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This post is finally here! I have gotten a ton of nursing and nurse practitioner related questions over the last few months, so I’m super excited to finally have them all in one place for you all! Grab a cup or tea or coffee because I wrote most of this in talk-text and had so much to say haha! These are in no particular order and basically spilled every little detail I can think of beyond the question asked, so enjoy and let me know if you have anymore questions 🙂
Did you start as an ER nurse post-grad? Or did you start somewhere else first?
The ER has been the only nursing “field” I have ever worked. The last semester of school, I was so confused about where I wanted to end up working. When I first started, I wanted pediatrics, then did that rotation and changed my mind. Next, I wanted ICU and same thing after going to that rotation. By the last semester, I was kind of torn at what to do because I never found my niche and was weeks away from graduation. Then I had my ER clinicals, and oh my goodness did I fit right in! I absolutely loved it! I started working in the ER through a new grad program almost 10 months out of school. I know that’s not ideal, and a lot of new-grad programs have timelines of when you have to start out of school, but it worked out this way for me. I got married four months after graduation, we traveled, and then started fervently looking for a job. Mind you, this was already into the holiday season and I laugh at myself for stressing out now because nobody hires around the holidays, or at least I’ve noticed it’s not a priority. Budgets are cutting close, holidays are staffed in advanced, etc. Looking back, I wish I didn’t stress out so much about finding a job. I ended up getting a job through a mutual friend at an ER where my application had been rejected months ago. That said, the right door will open in its right time, you have a degree and WILL be hired somewhere even if you have to climb a ladder to eventually get to where you want to be, “no” doesn’t always mean “no” and make connections everywhere you go!
What did you do before you were a nurse?
I graduated nursing school right after I turned 20, so I was in high school/college before that. During some of nursing school, I worked with a home health agency who placed me with the sweetest little boy ever! I didn’t work many hours a week and it was mostly after school hours so it worked perfectly. I didn’t need to work per say because I was living at home, however, aside from babysitting occasionally I didn’t have a concrete job and felt like a “big girl job” would benefit me in the future when I apply to other jobs that required more healthcare-related work experience.
What do you want to specialize in as an NP?
I work as an ER nurse now so I would like to stay in the ER for at least a good few years to get a well-rounded patient experience. Plus I love the ER. It will definitely be a whole different role and won’t be able to get involved in traumas or critical situations like I get to now, but it will still be similar patients and fast-paced. I would also feel more comfortable starting in the ER or hospital setting as opposed to an office because there are so many resources and help if you need it. I’m also not quite through with the adrenaline/fast-paced of it all to start in an office setting or work pretty much every day of the week and only have weekends off. Shift-work sucks when you have to work weekends or holidays, but it is very nice having full days off especially when you work day shift so you’re not sleeping on your days off and actually get to enjoy them. However, I am surprised how much I love the office setting though, at least for what I have experienced thus far with clinicals so I wouldn’t be completely opposed if that door opened up as a first job. Lots of things to consider and obviously open to anything. It is a very saturated field in my area so I’m just praying God opens the right doors for me and I end up where I need to be (aka the ER lol!).
How long did you work as a nurse before you decided to go back to school?
I graduated high school a semester early because I already knew what I wanted to do and had enough credits. I walked and had a party for graduation, of course, but I took that semester and that following summer to get all my prerequisites out of the way and start Nursing school that August of 2011. I graduated nursing school with an Associate’s Degree May 2013, got married September 2013, started working as a nurse March 2014, started prerequisites for my Bachelor’s around January 2014 I believe, got my Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing August 2015 in one year all online. I applied to nurse practitioner sometime in 2016 and started the program in January 2017.
There was obviously a lot of breaks in between, but I am glad I went this route because I never felt like I put my life on hold due to school if that makes sense. A lot of that had to do with it being online. Since I got married after getting my first degree (which I highly recommend getting school out of the way before you decide to settle down and get married- at least the first of it, of course!) it was nice being able to work and go to school online at the same time for financial stability and also because I could work on school work at home while my husband was at work and then we would have the nights off together. BTW the prerequisites and Bachelor’s in Nursing online are a complete catwalk compared to nursing school & NP school! It is a lot of writing papers, though, but a lot of them were based on clinical situations, so it helped to have nursing experience. Nurse practitioner school is a completely different story and be prepared to give up all your hopes and dreams and plans until it’s over lol! JK, kind of! I’ll get more into NP life balance in other answers 🙂
I’m currently in a BSN program and I know you’re doing NP school at the moment! What school are you going to for that and how long were you an RN before you applied? I’m so interested in the process coming from a real person haha!
