c27_AEMT

Would anyone be willing to PM me and talk to me about Vandy for NP? I am planning on pursuing my NP and thinking about using my GI bill. I have my BSN now and a bit of experience. I would love to pick anyone's brain who is willing to let me. I am specifically interested in the costs and if anyone has used their GI bill since it is a little nuanced depending on how you use it. Hoping to hear from some of you, thanks!!

Well, I scheduled the test for about 6 weeks from the TCRN review course so I probably don't have time for another course. I will look into their review materials though and hopefully that will be enough. Thanks for the info!

I will use text pages for things like med requests or anything straightforward and leave my number so they can call with more questions. That is typically easier for both of us. I am not sure how it is everywhere else, but where I work (ER) we do an increasing amount of putting the orders in under the physician's name. Mainly for ER patients but sometimes for admitted patients as well. The order is entered by us but "ordered" by them.

I am with guy in babyland. I work in a large ER and have an iphone to communicate with er people (or will go find them) but when i work in our part of the ED with boarders or have boarded patients in the ER, I will call whoever the service is. IF I have time and it is appropriate, I will text page the provider....for example requesting something for anxiety for a patient going to MRI who needs it. I will also ask if anyone else needs to talk to pulmonary or whoever the service is, but that is only if it isn't urgent. We have multiple teams for basically each service line so it would not be logistically possible to coordinate calls or have charge do it, not to mention the patient safety aspect of it, growing rapport with providers, and learning how to communicate with them as a nurse.

I used ATI in school, the NCLEX prep app (which I really liked), and NRSNG the website. I studied for about a month but am not the best at studying. I am an exceedingly good test taker and good at internalizing information, especially trivia which really helps me as a nurse and in test taking as some of those questions in nursing are weird and "random." The best advice I can give is to understand test taking, figure out your learning style, and take a ton of practice questions or do a ton of whatever reinforces the info for you. I literally was doing about 1k questions a day the last 2 weeks before my test. Also when you read the question see if you can think of the answer before you read your options. It can really help so you don't get distracted. I have sat for the TCRN test recently and smashed it and I did basically the same. There was a book that had quick tips and just small tidbits and that didn't work for me...the questions keep my mind engaged and the rationales reinforce the answers. Best of luck! Soon the NCLEX will just be a distant memory.

Just my thoughts, as I was in your shoes not too long ago. I went with an ASN. It was cheaper, I would be an RN sooner, the NCLEX pass rate was near 100%, and the clinical placements were great for final semester, not to mention that during the program the clinicals were of higher quality than the BSN in town due to the instructors and how the director of the program ran things. I could have done an ABSN but even with the GI bill it would have been around $30k. My program was a few thousand a semester for around 16 months. To those who say you can't get a job with an associates...that has not been my experience. I made a list of 50+ hospitals across the country where I was interested in working. I contacted their recruitment departments since many websites said BSN required. Only three had a hard requirement for BSN. About five others had fewer openings for ASN, and the others didn't care but put that on their websites to get more BSN applicants. I work in a large academic setting now where the pay is ok and the benefits are amazing bordering on insane. I just finished my BSN (paid in full by work) while some friends who started the BSN are just graduating or will be graduating next semester. I am not one to say which is better, but despite all the naysaying about ASN that I heard when starting nursing school, it worked out great for me financially and professionally.

I am typically one to over prepare. Do you think the Solheim pocket practice (all four) and review course, TNCC and a ATLS audit within the year (with extra review of the books) are sufficient to pass the exam? I work in a level I trauma in the ER so a lot of the inpatient stuff was new...I am also considering the book by Kendra Kent that Jeff mentioned in the course and the ENA CATN trauma course online. I figure that worst case, I am over prepped and learn a bit more in the process...there just seems to be a lot of different resources out there.

MrNurse(x2) thanks for the advice. That really makes sense and as someone coming to nursing in their 30s, is a little tough to grasp at times. I honestly love what I do most days but they do work us to death with boarders (including ICU) that can just drain your soul. Applewhite the benefits are great...if the pay was a little better I would be fine, but also, I can become an RN II, III, IV, etc after another year, which increases pay and benefits. I guess the waiting is what is killing me. I guess I have answered my own questions with everyone's help, but the last gripe is that the housing market here has had a sharp uptick in cost without much or any adjustment to starting pay and the only way to increase is time. Getting my BSN or MSN won't even do anything for my pay.

