UTEP PNP CLINICALS

Riburn3, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Dec 3, 2014

I am graduating from the UTEP FNP program next week and have several friends that have just finished the PNP program.

The formula during your first couple of clinical semesters is to have classwork that follows your clinical experiences, and you typically do case studies that compliment your learning. It is by no means excessively taxing. I had Dr. Snell for my peds portion of my FNP (I believe she's still the program head for PNP), and she was very friendly, gives excellent feedback, and her online sessions where she goes over the coursework are incredibly useful. My peds clinical rotation was the first experience I had with pediatrics since undergrad peds almost a decade ago, and at no time did I feel overburdened with the adjacent classwork.

Your final semester will be only clinicals with case logs. No classwork whatsoever other than preparing for your oral board examination. Feel free to PM if you have any other questions. I know I'm not a PNP but there's significant overlap in our programs.

ambrw33 · Dec 3, 2014

Riburn3,

Thank you so much this helps me out a lot. I actually have Dr. snell right now as an instructor so that's perfect she's great to work with. If more questions come to mind I'll definitely contact you.

Thanks,

Amber

TexasNP14 · Dec 4, 2014

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.

ambrw33 · Dec 4, 2014

austinbaby,

Yes that would be great. [email protected]. I'm in the duel class so I have the option to do both. but what ever you have would be great to look at.

TexasNP14 · Dec 4, 2014

Just emailed it to you:)

Laurie

SATXnurse12 · Dec 19, 2014

I'm currently in the UTEP FNP program, just finished up the first year, and starting clinicals in January. I'd be interested in any advice or info you have for clinicals. I also work full time in the ED, 3 days a week 12 hour shifts. Do you think this is doable for the rest of the program? Thanks!

SATXnurse12 · Dec 19, 2014

That message is for Riburn3 :)

Riburn3, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Dec 19, 2014

Hi SATXnurse12,

It is absolutely manageable to work full-time while getting your degree. I did it without too much of a hiccup, and graduated with a 4.0.

During the spring you only need 135 hours of adult health. If you do just 2 days a week of clinical throughout the semester, you will easily hit the 135 and get 50-75 banked hours. I would bank as many hours as possible. You'll be thanking yourself during your final semester when you need to get 450 hours if you bank a lot. It makes it so you can keep working then as well.

During the summer, you split between peds and womens health. You need 70 of each. Once you get done with the base hours, bank as many peds hours as humanly possible. To graduate, 30% of your total cases need to be in pediatrics so it's worth it to get extra here.

At graduate you need a total of 735 hours of clinical (well above the 500 hour minimum to sit for boards). When my final semester started I had banked over 150 hours, so only needed about 290 hours to finish. I was done with the semester the last week of October, and was able to use the remaining month and a half of the semester to attend a live board review and study for boards. This helped me take my boards just 2 days after graduating.

If you need to, I also wouldn't be afraid to use some PTO during your final semester to help finish the hours so you aren't too overwhelmed. I feel like working full-time made it that much sweeter when I graduated, knowing I was one of only a handful of students to be able to do this. It certainly is a lot harder, but financially it was nice not digging myself into serious debt.

Let me know if you have any other questions about clinical or classes in the upcoming year. Now that you're done with the pre-clinical classes, the rest is easier on you. Good luck, the last year goes by fast.

SATXnurse12 · Dec 19, 2014

Thank you so much! I'll definitely take your advice and try to work and do as many clinical hours as possible early on so I can focus the last semester or studying for certification exam :) and congratulations on your graduation and passing the exam!

MikeFNPC, MSN · Dec 20, 2014

I just finished at UTEP a couple of weeks ago and passed the exam a few days later. I also live in SA so if you need any advice feel free to contact me. If you haven’t already done it get the Barkley or Fitzgerald CD’s, they were very helpful and easy to listen too while driving around.

Definitely do at least 2 clinical days a week as soon as you can, it will be a huge benefit during the last semester. Make sure you fill out the “bank request” form that your instructors give to you also. See as many pedi patients as you can due to the 30% requirement at the end. Clinicals have two requirements; first, get 720 total hours, and second, 30% of the total patients have to be pedi.

I really enjoyed UTEP, good luck to you.

Mike

TCUFrogRN · Oct 26, 2015

I just finished at UTEP a couple of weeks ago and passed the exam a few days later. I also live in SA so if you need any advice feel free to contact me. If you haven't already done it get the Barkley or Fitzgerald CD's, they were very helpful and easy to listen too while driving around.
Definitely do at least 2 clinical days a week as soon as you can, it will be a huge benefit during the last semester. Make sure you fill out the bank requestâ€ form that your instructors give to you also. See as many pedi patients as you can due to the 30% requirement at the end. Clinicals have two requirements; first, get 720 total hours, and second, 30% of the total patients have to be pedi.
I really enjoyed UTEP, good luck to you.
Mike

Hello Mike,

I am considering applying to UTEP and I wanted to know about your experience. What are some pros and cons to the program.