As far as the timeline, I mentioned that in the question above. I do want to say that when I started working as a nurse I never had an intention of going back to school. I loved my role as an ER nurse and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. After getting a little burned out and realizing that I couldn’t do this forever I decided to go back to school. And, I know it is not the case for everybody but I highly, highly recommend to have at least one year of nursing experience before starting the route to become a nurse practitioner. I can’t imagine being in NP school my first year working as a nurse because nursing is hard! Especially when you first start! I was already working a stressful job as a new nurse and would not have been able to handle all of that on top of going to school to be a nurse practitioner when I didn’t even have the nursing part of it down. A lot of being a nurse practitioner is built on nursing skills and experience. With that being said, it is a process! If you know you want to eventually be a nurse practitioner go for it! Start working as a nurse and by the time you finish your pre-requisites, getting your Bachelor’s degree in nursing if you don’t already have it, application process, and even start school, you will already have experience working as a nurse. A lot of schools require at least 1-2 years of nursing experience to even apply though. Also, all programs are different, but the first few classes in a lot of the programs I’ve heard about don’t have clinical hours, so you can definitely keep working and going to school in the beginning even if its just part time or PRN. I went part-time as soon as school started.
How do you find time to work on your blog, shop, work and go to school?? I’m so impressed! I’ve definitely been having trouble lately with doing everything I want to do and would love some advice!
I’m so flattered that you’re impressed, but don’t be haha! Instagram has a funny way of making it look like you have it together, but I sure don’t. I try to do everything I have to do, and don’t do a lot of the things I want to do. Over the past year and a few months of being in nurse practitioner school, I still struggle almost daily, I’m always on the run, my house is in no presentation for guests, we eat out a lot, as of right now I have 16,000 emails I haven’t checked for my blog, I can barely get one blog post up a week, I still haven’t put up my winter clothes from my suitcase from our Colorado trip back in February, and when I’m “watching tv” I’m either working on an assignment or I use that time to update blog tasks, I often go to bed with tears in my eyes thinking about how much I have left to do but can’t do it because I have to wake up in 4 hours and need to sleep, and the list goes on and on. Call me lazy or a slob or a bad wife and I feel like that 99% of the time, but I’m in survival mode! Haha! Seriously though! My husband has literally been my rock throughout this whole thing and has endured way more than I wish he had to, but that’s the beauty of a partnership and without his support, I wouldn’t have even the 1% of my life together. And when it comes to house duties, there is definitely an equal responsibility and it has been that way since we got married. Obviously, over the years our roles fluctuate and more of the “chores” has been in his field since I started clinicals, but we never had one of us responsible for going to work, going grocery shopping, vacuuming, dusting, doing the laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, doing the bills, cooking, and on top of that going to school full-time while the other gets to go to work, come home, and relax. It has never been like that and surely not now since I’ve been in school. If one of us is going to school to better our future, then we both have to pick up the extra load and I thank God for a husband that honors that and constantly tells me it’s ok when I beat myself up for not having everything together all the time- if there was ever such a time. We both know this craziness is temporary and I often joke that I will not know how to live a normal life when school is over because just work and clinicals right now make 60 hour weeks and that’s not including schoolwork, studying, and blogging stuff.
Were you in nursing school when you were married? If so, was it really hard on your marriage or did it strengthen you guys?
No, but we were dating for majority of it and then some wedding planning the last semester of it. I’ll be honest, it was a little distracting dating during school, but he supported it and did everything to make sure he wasn’t getting in the way of my grades. We lived an hour apart and met about once a week for date nights. Sometimes date nights were more of him bringing me a Starbucks, setting a 30-minute timer and then going downstairs to hang out with my brother and family while I continued to study (talk about annoying! haha!). As far as relationships and school go, you just adjust it around school. School is temporary, your relationship if it’s meant to be, is forever. For me, school came before anything and my (now) husband knew that which pushed me to finish.
