Seattle U - APNI 2012

flaneur · Jan 31, 2012

Hi All,

Best of luck in the upcoming weeks! I have no insight into the process, but I would echo that likely the process is a bit delayed because of the snow week. Hopefully you all will be hearing soon!

Calinca · Jan 31, 2012

Thank you flaneur! How's this quarter treating you? Tell us more stories, please! Do you know of any student blogging about their education at Seattle U?

flaneur · Jan 31, 2012

Thank you flaneur! How's this quarter treating you? Tell us more stories, please! Do you know of any student blogging about their education at Seattle U?

This quarter is going well so far. The snow week put us a bit behind for our clinicals/classes, but otherwise all is well. We are doing our Psych and Peds courses/clinicals this quarter and there have even been a couple of moments where I've finally started to feel like a nurse. Hanging my first IV antibiotics last week was one of them! We are also beginning to look at what we might be interested in doing for our long-term scholarly projects that we'll be working on throughout the program.

I don't know anyone who is blogging about their experiences, although that's a pretty interesting idea. There would definitely be some interesting posts if someone were. I'd imagine some of them would be exciting and inspiring, and some posts would make you rethink wanting to do an accelerated nursing program. It can be very tiring, frustrating, and exhausting. However, I still would apply again, if I had it to do all over again, despite how stressful my life has been for the past 7 months.

While the wait is going on, I'd be happy to try to answer any questions you may have or talk about specific parts of the program, from my perspective. Again, good luck and patience waiting to you all!

luluj · Jan 31, 2012

Flaneur- sorry if you already said this, but are you in the FNP program? Which specialty are you in? Thanks for posting!

Calinca · Jan 31, 2012

Flaneur, is this your 3rd quarter? When did clinicals start? Do you go to an external site for that?

flaneur · Feb 1, 2012

Flaneur- sorry if you already said this, but are you in the FNP program? Which specialty are you in? Thanks for posting!

No, luluj, I'm in the AGNP (Adult NP and Gero NP) track.

flaneur · Feb 1, 2012

Flaneur, is this your 3rd quarter? When did clinicals start? Do you go to an external site for that?

Yes, this is quarter number three for us. We started last summer. Clinicals have been every quarter -- we did a Gero rotation in the summer, OB last fall (got to be part of a great birth!), and now are doing Psych and Peds. The program gets you doing clinicals right away. I did all of my clinicals externally: Gero was at an assisted living facility, OB was at Valley Medical Center in Renton, Psych is at Harborview, and Peds is at Children's Hospital. The sites are really amazing, and almost my favorite part of the education.

Calinca · Feb 1, 2012

I had my first son at the Valley It will be interesting going back there if I get in!

I read that Seattle U has a pretty nice state of the art nursing lab. I'm guessing you got to use it pretty early in the program? What was the hardest part of the program (course, skill, etc) for you to learn? Do you spend the whole day at those clinical sites or is it just like a class? Do you think you're getting (or going to get) enough exposure to learn those skills proficiently? I'm just a little nervous about being in a position of leadership and not mastering some simple things, like venipuncture, etc.

Tomorrow is february, do a happy dance! :w00t:

flaneur · Feb 1, 2012

Well, this might be the part where many start thinking "Oh, maybe an accelerated program isn't always excellent", so be forewarned. Hahaha

The nursing lab is great, and we get to access it right away. It definitely helps you feel more comfortable, and in the summer, a lot of your learning takes place there. The hardest class for me was Pharmacology [summer], just because there was so much memorization involved. When you go to clinical sites, it's an 8 hour shift, and you have a Seattle U nursing faculty person there to help you, instruct you, watch you do skills, and evaluate you. There are often really long write ups associated with clinicals that take a really long time.

Do I think I'm going to get enough exposure to learn skills proficiently....no. But I think this is the case for nursing school these days. You learn how to assess well in nursing school, and you learn some skills, but the majority of skill learning comes after you take the NCLEX and work/learn on the job as a nurse. It's often very overwhelming and intimidating to imagine being a nurse after all of this. But...I feel that we are no less prepared than other programs, and better prepared than many. I think I'll be as well-prepared nurse as any new grad. But I'm still overwhelmed. For example, we don't learn venipuncture/IV insertion at all in school (most school's don't teach it). It's something you often learn on-the-job. However, we did practice intramuscular, subcutaneous, and intradermal injections on each other.

I can't speak much to the advanced practice portion of the program, because SU spends the first year teaching you how to be as good a RN as possible...the advanced practice portion will follow later. I think that no matter what program you are in, you will learn as much as possible, but ultimately feel like you have so much to learn later.

blueshu · Feb 1, 2012

I would think twice before enrolling in the apni program.

We've had 2 people drop out since starting the program in June 2011 and 2 people that failed pharm and subsequently could not progress in the same sequence as us.

There have been more awful teachers than good ones thus far. Some of the classes seem very pointless and a waste of time and money.

There were several students last year who failed one of the NP classes during 2nd year and had to wait another year to retake it.

Financial aid and scholarships is a train wreck.

The only good things about the program are the sleek nursing lab, clinical placements being found for you so you don't have to do it yourself, and I guess the length if ur looking to head out into the job market sooner rather than later.

Calinca · Feb 1, 2012

blueshu, I'm not worried about the drop outs or people who failed, unless you are saying that it was consequence of a bad program. Pharmacology is a very hard course for anybody, and I believe it's even harder for people who don't have a good basis in chemistry.

What are the classes you think are a pointless? Why do you think they are pointless?

Why do you think the teachers are awful?

That said, if I had the power to create a graduate program, I would definitely require certain things as pre-requisites. Chemistry being one of them and a full load of biology, including genetics. It took me 6 quarters to have the proficiency of chemistry that I have today, and I can't understand why this is not pertinent to the profession. Unless they teach all of that in the pharm class..

My take is: they are going to give you the tools, as in any graduate couse, not hold your hand. It is up to you to be brilliant or mediocre. Network, network, network, and jump in with heart and soul into this and you WILL learn. But know that a lot of people may lack in the science department... not sure, Flaneur, what's your take?

luluj · Feb 1, 2012

One reason I applied to this program is in part because I have close friends who are successful graduates of the program, doing jobs that they love. While they have told me that the program is disorganized and at times extremely frustrating, this is a known fact about all nursing programs. They are notorious for being "disorganized" and I have heard this from many nurses. I have actually heard that SU have vastly improved, but I think that I have not met one nursing student who didn't have complaints about the program they are in or feel that some of the classes were wastes of time and money. However once you are working in a job you love, that all becomes a distant memory. Education and training is a challenge for those who must do the education and training,-it will never be a perfect system where everyone passes and everything and teacher is outstanding.

That being said, it is a program that will be extremely challenging and it is hard to hear that some students fail, but I feel like that is bound to happen. They do not want you working for a reason, because studying should be your LIFE. Nursing is a field that requires continuing education, far beyond graduation. If you cannot keep up with the pace of learning, and you are not a good independent learning, it is probably not the right field to be in.