TexasNP14

I worked as a bedside nurse for 10+ years before starting my NP career. The answer is yes I make more than I did as a bedside nurse, considered an hourly employee, and I work part time. If I fill in extra hours I continue to get paid hourly for that time.

Great i appreciate your response! Plan to talk to them about this concern soon. Good points

I agree with all of you. I graduated in the last 1.5 years and am pretty good at managing my time (definitely still have room for improvement but so much quicker than I used to be). But I just wonder if I'm seeing patients back to back on busy day, how can I do a thorough hx, assessment, write Rx, order labs in needed, and close my charts in that small time period. Plus I am in pediatrics so it isn't as easy as adult care when they cooperate:) If I work a full day I am charting during my lunch and not being paid for this. If I see 20-30 patients in a day I can close quite a few charts but definitely not give great care and close all of them. And most days I work part time, so I feel like I am always waiting for xray or lab to call me back with results and then managing care from home after work hours, even if it is just 15 min here and there. Plus I am only paid when I am seeing patients, so I still wouldn't be paid for staying later at work and finishing my charting. Thoughts on how to proceed or how to agree on this with the practice?

I work part time as a NP in a private practice and am paid hourly (not a salaried person). I only am paid for hours I am actually seeing patients, not lunchtime (even though I mainly chart), charting after or before patient hours (whether at home or work), or time outside of work reviewing lab results/calling patients/etc. If I work full day, I see can see up to 25-30 patients a day so I spend alot of time going patient to patient and have to use my own time to chart. I feel like I am doing alot more work than I am being paid for and just wanted others thoughts if this is normal or how to change? Is this legal? Please advise.

First of all congrats! We celebrated by going to Mexico, stayed at Excellence Playa Mujeres with some friends and it was amazing! Went for 5 days, all inclusive, adults only. I would say you could be "waited on" as much or as little as you wanted. Some of the others look like more work than I wanted, which was to lay by the pool and beach and relax with NO school books! haha

Houston has a lot more options than Austin which is oversaturated with NP's. I would be nervous about moving to Austin as a new grad, as most offices want experienced NP's and there are very few jobs to begin with.

Don't stress, everyone feels this way! You are there to learn. It took me the first 2 weeks or so of every semester to feel more comfortable and get my footing right.

Wow the pros sound pretty good to me. I guess the question would be if the no pedi patients and drive are a deal breaker for you. If not and you think you would enjoy this place and it would be a good learning environment then I think its a solid offer. Congrats on the offer!

I do like the school, we have not had to go to El Paso too many times. I think the FNP program have to go a few more than we do in PNP. I love the director of our program which was one of the reasons I went to UTEP over Texas Tech (accepted to both). They actually want to help you vs nursing school where they are weeding you out. The tuition is much cheaper than some other schools like UT. There are some other people on here who have done the FNP program and they might be able to answer more of the cons for the program, my program is a bit different now that we are getting into clinicals. Good luck applying and deciding!

I work in the hospital setting so only do 3-12 hour shifts. I just cut back to part time (2-12 hour shifts), but pick up an on call shift once or twice a month to help make up the pay cut, plus I do home health teaches for extra income. I plan to try to suck it up and do part time as long as I can. It might be hard, but it is hard to imagine not working and loosing that salary for my family. I am also trying to do it without student loans, so that is another reason. The last semester I will just have to see what happens with clinicals but will still try to work part time.

My program for PNP requires 2 years experience as a RN. Some do and some don't, so this is something you might need to check on for the schools you are interested in. No, a DNP is not required yet as originally planned. There are some DNP programs, most take 3 years full time or 4 years part time. My PNP program takes 2 years. I am working while in school, did first semester and a half still staying full time+. I just cut back to part time+, more to help plan our schedule at home than anything. I still work an extra on call shift every pay period when I can and do home health teaches on the side. I made enough money doing teaches the month of december to pay for my spring semester, so that was great! For now, I want to finish my NP and then if interested go back for DNP. At our orientation, they encouraged us to get our DNP down the line. I just had my first big break from school over christmas and am actually ready for school to start back on monday, I'm a little bored of sitting on the couch:)

A nurse I work with graduated in midwifery about a year ago. She is still working as a L&D nurse, mainly because of starting a family. Being a midwife and a new mom doesn't really go hand in hand for some.