NP school is different. We are and have stayed married throughout NP school. And by “stayed” I’m serious. It. Is. Hard. I joke that NP school is basically trying to hold your life together in pieces while you attempt to finish your degree. That’s an awful joke, but it sucks the life out of you especially if you’re working too. I can’t even begin to imagine having kids on top of that. I applaud those of you that do and you deserve every single gold star! I don’t want to scare you guys lol but I hope my experiences help you all that are/will be in the same boat. I started clinicals in January of this year, and before that, I can’t say it was this hard. It was mostly just studying and completing assignments and since it is all online you kind of work around your schedule. Once January hit and I started clinicals add all of that to two to four eight-hour clinical days a week. That’s when it became pretty difficult. A lot of our time is spent either on FaceTime in route to wherever we were going, mornings before we both run out the door, and a lot of catching up or big decisions made over the phone. Honestly, you adjust over time and try to make the most of the time you do have together. The biggest struggle was communication at first, for example after starting clinicals, I tried so hard to continue doing what I was doing aside from school: grocery shopping, laundry, blogging, hanging out after my husband got home, etc. in turn catching up on school work way into midnight. I only slept a few hours a night and was in the worst mood ever especially when I had to go to work because I felt like I had a million other things I needed to be doing. I was seriously stressed out and hated everything 24/7 and that was NOT me. I finally blew up and my husband was kind of blind-sighted. I mean, he knew I was stressed out and busy but didn’t realize I was just about losing it lol. We ended up having a come-to-Jesus moment and I realized that he didn’t force me to go to school, or work, or blog, or go grocery shopping, or clean, or do absolutely anything. He’s not my punching bag, he can’t read my mind, if something needs to be done and I can’t get to it, he’s more than happy to do it, I just need to communicate.
Self-care was another thing that keeps me from being a crazy wife lol. I started making sure I got enough sleep-most days of the week anyways, I’m working out 2-3 days a week-complete therapy I’m telling you, and I try to stay on top of my schoolwork so that when my husband does come home, I’m able to spend more quality time with him rather than just starting on school work because I was taking it easy when I got home. I also started to accept where I’m at and remind myself that it’s only temporary if that makes sense. Of course, I still have mini-breakdowns and stress reaches my limits, but instead of bottling it up, turning to my husband for support for a hug or an “it’s ok” instead of pulling against/away from him makes everything 100% better. After all, we are a team.
I am currently trying to figure out what specialty to apply for NP school! I currently work as an RN in critical care. I am torn between FNP and ACNP. Which program are you in and what made your decision?
The program you end up choosing depends on what you want to do when you’re done with NP school and your state’s requirements. Where I live you can work in the ER as an FNP which they prefer because you can see every age group whereas an ACNP only sees adults, but I know some states are different. I chose FNP because it is the most generic and flexible when it comes to working in different areas. You can see every age group and you can specialize later if you need to.
Are you in NP school full time and working full time? I am starting in the fall for the acute care NP school full time and I am wondering if I should switch to part-time work or even PRN work?!?
I am in school full-time and work part-time. I mentioned this earlier but I definitely recommend switpart-timepart time after starting school. You could probably get by working full-time during the school portion, but I can’t imagine doing that and clinicals espeically if you work 12 hour shifts or mid/night shifts. I would love to eventually go PRN and probably will as it gets closer to the finish line so I can focus on studying hardcore and focusing on boards. School is so fast-paced some days I feel like I know things and others, I feel dumb as a rock lol. As soon as I feel that work is getting in the way of me learning, that’s when I think it would be best for me to leave.
What is the hardest thing about nurse practitioner school/is it as hard as you thought it would be? Starting NP school in the fall!
Best of luck! My program is 19 months, so it’s extremely fast-paced. Each class is 10 weeks and when one class ends, the next day is the next class so there are zero breaks. Excuse me, we had a week off for Christmas lol. One week off in 19 months. The hardest part for me though was after starting clinicals. Before that was just tests and studying, so it was more self-paced based on your learning speed and how you spread out studying. I honestly didn’t feel like it was that hard, it’s just more time consuming-it’s your own time if that makes sense. You know what’s due so you can stay on top of your school work or work ahead if you wanted to based on their rules. Also, since it was online, you could still go places. For example, I went to New York Fashion Week and Colorado in the fall and did a lot of schoolwork and papers there, but I was still able to enjoy some free time and travel. Once clinicals started, balancing work, clinicals and life definitely became the biggest struggle. Your clinical schedule is set based on the provider’s schedule and with a 10-week class, there aren’t many days off if you’re trying to get all your hours in and work two days a week. Things do start to click in clinicals which is nice so it’s not hard per say; it’s the balancing and time management that is so difficult and becomes stressful. That and having very little free time to relax.
