Hello ? I am going to begin a nurse practitioner program in October. I am VERY EXCITED and ready to take it to the next level.
The issue I have right now is that I am in a Mon-Fri role in Case Management in an Acute Care hospital. I really like my job a LOT! But I am really thinking I may need to go back to bedside - to the ER specifically, as I finish my NP.
To be honest, I think I will eventually need to drop down to 2 days/week (part-time) as I finish my Nurse practitioner program.
What are your thoughts on this? Do I need to start looking at going back to the ER? Will I eventually need to drop down to part-time as I finish my NP?
I am going into my final semester of NP school at Duke and I have worked throughout the entire program. It definitely gets more difficult once you start clinicals since you have both classroom/didactic work in addition to clinical hours. I will work 3 12's in a Cath Lab and 2 days in clinicals. Yes, it sucks sometimes but we do what we must to achieve what's important to us!
Good luck, you can do it!
How are you liking Dukes program? Which NP program are you in? I am wanting to apply to their women's NP program in hopes to start in the fall of 2018. I work nights and hope I can remain full time.
I didn't work at all during my NP program, but I was taking a full course load (12-14 credits per semester). I was lucky not to have to work. I could have swung it the first semester, but by the last semester of the program, I was pressed to get all of my clinical hours in on time and it would have been even harder to schedule them around an inflexible work schedule.
Specializes in ER, Med/Surg, LTC, Nursing Informatics.
I just opened my account at allnurses.com for the first time in six months, eight months? It's been a long time I know that for sure. It seems you have a lot of good advice in response to your question. You are lucky not to have any major obligations at home to tend to while entering a graduate program in nursing.
One person mentioned that it wasn't too bad until clinicals hit, and he described it very well. The best way I can explain it to someone who hasn't been in it yet is to say you start off at a good even pace. It is almost like going to school part-time (or maybe a little bit more) at first. However, once you get into clinicals you are going to school full time, and then some! I am in my second rotation and clinicals right now (with one more to go in the ICU) and I can tell you work is no longer a priority for me. Every day I spend an clinicals I learned an extensive amount of information that I can't get anywhere else. Therefore, I would rather call in sick to work once a month, because I'm exhausted, then to miss even a minute of clinicals (prior to school, I never called in sick).
Probably the best advice I can give you is to always find time for yourself. Even if it's just a few minutes a day. Also, do the best you can to get ahead in classes, so when issues come up or you're extremely exhausted or sick, you can have a break for yourself. There are a number of frustrations that come up in your path during nurse practitioner school and it doesn't matter which school you attend. Right now, my biggest frustration is the fact that I didn't get the really good books until midway through my clinicals. Grrr! Life would have been so much more easier for me with the books I have now. When I say really a really good book I am talking about one that provides updated information, is easy to read, and provides the detail that you need to treat a patient effectively. The book that I like the best is called Symptom to Diagnosis: an Evidence-Based Guide (Stern, Cifu & Altkorn, 2015). Another excellent book is Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment (Papadakis, McPhee & Rabow, 2015). I would have given my left pinky to have received these books at the beginning of nurse practitioner school! Finally, if you're going to an online university I would highly recommend YouTube videos to supplement your education. Look up MedCram and Strong Medicine on YouTube and you will learn a lot!
During most of my didactic portion of my program, I worked full-time. It was difficult. Once I got to clinical, I dropped down to part-time but it was still difficult for me...so now I dropped to PRN. I have 360 clinical hours that I need to complete this fall which is essentially like a full-time job, minus the pay. A majority of my classmates all work PRN and some are quitting their jobs for this upcoming semester because PRN isn't an option, I guess. If it is financially feasible for you, I highly suggest going part-time or PRN.
I dropped down to PRN right before the start of my program (and am very glad/fortunate I was able to do so). While I have just started my program, I already feel overwhelmed at having to work 20 hours in the second week of school (1st year all didactic, second year clinical + didactic). I am hoping as I become more adjusted to the program requirements and figure out how to skim 190 pages for a 10 question patho quiz (haha) on top of multiple APA writing discussions in a week, that I will free up more time. But there is no way I could handle a full or barely a part time job right now. And My only time commitment is making time for my significant other, no children. I guess it depends on program structure (some programs seem to provide much more supplemental study materials and less writing requirements) and how much you can juggle on your plate at one time
Capriinverno
46 Posts
How are you liking Dukes program? Which NP program are you in? I am wanting to apply to their women's NP program in hopes to start in the fall of 2018. I work nights and hope I can remain full time.