to put myself together. When I came back 10 minutes later, he was gone. Not sure what happened while I wasnt there. I did file an incident report.

It wasn’t about the fact that he was a patient and I was his nurse. It was about the fact that he was a man who slapped me out of rage, when I had no control over his plan of care at that point ( he was discharged from ER because his labs/tests came back clear, he didn’t want to leave because he had nowhere to go). It didn’t strike me with empathy because he didn’t feel well and wasn’t himself. It striked me with fear, because a man twice my size wanted to hurt me. I just wanted to share this. To get it off my chest.

I work day shift in ER, 3 days a week 12 hr shifts. I don't work more than 2 days in a row. While the job itself is tough, I physically feel alright while at work. I wear compression stockings to ease pain to my feet, and I drink max of 2 cups of coffee throughout the day. I come home from work, take a shower, and thats when the fatigue starts setting in. The weird part is that I can't fall asleep. I can be physically exhausted but I can't sleep until 2-3 AM. The next day I wake up at around 10-11am and I'm exhausted all throughout the day. I can barely get myself up to eat, not to mention to do any house chores. The next day off, same thing. I'm so exhausted on my days off, just physically drained. Just wondering if anyone else who works 3 12's feels like this? I was thinking maybe it's the adrenaline, my body gets so tired the first few days that I dont have the energy to get through the rest of the week? Could that even be possible? My husband doesn't get it, he thinks I'm just being lazy :( But I really physically feel like a very old lady. I just want to hear your thoughts if you had this type of experience and if you did, how do you deal with it? PS: Im 26 y.o, no medical conditions.

I worked on Med Surg for few years, and started in ER half a year ago. I just don't get how anyone can love this profession. I just don't see it. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, it's never enough. Nobody is ever happy. The patients see you as "just running back and forth not doing your job" because you're treating more sick patients first so it looks like you're ignoring them. But you don't mean to...you're just trying to make sure the patient who was just intubated doesn't crash again. Million, million, million things to do at the same time. Trying to multitask and prioritize, often ending up with doing several things at the same time. Haven't peed or had lunch and it's almost the end of your 12 hour shift, and yet you hear a patient behind a curtain say angrily "these people need to do their jobs!" Are you kidding me?? They don't care that you're trying to keep them alive, but god forbid you don't bring them a blanket or a lunch tray, they'll eat you alive. They think they're in a hotel and demand to have food that tastes good (I had lunch trays thrown at me more than once because "they wouldn't even feed that to their dog"). I work in the ER, it's stressful, but it was even worse on Med Surg. I can't even begin to count how many times I got yelled at by patients over things that were not my fault. Lab results not back yet? My fault. Doctor hasn't seen the patient yet? Again, my fault. Pharmacy is taking too long to mix the antibiotic, guess whose fault that is? Yep, my fault. Patients are never ever happy. I'm not even gonna go into pain meds, that's a separate story. I just don't get how anyone can love this profession. We're supposed to be compassionate, caring, and empathetic while all we get in return is **** and depreciation. No manner how hard you try, it's never good enough and you never stop getting yelled at by patients over things that are not your fault. I guess I just needed to vent.

I am actually considering Chamberlain, but it says $33,600 for the total tuition on https://www.chamberlain.edu/docs/default-source/financial-aid/tuition-and-fees-total-cost-calculations_july_2016.pdf?sfvrsn=2

My thoughts too. I wrote email to them that I want to withdraw my application. I bet they will explode my phone tomorrow trying to change my mind haha

You are right. I calculated everything, and I would be in $70k debt after I'm done. And I researched other schools, they are way less expensive. The only thing that was so attractive to me about Keiser, is that the program starts in Jan, while it's too late to apply for Spring semester in other universities. But after I thought about it, I'd rather wait a few months and pay $20-$30k than follow my emotions of excitement and start right away and pay $70k at the end. I just want to be FNP so bad, I want to start as soon as possible... But it's a decision that will effect the next 5-10 years of my life (paying off loans). Also, given my information, in your opinion, how good are my chances to be accepted into other programs?

I want to apply to different schools, so I'm just trying to see what is the average price for FNP online programs. Thanks!