Your path to NP

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Hi all, Was thinking there might be a sticky in this forum where people tell there stories of becoming an NP, but I don't see it. Can someone point me to some links with these kind of threads? Or I would love to hear your story. I am very interested in

1 - if it was your first career, if not what was your first career and did you take a pay cut.

2 - What brought you into nursing and/or advanced practice nursing.

3 - Did you work as an RN before becoming an NP, if so how long?

4 - Did you go to school online, while you were working, or did you take more time off for school.

Thanks so much, really appreciate it. This is my dream to be an NP and I have been working in another career for 15 years. I live in NJ which seems to have no nursing jobs and I currently have a job.. all economical signs say NO, but my heart keeps saying yes to :nurse:

Thanks,

OneDay

Specializes in Emergency, Cardiac, PAT/SPU, Urgent Care.

1. I went to a BSN program right out of high school to become an RN. My hourly rate when I became an NP dropped because I worked the weekend/night/per-diem program as an RN, so you can't really compare, since those rates aren't typical of what a regular full-time RN who works days would make. I've been an NP for two years now and my hourly rate has increased by $8/hour over those two years since I landed my first job as an NP. I am making much more now than I ever did as an RN.

2. Honestly, I went into nursing because I wanted a degree which could land me a decent-paying job right out of college. Not the typical answer, I know.

3. I worked as an RN for 8 years before going back to school to become a FNP. I decided to become an NP because I was always highly encouraged by other individuals who told me I would fit the role well. I also very much enjoyed being the one to try and put the pieces of the puzzle together to come up with possible diagnoses for my patients while I worked in the ER (I would just do this in my head, not actually tell others what I thought unless I was asked).

4. My program was an on-campus program (no online courses at all). I actually worked the weekend program at my hospital when I started out, then dropped down to per-diem, then wound up not working at all in my last year of school. Having two little children and trying to complete all the assignments and clinical hours was enough - I needed a little time for myself/family in the end.

I do not regret my decision to become an NP one bit.

Specializes in FNP.

1 - if it was your first career, if not what was your first career and did you take a pay cut.

no, second, or third, career depending on one's point of view. i think of it as my third. i was an attorney first. left that after about 15 months, went to nursing school, did that for 20 years before returning to school.

2 - what brought you into nursing and/or advanced practice nursing.

don't know, just serendipity.

3 - did you work as an rn before becoming an np, if so how long?

yes, 25 years; 18 in critical care, 2 in flight, the rest in ed and education.

4 - did you go to school online, while you were working, or did you take more time off for school.

i went to a hybrid program. i worked the same schedule i always have (which is one shift a week) until the final semester, which is our fulltime residency. thereafter i didn't work at all.

1 - if it was your first career, if not what was your first career and did you take a pay cut.

this is my second career; in my previous life i was a pharmaceutical chemist and i actually started working as a nurse making 10 bucks more an hour...and not to sound bad but receiving my pharmaceutical chemistry degree was much harder than my nursing degree (msn).

2 - what brought you into nursing and/or advanced practice nursing.

i was on track for medical school but decided to go forward with receiving my np degree (i have 1 year left thank god:) if i would have know how much animosity existed among nurses i would have gone to medical school. i enjoy being a nurse much more than i would being a doctor, but i underestimated the lack of support that exists between nurses. i am not sure why being an np with little to no rn experience is such a horrible thing to some of the seasoned nurses but it truly is. i get comments all the time at my current job, dissuading me from continuing on with my education...i just smile and nod. nursing has come a long way in the past 15 years and continues to make evolutionary strides because of people that are obtaining advanced degrees and i think those that have come from a different generation of nursing are uncomfortable with the changes. i say do it, go back to school and be a part of the change!!

3 - did you work as an rn before becoming an np, if so how long?

i am still working as an rn in labor and delivery; i will have had 2 years experience when i graduate from fnp school

4 - did you go to school online, while you were working, or did you take more time off for school.

i am going to school online with 2 seminar weekends each semester; i went to working per diem during my fnp portion of school

1 - if it was your first career, if not what was your first career and did you take a pay cut.

not my first career. i've done a little bit of everything: homemaking, homeschooling, medical assisting, practice management, waitressing, etc.

i've been a certified medical assistant for ~ 18 years and that was a great career to come in and out of, depending on times when i was needed at home full-time. the pay is not great, however. i will (hopefully) triple my income in the next few years.

2 - what brought you into nursing and/or advanced practice nursing.

when i was a child, i wanted to be a nurse or teacher (so traditional!). got off track educationally and ended up as a medical assistant in my 20s. when working as a cma i realized that lots of nurses are (to put it nicely) not supportive of each other and i decided i really did not want to be a nurse. i avoided that career path strenuously. when i was ready to go back to school, i looked only into pa programs for that very reason. i used to always say, "i love nurses...my mother's a nurse, nurses helped me through childbirth, a np probably saved my life when i was in high school. but i don't want to be one!"

in applying to pa programs i realized i would have to move away from home for a long period of time. a colleague mentioned the np bridge program she attended and suggested i check it out. i did and found i would only have to live apart from my husband for one year. that did it for me! applied, accepted, succeeded.

frankly, i still don't want to be a "nurse" in the commonly-held thought of that word: i don't want to work bedside in the hospital. i don't want to work 12-hour shifts. i don't want to be in that atmosphere where highly-educated professionals spend a great deal of time and energy tearing each other down. (i saw it in every clinical rotation i had through the rn program, as well in past work situations.)

3 - did you work as an rn before becoming an np, if so how long?

no, i did not. i did work for many years in the outpatient setting, which is where i desire to work as an np as well. i've always known i wanted to do primary care. i feel my experience as a cma is very applicable to my future work.

4 - did you go to school online, while you were working, or did you take more time off for school.

my rn program was all on-site and i had clinical rotations as some really great teaching hospitals in a metropolitan area. during the np part of my program i was able to live at home and do a combo of online lectures, live (block format/intensive) lectures & clinical preparation, and i arranged my own clinical rotations in my home town. i worked only part-time, one semester, teaching at a local community college.

Thank you so much everyone. Really really appreciate the time you all took to write down your experience. I hate to hear of nurses (or anyone) fighting.. I hope i don't experience this, I tend to look away from this stuff and fine the supportive crowd no matter where I am, so if this is possible this is what I will do.. I am really good at bringing people together so hopefully I can use some of these skills in this setting. I am going into this field because I love working with women and caring for women (also men and babies, but my favorite group is women!)

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