Nurse Nikkii, I am in the dual certification program (or at least they are trying). If it does not go through I am doing primary care but am in the program with the acute care track people. I am just finishing my second semester with a 4.0. I worked full time up until a month ago when I cut back to part time. However I am still picking up a on call shift once a pay check (if able) so help make up the money I am missing. Plus I do home health teaches, so really I was working more than full time:) The school work was totally doable with working full time, at least until clinicals start, but for my family schedule to work out, we decided for me to cut back. The program is not bad at all. I really love the pedi director and instructors so far. Some of the classes are challenging, but I was still able to get a 4.0 while working full time. Besides orientation, we do not have to go back to the school until the second year starts for skills check off, etc.

Just emailed it to you:) Laurie

I am in the PNP program at UTEP, but was accepted to both Texas Tech and UTEP. I graduated from Texas Tech with a non-nursing Bachelor's degree years ago. I know both schools have great programs. Deciding factor for me was I was accepted to UTEP two weeks before TTU came through and UTEP started a semester earlier=graduating earlier. I don't think you can go wrong with either choice.

Our instructors recommended Reference Database. It costs $30 for a year and I have been using it the past 2 semesters. I like it, but have also heard PERRLA was good too. I would highly recommend getting one of them. While APA gets easier as you go along, my instructors said "why", they use in for articles and papers as well.

Hey Amber, are you in the primary care or acute care option? If you are in primary care, Dr Snell just emailed me what clinicals and how many hours in each we will need. I can send to you if you want.

I am currently in my first year in a PNP program. I know down the line I will consider getting my DNP. My question is when I get my DNP, does that open me up to practice with all ages or am I still limited to Pedi's? Thanks

FuTuRe Rn I decided to go with UTEP. I got my first bachelor degree from Texas Tech and love them. I would love to get my masters from them. However the UTEP program is trying to get dual certification in Primary care and acute care so we would graduate with both. Also it is a semester less than Tech and we start summer vs fall with Tech. So for me while I almost changed my mind, the people at UTEP has been amazing and had more positives where I was concerned. I would highly recommend Tech though. The school is well know in Texas and has a well established Health Science Center. I do know of some people (through the grape vine) who have graduated from the NP program at Tech and of a few that are in the program currently and they have great things to say about their program.

So I was accepted into the UTEP PNP program and ready for orientation this weekend, when I received my acceptance from Texas Tech PNP program yesterday. I am super excited about both, as both were my top choices! UTEP starts this summer, TTU in fall. I want to be sure I am making the right decision for me, so I am looking for any info on either program from current or former students to weigh my options. pass rate, tuition, length of programs, difficulty of classes, how is faculty, ability to work while in school, etc. I appreciate any and all information on these programs so I can make an informed decision.

I too struggled with this question. I asked lots of people and got many different answers. I spoke to some FNP who work in pediatric specialist office who said to get FNP to broaden your scope of practice and have more jobs available to you. I also spoke to some pediatricians who said they only hire PNP for their office. She said to me would you want someone who learned a little about everything or someone learned alot about pediatrics. So for me it depends on what you want to do. If pediatrics is only where you want to end up, then do what you will be happier doing and make school more enjoyable. If you want to be open to other possibilities later on then do FNP. I ended up choosing PNP and start school in a few weeks. I still have moments where I hope I made the right decision especially when I am browsing sites and there are so many FNP jobs open, but I know Pediatrics is what I want to do. And if I decide later I want to do family, then I will do post-masters.

I can't speak for others, but I was just accepted into an online NP program and will start in May. I plan to work full time nights until clinicals start then cut down to part time. That is my plan, but know that could change depending on how difficult it is to manage both. I don't have the luxury to not work at all. I have worked full time while doing online RN-BSN with plenty of time to spare and no issues, although I know NP school will be so much different. I only worked one day a week while getting my RN, mainly for experience in the hospital. Honestly I feel RN school was so much work I don't think at that time in my life I could do more. If you can do accelerated program and not work then I would do that to begin. then work a few years and save and then apply to NP school. Good luck!

ambrw33-Yeah so excited to know others that got accepted! Congrats to you. I haven't heard anything about tuition cost yet but I will let you know. I am in austin, so I very excited we are so close. Might come in handy for study group:)

Riburn3 I had my interview today and was offered acceptance into the PNP program for this summer! So very excited! I can't PM you since I just joined but had some questions for you, if you don't mind messaging me. Questions about tuition each semester, just wanted an idea of what I will be paying to take 2 classes each semester. Anything else that might be helpful to have or do before starting the program. I really appreciate it!

Bronze 2 I really appreciate the input! This helps me come up with questions for my interview this week, as well as answers to some pending questions I had. Thanks for input on working full-time. I was curious if I would be able to continue to work full time. I finished a lot of my BSN degree during my downtime at work on night shift.