RNADN

Hi Everyone. Sorry about the late response and thank you for all the advice! So, here is what ended up happening. When I finished my degree at WGU, my pharmacology classes were acceptable for my program at The University of South Alabama. I took two classes at WGU, one was a 3 credit patho and advanced pharm class and the other was a 2 credit advanced pharm class, leaving me with the required 3 credits of advanced pharmacology required to enter an FNP program. After I was already in my FNP program, the California BRN changed their requirements, and now required that the 3 credits must be taken in one class. Therefore, even though I graduated with honors and passed my boards, I was ineligible to receive my furnishing license. WGU was not helpful in figuring this out, and they really let me down. I had to figure this out through my own research, and from help here (THANK YOU!). In addition, it was impossible to get anyone on the phone at the CA BRN. I had to file several complaints before anyone even contacted me. In addition, there was nothing on their website announcing this change. USA addressed this immediately. They were unaware of the changes the CA BRN made while I was in school. The CA BRN is an absolute mess, and I know I'm not the only person who has had a very hard time dealing with them. I'm actually rather shocked that an organization that oversees such a large nursing population is so completely inept. Long story short, I had to take advanced pharmacology over at USA. They were extremely helpful and covered the cost of the class as well. I feel like they went above and beyond to ethically do the right thing for me as a student, and I believe credit is deserved for how well they both advocated for me and helped me resolve this issue. It made me very glad that I chose this school for my FNP and I will probably return there for my DNP. I received my furnishing license immediately after submitting the course and began working in Family Medicine, which I enjoy very much. Ironically, after I was able to get this whole mess straightened out after 7 months of daily pursuit, my mother became ill and I had to move to New York immediately. I accepted a position in an Urgent Care in New York and now I'm not even using my California license. All that stress and insanity for nothing! I truly hate the CA BRN. They need to completely reform that agency. They hold an immense amount of power over us, and they need to be held accountable for their incompetence. Love you guys and hope you are all staying safe out there. Whatever they are paying us, it should be doubled for the work we do and the amount of difficulty it takes to become a nurse or an advanced practitioner.

I'm looking for anywhere that I can take a class if I have to. This sucks, it's neverending .... I seriously could have gone to med school for less effort. At least I would have had more support. This is such bs, they need to standardize APRN education so this doesn't happen to anyone else.

I'm going to try to come to a resolution with the school first. Luckily, I have emails detailing all of this from when I originally enrolled. What an awful headache and disappointment.

I am a new graduate FNP in California with 6 years of RN critical care experience. I earned my BSN and MSN-ED from Western Governors, and then went on to complete a Post-Master's FNP program at The University of South Alabama, which accepted my 3p with no issues. Western Governors told me specifically that these classes met the requirements for an NP Program advanced pharmacology class when I enrolled. I was very specific with the enrollment counselor about my intention to continue on and enroll in an NP Program immediately after and they assured me these classes were acceptable. I wouldn't have enrolled otherwise. I applied for my initial licensure and received my NP license with no issues. When I applied for my furnishing license, Western Governors declined to sign the form, stating that my pharmacology classes, 3 unit C155 Pathopharmacological Foundations for Advanced Nursing Practice and 2 unit C352 Contemporary Pharmacotherapeutics do not meet the requirements because there wasn't a doctorate-level faculty member involved in the course. I am freaking out right now. I have been contacting both the CA BRN and Western Governors for four months and no one has given me a straight answer until they told me this last night. I am at a complete loss as to what to do, since I have already accepted two separate jobs, one of which I am supposed to start immediately. Does anyone have any advice on what to do? I feel like Western Governors intentionally misled me, and the CA BRN is impossible to get help from. I've even written the governor for help. I need my furnishing license to work. This is a nightmare! ?

I'm having a similar problem with the California BRN and I'm licensed and have been working as an RN in this state since 2016. It's horrific.

The University of South Alabama. I'm in the program now and have had a good experience so far.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing in Los Angeles. I have two years NICU but only want to do 2 shifts per week since I also have an unrelated home business. I'm looking into agencies right now too, so maybe we can compare information!