Hi! I’m currently a nursing student (almost complete with my junior year) and I am thinking about applying to NP school in the fall and jumping straight in after I graduate with my BSN next spring. Since you are currently an NP student, what are your thoughts on that? I have a previous bachelors degree, so I’m slightly older than your average undergrad student, and know that I want to be an NP eventually and don’t want to wait! I’ve loved following along and thanks in advance for your advise.
Yay for almost being done and thanks so much for following along! Like I mentioned above, a lot of schools require at least one year of nursing experience to even apply to NP school. This is such a grey area though so I can’t give a firm yes or no. Having nursing experience has definitely helped me in school, but I can definitely see why you would want to rush it. I’m the same way and just want to get it out-of-the-way that’s why I took a program with an accelerated route. Practicing as a nurse was a huge learning curve especially in the first year. I often felt like I got a degree in anything but nursing because there was still so much to learn. I did eventually get comfortable as a nurse and I feel like that’s what sets nurse practitioners apart from other providers in the field is because they have a background in bedside care which helps their instincts and helps them be more personable to their patients. There is something about being a nurse that doesn’t compare to any other kind of provider that I feel like you only get with experience. Now, when you look at a physician assistant side they go straight through school and only have clinical experience most of the time when they start working as a provider so it totally can be done. Since it sounds like you are in a time crunch and you already know that you want to be an NP I would probably start working as a nurse and continue going to school. You can always go part time or PRN if it gets too difficult to juggle. Sorry, I feel that answer is wishy-washy, but basically if you really want to and if you can do it, try to get at least some nursing experience without putting NP school on hold. I’d totally love to hear any experienced NP or NP student’s opinions on this in the comments below if you have anything to add 🙂
How do you find time to work, update your Instagram/blog, and study?
I touched base on balancing work more in detail above, but blog posts are obviously at a minimum right now. I’m actually quite amazed at how I used to have enough time to get 4-5 blog posts up a week. I don’t even remember what that feels like lol. Lately, I’ve been shooting my clinical outfits in real-time so that’s helped create Instagram posts and I’ll usually use a few hours a month to take pictures of a couple of outfits to have for the coming weeks. Since I don’t have time to create blog posts for them, I’ll usually post “same outfit, different pose” on Instagram to create content, yet not be the same exact picture over and over again if that makes sense.
As far as studying goes, the first year of school was a lot of studying/learning and now it’s more in-depth with clincials, but seeing real-life applications and explanations makes it easier to remember things. Also, aside from clinical homework, I note things that I need to review whether it’s a diagnosis or medication. On commutes to work or school I listen to lectures. Right now I’m listening to a review course by Hollier and although I have to listen to it several times, it still helps clarify a lot of things and I don’t feel like I’m wasting any time during my 1-2 hour commutes. Also, one of the main reasons I haven’t left work is because I feel like it’s almost like study time. I would love to stay in the ER, so now that I am learning more about the provider aspect of what I am doing I am able to put two and two together. The more I learn, the more things start to click when I am in the clinical setting whether it is at work or at clinicals.
Did others in your program decide later in life to become an np or was that always the goal?
My program is online and probably my least favorite thing about it is that I don’t have a community or a group of friends that I could get to know or go to for everything when I needed help. People in nursing school became my family those two year and I definitly miss that. That being said I don’t know everybody’s story, but reading introductions at the beginning of classes or stalking their profiles, it seems like most of them are older and have a good amoutn of nursing experience. My school requires at least one year of nursing experience to apply so I imagine those that only have just a few years under their belt had a goal to become an NP early. Others are older or have kids that are in high schoolol/college and talked about how this is their time to continue their education.
Burn out of the nursing profession in your experience?
Burn out is so real! I remember when I first started nursing we would go on vacation or I would be on a few days off stretch and couldn’t wait to go back to work. When I mentioned it to coworkers who have been there for a while they would think I’m crazy, but I truly enjoyed my job. I worked hard to get there and I always wanted to work in the ER, so it was a total dream come true. This lasted for a few years until I made the huge mistake of signing a contract that put me at five 12 hour shifts for 12 weeks. That’s 60 hours a week for 12 weeks. In the emergency department. Talk about crazy. I laugh at it now because my friend totally sucked me into it and we put the numbers on paper and were like oh my gosh we’re going to make so much money, it’s not going to be that bad because we’re doing it together, and so on. I really enjoyed my job, but I thank doubling your hours and anything can definitely take a toll physically and mentally AND you know that thing called taxes?!? After it was over I calculated the numbers and I would have made more working four 12 hour shifts a week than I did working the five shifts a week I did. How sad that the more you work, the more you get taxed, and the less you make. This is life and I only added that in because it was a lesson learned for me and sometimes less is more. So if you ever do anything crazy like I did, make sure it’s worth it both financially, mentally, and physically. In the end, I did appreciate the time because it made me super comfortable and good at my job, but I really think that’s when I burned out and it really started making at work feel like work instead of something I looked forward to.