AceOfHearts The shifts I pick up are time and a half at their base rate befor shift diff or actual overtime so they are around the same pay or a little more than I would get from other organizations in the area. I think I am ok sticking with it here for now...at least until I have enough experience to travel or a good idea of where I want to go. Midwest nursing just seems to not pay as well generally. I know its not as bad as the south in some places but its just pretty average, even in places where the cost of living, housing, etc is higher. Thanks everyone for the replies and insight.

Good points KelRN215. My friend who is a travel nurse here but also started here was saying that if we started out around $30 it would be more commensurate with the work we do. Overall it is a good place but I guess I will see what happens once I can get a few steps on the clinical ladder program.

Thanks for the reply. I hear about some nurses making quite a bit more yearly but I guess a lot of that comes down to experience. I don't want to leave a place where my only complaint is the pay and find myself in a place where the people and organization aren't what I want but make more money. I also want to make sure I am being compensated fairly. I'm ems I worked for far to little and don't want to get into a position like that again. Now I'm thinking give it 3-5 years and reevaluate while taking advantage of everything I can here.

I am finding myself somewhat frustrated with my pay as an RN. My total compensation is very good, I feel but due to my overall financial situation (pre-nursing school student loans), I am considering moving to a higher paying organization. My current situation: I work as an emergency nurse in a level one trauma center but also can pick up shifts at a smaller er within the enterprise. I am a new grad with prior emergency experience and while I do have the new grad feelings of being overwhelmed from time to time, the people I work with and the overall nature of my experience limit that feeling to a manageable level. I make in the low 20s/h plus shift differential for nights and weekends although I primarily work days. Insurance is cheap and good, school is free, and we have a good match on money toward retirement. I have been here a year and have taken PALS, ACLS, TNCC, ENCP, audited ATLS, gotten my CEN, and plan to take TCRN after the review course being offered free in May. I also have taken the neonatal resuscitation program (NRP), and plan to take a peds critical care course and cross train into the peds er next year. There's a ton of cool stuff going on here and a lot of free education as you can see. My question to all of those out there more experienced than I..... should I look to move based on the low pay, wait for the clinical ladder to kick in (more pay), go back to school, or something else? Does the above situation sound like a good deal for a new RN? I really like it is but then I know some other places pay more but offer less overall. Many of the travel nurses I have talked to come back here because of the environment and overall benefits. Is this a case of the grass not being greener on the other side? Thanks in advance for reading this long post. Oh yeah, the weather is gorgeous but the housing market is kind of expensive for being in the Midwest.

Not the OP but I have been having a similar situation after being ED for a while. Lots of non-compliance but also lots of patients who just aren't sick. Working in critical and trauma can be pretty cool but the acute care is so draining. I will have to look into oncology. I love reading and learning new things about science, medicine, and nursing and need a place where I really get to think hard and use the knowledge I have.