Great, thanks for the reply. Yup, I have 2.5 years of experience in NICU and Mother/Baby. I was thinking of traveling nursing up there at first since I don't really know much about the area. Would you have any recommendations for good places to work? Thanks!

I'm hearing that the Portland market for RNs is extremely tight. Is this true?

Thanks for responding, I appreciate the support. I still love my little patients, but I'm looking into other options right now. I truly love taking care of the little ones, but I don't like the high-stress level of taking care of the really sick ones, especially when I feel like all we are doing is prolonging their suffering. Maybe it's because I haven't had a proper orientation to do this work. I'm finishing my MSN in Education and thinking about becoming an FNP in the next couple of years. I originally wanted to become an NNP, but this experience has changed my mind. I'm not expecting the FNP to be easy, but I think I'd like to try something outside of critical care. Once you're in NICU though, it seems like it's hard to transition elsewhere.

I've been an RN for 2 years and a NICU nurse for 1 1/2 years. I received an excellent orientation at a large teaching hospital where I worked for the first year, and I felt confident of my skills. I worked in Level II and Level III. When I switched to night shift, my commute became 2 hours each way, and I had to find something closer to home. I accepted a day position in a smaller community NICU closer to home, and although the commute was better, the facility has been a nightmare from day one. I was given a month orientation with five different preceptors, and most of them were completely disinterested and barely talked to me. I had to finally go to my director to get them to fill out the necessary paperwork, because they would just ignore me. There were so many bad signs this was a bad unit, but I was trying to make it work. I wanted to resign after three weeks, and they convinced me to stay. I've been there six months now and I've lost all my confidence. Most of the time on the unit the nurses speak in another language to each other and I feel really alienated. I feel completely terrified to go into work, because I have to rely on them and most the time I can't understand what they are saying. The charting is awful and doesn't work half the time, the unit is completely disorganized, and the acuity level is insane because we do all the births for the Children's Hospital next door. I'm terrified to do even one more shift. How do I bow out gracefully? I am seriously considering leaving the bedside because of this experience. I love my patients, but if I accept a job at another facility, I'll be back on nights, which was really traumatic for my young daughter. The stress of this job is taking over my entire life and hurting my family. I'm sad to leave the NICU and my babies, but I can't stand this sort of hell anymore. Anyone been through this sort of thing?

I tried to figure out how to message you, but I don't have that feature. Thank you so much for your reply. Sorry for the late response, I've been working. We are headed out to Santa Fe for a vacation, so I was thinking of doing some research while there. Which hospitals would you recommend? Any places I should steer clear of? I'm working day shift right now and have most of my career. I have a little one and have found nights don't work for the family. Are day shift positions impossible to get? Thanks, any advice is much appreciated!

Goodness, thanks so much!

Thinking of leaving SoCal for a quieter life and less people. A non-nursing friend moved to New Mexico and loves it, so we are going to visit and check it out. I'm a NICU nurse with two years of experience in high acuity, inner city hospitals. I have a BSN and I will have finished my MSN in Education by the time we move, but I'm not leaving the floor or my babies for a while. Any NICU RNs here that work in New Mexico? Any advice on good hospitals to look into? Do you like living and working there? Any advice would really be appreciated, thanks!

Thank you so much for your response, I really appreciate it. I'm so glad to hear that this route worked for you, I find it very encouraging. May I ask you where you did your FNP? I'm currently working in NICU, but I'm finding the stress of critical care and the fact that I can't adjust well to night shift is making me feel trapped. Although I love working with babies, I'm not cut out for years of night shifts, which is also why I'm not going for the NNP. I'm on days right now, but I took such a huge pay cut that I feels like I'm working for the experience right now. I'm in Los Angeles, and the cost of living here is sky high. I'm hoping the MSN will open up some new possibilities, and I really want the intellectual challenge. I'm also really looking forward to gaining the education from the FNP and being more autonomous. Thanks again!