Okay, I am in love with your blog and I must ask! How long were you a nurse before deciding to become an np? Was that always your goal or did it evolve? Did age ever become a factor to you? I am debating between np and MD right now leaning more toward MD… did age make a difference? I’m 28! So taking either route puts me further into my mid-thirties.
You’re too sweet! Thank you! I answered the first part of your question earlier in this post but, get your MD girl! lol! I was actually talking to my brother this morning who, God-willing, will be a doctor in two years and told him that when I am done with NP school I’m going to be a doctor LOL. I totally have no intention of going back to school but it would be so cool to be a doctor. We did also talk about how if I became a doctor I would probably not be married, or we would be living in different states depending on my rotations if I was married, I wouldn’t have traveled as much, I probably wouldn’t be blogging, and basically, my life would be completely different. Since you are 28, I think it all just depends on what you want to do. If you want to be a doctor, go for it! If you want to be an NP, go for that. Whatever you do, don’t settle or juggle one or the other because of a year or two. Time will pass regardless, so it’s better to chase after your dreams than to always wish you did. It also really depends on where you are in your degree if you’re trying to save time since they are completely different routes. If I knew eventually I would become an NP, I probably should’ve just gone to PA school instead, but like I said, my life would’ve been completely different and I would’ve ended up graduating PA school a few months after finishing my NP subtracting the blogging, getting married, traveling, etc. so in a way, even though I basically ended up in the same position as a PA, I took a different route and was able to focus on other things along the ride, not just school. Same goes for your decision if you’re starting from scratch, and time is a factor in regards to wanting to get married, have kids, etc during school, choose the route that puts your priorities in order. I know someone that went to med school from scratch in her 30s while her kids were in middle/high school and now she works as a dermatologist, so it totally can be done. If you really want it, age and time won’t matter and you are still young, even into your mid-thirties when you’ll be done.
I saw you’re a nurse. I actually was an elementary school principal but am thinking of changing careers and going back to school to be a nurse. I would love to have any guidance or advice from you as I’m really nervous to go back and do this. If you could share anything with me, I would be so grateful.
I saw this little video sharing how once you calculate all the hours spent at work, it accounts for like 80% of our lives. Made me realize how important it is to enjoy what we do so I applaud you for wanting to switch careers. I can definitely see why you are nervous, but if nursing is something you really want to do, I say go for it! Like I said, life is too short to be “stuck” in a job we no longer have a passion for. It was definitely a harder process than I thought, but it seriously flies by. I finished my prereqs about two semesters before starting nursing school and then nursing school was two years. In the big spectrum of things that is not that much time and it will pass anyway, might as well do it. My biggest recommendation for those that want to switch careers is to shadow a nurse in at least one specialty to really gauge all that we do. I was a few months into nursing school before my first day of clinicals and was blown away by everything nurses did. I literally didn’t know the half of it. I mean I was only 18 and fresh out of school and never worked in a hospital, but still, that first clinical day opened my eyes to what I really got myself into haha!
How are the prereqs as I’m really nervous about taking those as I’m not a science person? I’m looking into the second-degree nursing program as I have my masters in education.
Most of the prereqs were honestly not bad! A lot of them were silly like music appreciation or history. The harder ones were chemistry and microbiology. Depending on how you study I would recommend taking the easier ones online and the harder ones in class if you learn better from a professor in-person. I took one music appreciation class in class one or two days a week and I felt like it was such a big waste of time, so the second one I chose to take online and it was super easy. It saved me the commute and I was able to be more flexible with my time. Plus, there is only so much music you can talk about, so I felt like I could learn what I had to lear without the extra classroom discussions about music, how it makes them feel, etc lol. As far as microbiology or some of the more difficult courses, in class was definitely more helpful. It all depends on how you learn as to whether or not to take them online. But honestly, they weren’t that bad, especially compared to nursing school.
What school did you go to? How did you survive nursing schools?
