The Reality of the New York University (NYU) Acute Care NP program

Published May 4, 2016

20 Posts

Graduating from NYU's Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program in 2 weeks. Finally! I just finished my exit survey and I thought I'd quickly post my survey reflection here because, hey, at $100,000 of tuition I think it's only fair that students have access to real information about the program before enrolling.

First off, a list of flaws with the program:

-In a meeting with the one and only Acute Care professor/my advisor, in 2011 (before I paid my first tuition bill) I was assured I would have 4 distinct rotations: cardiology, ICU, surgery, and medicine. I was assured the same every year thereafter. Yet, I had only 3 rotations: 2 surgery rotations, 1 cardiology, 0 ICU, and 0 medicine. I find this false reassurance year after year deceitful, perhaps even meeting the definition of fraud from a legal standpoint.

-No respect of personal time versus professional time. This is a 6 credit hour class, yet students' personal time is exploited using online discussion boards that require attendance in an online classroomâ€ everyday regardless of travel, holidays, family time. If NYU wants attendance outside of class time, this needs to be fully described and communicated in advance; this includes exact due dates and exact number of posts.

-Use of the discussion board deviates considerably from use at other similar institutions.

-XX required students in their last semester (Spring 2016)of the program to hand-write their notes and then show them to her in class. Haven't done this since I was grade-school age.

-XX used extensive class time throughout Summer and Fall 2015 to discuss her feelings on education and educational methods, instead of advanced practice nursing. I enrolled in this program to discuss patients, nothing else.

-XX repeatedly arrived 5 â€“ 10 minutes late for class. No acknowledgement of this.

-XX repeatedly ran over class time 15-30 minutes. No acknowledgement of this whatsoever.

-XX never responded to many, many emails from a great many students. In comparison, most workplaces have a 24 hour rule for acknowledging emails.

-Sloppy execution of simulations/labs. Either too overcrowded (ultrasound and central line lab). Or felt like herding cats- simulation coordinators failed to stick to 15-30 minute allotted timeframes for skills labs.

-Spamâ€ level frequency of email and texts from the simulation coordinator. Demonstrates lack of proper advanced planning. There is no reason instructions can't all be communicated in 1 concise email occurring on 1 single occasion.

-XX promised my preceptor doctoral credits for precepting me. Despite multiple email requests from my preceptor,XX failed numerous times to ever award her credit due. Even alumni are treated poorly!

- I asked XX for my semesterly advisement appointment in Fall 2015, never responded. In fact, I have not had an advisement appointment in over a year.

-XX announced they would review the graded midterm exam in Fall 2015. Never did. Additionally, did not acknowledge why they never followed up on this task.

Final thoughts:

In summary, the NYU Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program displayed a degree of unprofessionalism that is unrivaled by any other institution or workplace I have ever encountered. Ever since Common Health Problems, the program has been plagued with unprofessionalism, tardiness, communication failures, and execution failures. It is my feeling that NYU Acute Care sets a tremendously poor precedent for students. Unlike other advanced degree programs in healthcare (ex, MD, MPH, or PharmD) the program does not foster any sort of professionalism. In fact, it breeds a type of student that is juvenile and many find difficult to work with. Many of XX's petâ€ students who have graduated in the past are notoriously noisy, high-anxiety, and have poor interpersonal skills, thus rendering them unable to earn respect of numerous colleagues- esp physicians. The student next to me recently commented, I want to tear my eyes out,â€ because students in the class were so frantic, hyper, and chatty.

I would not be able to recommend this program to any prospective student. Additionally, if any employer is trying to get ahead in the healthcare sector, I would certainly advise them to think twice before hiring any graduates of this program.

Power-postingâ€, hand-written notes, and discussing our feelings every class just goes to show that the role of nurse practitioner will continue to be seen as a cuteâ€ job held by chatty females. I am not proud of NYU Nursing and thus I will not be attending graduation, along with several of my classmates who have decided to opt-out for the same reason.