I am just a new nurse coming to nursing from a very eclectic past. Here's my two cents; take it or leave it. If someone has mentioned this, I missed it but to OP: why not consider a RN-MSN program. There are quite a few out there and some are not much longer than BSN if you have a BS in something else like me. That is what I am doing because I have the GI bill and my employer pays for it. I think it is almost common sense that the best nurses are life long learners. I study and read new things almost every day, some of which could be considered "over my head" or "doctor stuff." I don't do this to try to play doctor, but I find that the more clinical knowledge I have, the better nurse I am. I think one thing that really frustrates people like me is that nurses who have been mediocre nurses for years make the same as nurses who are proactive in their education. I know a few MSN students who have very poor clinical knowledge because they don't sit down and read, don't have an intimate understanding of disease processes, don't know their A&P, etc. Having letters behind your name doesn't mean a whole lot if you do not hold yourself to a standard. I liked what people said about the CEN and other certifications. These are places to start in your specialty, but ultimately you are the one who will limit yourself. There is no bar on knowledge and if I want to go and read medical texts and get into the hard science more there is no one to stop me. Doing this may help me be a better bedside nurse, but at some point there will be diminishing dividends for knowing these things. I say all this to point out the following: It is super important to continue learning but along the way you will have to jump through some hoops. It is like the quote attributed to Mark Twain: I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. In the grand scheme of education and nursing practice, the RN-BSN is pretty basic. I consider myself far more educated from my efforts than by the college education and degrees I have. Regarding leadership, the BSN is just a brief overview of it. Leading soldiers in combat and reading stacks of books on leadership, science, medicine, and everything in between have taught me far more than a BSN could and I would wager that many of these RNs with years of experience who are good leaders become good leaders by leading not taking classes. We are trained to believe that more letters equals smarter and more prepared but I am sure many of you can find that tech who reads the NEJM on the toilet every day, the PA who busts her butt to know more than the residents and attendings she works for/with, or the nurse who saves the patient's life by reading medical texts and being able to catch the occasional zebra. The degrees are just starting points...real education and learning is a lifelong process that is the responsibility of the individual.

I wish I would have done it before 30. It makes me sad to see all the negative experiences...I think my best decision besides becoming a nurse was choosing to work with an organization that really values its nurses. I see where some of my classmates are and it just makes me sad that they were unable or unwilling to work outside the relatively small area we went to school in. There really are some great organizations out there who value their nurses and have amazing career opportunities.

It looks like I will be starting before I take the NCLEX on a provisional license....yikes!!

Thanks! That's what I have been leaning toward, especially since I have no real desire to begin a MSN program right away. I just didn't want to pick the wrong degree to continue my nursing education.

Hope everything is going well for you. I graduate in May and start my ED residency (36 weeks) in July. Level 1 and will be working peds and adult. Super nervous and was blown away by the facility. I am hopeful because they hire new grads somewhat often. Theres a lot of classroom work with it and online "classroom" work each week so I am hoping I survive.

Hello all: I am trying to decide what route to take regarding further education. I am a new grad in the university hospital setting and we have been told we need to get our BSN within a 5 years. I have no problem doing this and am all for it, but I have a previous Bachelor's degree and was considering an MSN program to sort of cut out the middleman since basically all my requirements outside of nursing transfer. I don't want to become a nurse practitioner right now but it's a possibility for the future. I did see that some schools like UMKC in Kansas City, Missouri have a post-graduate program that lets you add a specialty to a previously completed nurse practitioner MSN or to get a first specialty for a non nurse practitioner MSN. Has anyone else ever been in this position? Any thoughts? Advice? Money isn't really an issue (to some extent) because where I am, we get tuition through the school and I also have the GI bill. I could be done with my BSN December 2018 because the program at University of Alabama in Birmingham has an accelerated portion that is covered with my previous degree. Essentially, I would just need the extra nursing classes. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance!!!

Here's my take. I was in the same position a few years back when I decided to pursue nursing. I got into an accelerated program at Emory, but it would cost me $25k for a 5 semester program AFTER my veteran's benefits. I decided to go to an Associate Degree program. Same time but I actually got money from my benefits after everything was paid. It set me up perfectly to get my first job without loans and even if I did have to pay it would have been less than 1/4 the 50k Emory wants for their 2nd degree program. I am graduating in May and got hired at a level one emergency department working with peds and adults, they will pay for my BSN, everyone there is unbelievably awesome, and the benefits are great. My first pick was ICU and a ton of people called me back AFTER I accepted the job, but after meeting these people and seeing what the environment is like, I am glad I accepted. So I am super excited, but I say all that to bring up the point that there are more important factors than BSN/ADN. I would become a nurse as quickly as you can (in a good program) and then there are plenty of online options for BSN. I will have mine by May 2018 through University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) and its all online. Plus the hospital I am going to work for will pay for it! 18 months to become an RN was the best educational decision I ever made, second only to choosing a community college setting. It is super hard and I studied like a fiend but it was well worth it. Hope this helps!