I went to a Community College for my ADN for two years, a University’s online BSN program for one year, and in an online NP program for 19 months. The BSN was super easy and only took up a few hours a week, but ADN and NP school was/is hard!
-Study, study, study all the time! There is so much to learn and no time to waste or try to learn all that information in one sitting. Spread out your studying in between tests. In nursing school, I used to cram and pull all-nighters for almost the whole first year. The second year, I studied with a friend who spread out her studying and slept the night before a test, and I made almost 10 points higher on every test after that. Not cramming and sleep makes such a big difference.
-Take one day at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed with the two tests, paper, and all the lectures you have to get through the next week. Look at what you have to do today, and focus on that and only that. I still struggle in this aspect but I’ve realized stressing about how much I have to do isn’t going to make it go by any quicker.
-Your classmates are your family. Nobody understood the stress and struggles of nursing school like those that were in it with you.
-God never fails and always lean on him for every step of the way. He will pull through. I see it time and time again.
-Don’t be so hard on yourself, but also take school seriously-study, be on time, be present, etc
-Coffee is your best friend.
Do you think the field is being saturated with NPs and that there will be jobs or do you think one should pursue PA school or another field?
Ahh! This question makes me nervous because I am hearing rumors about ERs in my area not hiring new graduate NPs/PAs because we are so oversaturated. I definitely have been hearing that a lot lately, but also hear that midlevels are a hot commodity because either there aren’t enough doctors or they cost less. These are all rumors and he said/she said, but I honestly think it’s all about having connections and in the end, turnover happens in every level of the healthcare team, so spots will always be open. And to answer the later part of your question, I’m not 100% sure if PAs have the same problem. I’ve worked in several different hospitals and PAs and NPs work side by side in the same position- I’m not sure if there is discrimination in the position when hiring, like for example if they specifically want to hire a PA in the ER rather than an NP even though they do the exact same thing in that position. Also, I graduated nursing school in 2013 and heard the same thing about nurses being oversaturated, but in every ER I’ve worked, short staffing and turnover is happening left and right.
Oh, and how much did you hate statistics?
worst. class. ever.
Online or in-person for your NP? What are your thoughts?
It really depends on how you learn. I love online because I can work at my own pace, however, it is a lot of self-teaching and accountability. You also learn what you learn. In class, you learn what they teach you which can be in more detailed or even in a better explanation to really understand the topic. We have weekly tests, which keeps us accountable to learning each topic online, but it is more discussions and here is 300 pages to read this week and then test. I can’t learn like that and need an explanation not just plain text, so I have to find different resources such as videos, review courses, and crash courses that I prefer to study and use the book as a source to get more in-depth in subjects I’m not as comfortable in. Having nursing experience helps though because everything is just a step up of what you already know. I still don’t regret doing it online, but one thing I miss is the community of people that share the same struggles and experiences like I had in nursing school.
Hope you all found this helpful! If you need more elaboration or have any more questions, feel free to comment in the comment section below! Best of luck to all of you starting or are already in nursing or NP school! XO!
Michelle,
Thank you so much for making this post! I am a RN and currently in FNP school as well! I totally agree and think that it’s important that nurses get experience under their belt before they start NP school. I can’t imagine having to take patho or pharm without experiencing these diseases and seeing all the medications in a clinical setting. I think it’s awesome that your state allows FNP’s to work in the ER. From what I’ve heard, FNP’s here can only work in the clinic setting and not acute care. I’m going to start looking for clinical sites soon and I’m so worried I won’t be able to find any. How did you go about finding clinical sites?
I think it’s so awesome that you always knew you wanted to be a nurse! I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to be and just decided to go to nursing school but realized my first semester in nursing school that nursing was truly for me.
BTW, I am SO proud of you and how you are managing to juggle everything! I know it must be so hard but it will worth it all in the end! Thanks again for making this wonderful post and I cannot wait to see your graduation pictures! I will be cheering with you!
Stevie
We had a very similar school track! I met my husband while in my BSN program and actually turned him down twice because I was too busy! The poor guy didn’t give up and now we’re happily married 3 years this June. I just finished my MSN for my FNP yesterday! What a trip that was. I totally had the same melt down/burn out with trying to juggle everything at first and then learned to lean on my husband more during school and clinicals. Yesterday when I got home from my final day of grad school he asked me to get dinner to celebrate my survival of grad school and I told him, no WE survived grad school. Not a chance I could have done it without him. Keep it up! You got this!