worried about my schooling

[NP_student]

Hi. I'm an adult NP student on a slow part-time track in a highly ranked program. I am taking part-time courses each quarter, and will not graduate until 2013. Clinicals start in Jan 2012, and I work only very occasionally as a per diem clinic RN. I had graduate level physical assessment almost a year ago, and do not currently use these skills on the job. I worked as an RN total for five years prior to starting graduate school (ie. 3 yrs med-surg, 1 yr ICU, and research).

I am worried that I may not graduate feeling competent to start NP practice. My nursing courses feel very shallow and incomplete (ie. nothing comparable to medicine!), and due to taking courses part-time, I will be learning the material over a total of 6 years.

Since most of what an NP does is learned on the job, can I trust that the necessary skills will be learned through clinicals & then evolve through actual practice? Or should I alter my approach to schooling somehow? Any recommended independent reading or other advice? Thanks.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Is there anyway to speed up your school a little? 6 years is a long time IMHO to pursue a degree.

What about volunteering in a free clinic?

Would changing jobs back to a more clinical environment where you could use your assessment skills?

[Spacklehead, MSN, NP]

Are you sure you can graduate in 6 years and then apply to sit for the NP exam? I know my program required you to be done within 5 years, and some states want you to have completed your pharm class within 4 years or less if applying for prescriptive authority. I would definitely start looking into this further to make sure there will be no issues with licensing once you do graduate.

[labbio]

Agree with the above posts regarding issues of 6years of schooling and sitting for NP exam. As for feeling not well prepared, I've heard that clinical is where you'll learn the most.

[NP_student]

yikes, I had no idea that there was a 5 yr limit for the NP exam, particularly since the school itself OK's 6 yrs of study. I'll look into it, thanks!

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

Yes I took some time off in the middle of my program and the school was careful to tell me that to be eligible to sit the certifying exam/get prescriptive authority, I had to have completed advanced pharm within 5 yrs.