IOs are not painful. The pop is a little disconcerting, but it really hurts about as much or less than an IV. I let a friend do one on me in school. The flush can be painful though. There is one drug that I know of that is contraindicated for IO use--d50. I am not 100% sure but I think it is because it can have necrotic effects when used IO....similar to what would happen if it were administered to a non patent PIV site.

Thanks. I do agree that it is a long way away. I guess I just got into thinking about it and wanted to have a solid plan. With regard to the difference in hours do you feel NPs are prepared as well clinically than PAs? The PAs I know all had around 2000 hours of standardized training (clinical hours). My school requires I think 3000-4000 paid hours for PA admission requirements. When searching for an NP program do you just have to be careful about where you go since it isn't as standardized with a set amount of hours in each discipline? Also, how well do you feel prior experience helps? I guess it would depend on the type of experience but I've just heard from both NPs and PAs that PA is more rigorous. Is that usually addressed by self study as far as the medical knowledge goes? Also, I wasn't very specific when I said mobility. I was more referring to the ability to move between specialties.

I realize it is my choice. I have been researching it a ton and shadowing all of the above. The reason I post it here is to see if there is anyone else out there who struggled with the same dilemma. Most of the practitioners I have shadowed knew all along what they wanted to be. Maybe by asking on here I can find someone who went through something similar and see if they have any advice. I believe immaturity would be going into something not 100% sure it is what I want. I don't think it is immature to use all resources available to make a decision. It isn't what people think necessarily, but what they have experienced when faced with similar decisions. Thanks for the reply.

I will try to keep this as succinct as possible. I am a nursing student and am planning for the possibility of continuing my education in some way. I know that this can be a somewhat controversial issue (especially with the politics of PA and NP) and have been researching all the professions I am interested in endlessly. I also have not ruled out med school. Many people might ask why I am in nursing school. I genuinely want to be here and am working to set myself up for a job in a critical care job somewhere. I will move anywhere which helps (I think). I also have PALS and ACLS from my job on the ambulance and have been studying as many books on critical care, ekg, and IV drug guides as I can get my hands on. I have been doing this since the first semester. As I have been doing this, I have realized that I may want to move into another area (NP. PA, CRNA, MD) and had questions that I would love some expert advice on. Before I get blasted for listing all of those different types of providers I would like to say that yes, I know they are different and yes, I think I would enjoy all of them but I want to make the best decision on which one to pursue. I like autonomy but also like working on a team and don't have any strong overarching desire to be the one with the final say but I also don't have a problem with that. Also, because of my financial habits, the difference of pay or cost of programs isn't really an issue. It will affect when I go to the school but that is about it. I have made pro/con lists and hopefully someone here has had the same difficulty I have had. I guess I can just see myself going any of these routes and being happy. I love learning and challenges and I know all of these have that in different ways. I have shadowed all of the above and enjoyed all of it. None specifically stuck out to me as my favorite. Here are a few of the concerns/questions I had: -the number of clinical hours for NP being low compared to PA -Is there a way to have PA like mobility as an NP? -Should I take the prereqs for PA/MED school even if I am unsure of what I want to do? -Did any of you have the feeling that you wanted *more* than being an RN? -I like peds and PICU now but I don't want to get 10 years down the road and then want a change having already done a NP program for it. Same with MD, which is why PA appeals to me although it would be a harder route or so I have been told by many (not just PAs) Thanks for any feedback. I know I will probably get some negative feedback for planning so far ahead but this is my last semester of school and I want to be ready to hit the ground running when I land my first job. I have always been super meticulous like this and so far it has served me well. Thanks again!

This is coming from a fellow infantryman having worked closely with marine infantry and seeing how you guys are treated. You will be treated far better than you were as a grunt. I can't speak for conditions in nursing (besides what I have observed) and I can imagine that interpersonal relationships in the workplace can become strained, but I am fairly certain that no one will be putting their hands on you, smoking you, or screaming in your face. I could be wrong, and I know there are other challenges but I would say that you will probably be treated like more of a human being. Beyond that, I don't know. Haters gonna hate. Do what you want to do so you can provide for yourself/family and do something that YOU can be proud of. Who cares what everyone else thinks.