Skip to main content

I'm still here...

I know I haven't posted in 500 years, but I promise I'm still here....and I'm still in NP school. Thankfully I just finished my HARDEST, most stressful semester of all of my nursing school career. This past semester I took Advanced Patho & Advanced Assessment together. Can we say, BIG mistake?? Why didn't anyone tell me how time consuming and hard these classes were? I mean yes, I realize that we're talking Patho & Assessment here, but still, a little warning would have been nice. The funny thing is, I thought I was making the best choice. I mean it was between taking Patho & Pharm together or Patho & Assessment, so naturally I thought I was making the right choice, I mean wouldn't you think so? Well, guess who was wrong, big time?? Me!!
Unfortunately, Pharm was WAY easier than I thought it would be and although assessment wasn't hard persay, it was EXTREMELY time consuming. Between the discussion boards (DBs), the write ups, the quizzes, the videos, the tests and the midterm and final, I really thought I was going to pull every one of my hairs out. Not to mention the DBs for patho, plus the quizzes & 19 page research paper. When I say stressed I'm talking me sitting with my sister in Arby's at the beginning of the semester in tears talking about how it was too hard and that I think I should drop one of the classes...Fast forward to last week when our final grades came out. As in assessment and a B in patho!!!!!!!!! Heck yeah!!!!!! One of the As was a 92.6, just BARELY made the A cutoff and my B was a 85.19, again, a B by the skin of my teeth, but WHO CARES!!!!!!! I can't even explain how happy I am to be done with that dreaded, awful, gut wrenching, blood pressure raising semester. Oh & lest you think I'm exaggerating, when I got done with my patho final (of which I was pretty sure I was going to have a nervous breakdown in the middle of) my blood pressure was 207/117!! Talk about stress. Alas, no sense in dwelling on what is done, I made it out alive and I'm moving on to my FOURTH semester.  The best thing about my fourth semester? Clinical time!!!!!!!!!! This semester (which is a summer semester) I'm only taking Women's Health. That's it. No other classes. Although I have one other pre-req type class (Policy) I didn't want to overburden myself for summer since it's a short semester. So only WH this summer. Then in the fall I am taking Peds & Policy. Then Spring will be adult and then summer is practicum and then I'M DONE!! It's so hard to believe that in a year and a half I'll actually be able to see patients!! Well, once I pass my boards...which is another stressor, but I'm not even going to THINK about that until AFTER I graduate. I mean I have enough stress on my plate without thinking about all that right?
So, one of my friends who graduates this summer (lucky dog) was talking about her job offer. She has been offered a job by her preceptor. It's a private practice setting with several NPs & maybe one PA. Anyway, the offer is this: Pay per patient assuming she will see 25 pts a day which should come out anywhere between 95-100K...and that's it!! No benefits, no malpractice insurance, no CME coverage, no paid vacation. Accascuse me?? I know I said I would take the first job I was offered, and I probably will, but I am at LEAST going to negotiate for SOME benefits. I mean even if they're not going to offer medical insurance, then a the very minimum I want those three things. I mean I've never heard of someone not even paying malpractice, PTO and CME's....I guess we'll see. Just gives me one more reason to open my own practice....I guess we'll see when the time comes.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I feel so inadequate...

So today I was reading Sophia's blog over at All Things NP , she's a NP student at Penn State.  As I was reading about her interview process with Penn State & her rotations & her Sim Man day I started thinking, I am nowhere NEAR as smart as she is.  I still struggle with what lab values are correct, much less IF they're off then why??!!  I know that I don't put in as much time studying as some of my other classmates do and all of this makes me really doubt myself.  When will this stuff start to really click? When will I start to KNOW this stuff?  I wish I could spend more time studying than I do & in all honesty I probably could, but I also have a very busy life.  I know that's not an excuse as everyone has their own "stuff", but I was seriously thinking as I was reading over her blog that I really need to buckle down & start reading a bit more.  I definitely need to start studying more.  I mean, I'm doing fine in my classes but PERSON

Got the job!!

So the director of the Med/Surg floor said I would hear something by today and well, I waited as long as I could before calling her seeing as I hadn't heard from her.  I said I would wait until 4:00 but by 3:30 I was chomping at the bit so I called her.  She said "I was just filling out your paperwork to offer you the job"!!! Yay me!!      Now I know it's just a PCT/CNA job, but hey it gets my foot in the door right?  I've talked to several of my friends who are in the semesters ahead of me & they've all said the same thing.  "Get a job NOW".   I have one friend who said she can't even get a PCT job b/c no one will hire her b/c she's too close to graduating.  I never thought of that. Why wouldn't they want to hire you knowing that soon you'd be able to be a nurse there??  I don't know, but I am glad to have the job.    The director said she thinks the pay is $10 an hour, which is pretty decent.  I was worried they

I'm still alive!! Tomorrow is the NCLEX!

So as you can see I have GRADUATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!  I am SO happy that nursing school is over, but can we say holy terrified?  Tomorrow is the NCLEX & I feel thoroughly unprepared.  Fortunately our school provided us with the HURST Review  and even though I have been studying this for about 2 weeks now I still feel completely terrified to actually take the test.  Of my former classmates I know of one so far who has failed....so scary... The rest of them are chugging along & passing on a daily basis, hopefully I will be one of them! But to rewind, here are a few pics from graduation & my graduation party that my precious husband & sister threw for me: That's my baby girl to my right, she looks taller than me!   I seriously couldn't have been cheesing any harder!! My nursing bestie & his bf hiding in the back! My study buddy!   My inlaws, aren't they precious!! Definitely one of the best days of my life!