The real tragedy of getting a medical education is not the understanding of your own mortality or quantification of personal risk factors. It's not even the fact that friends and colleagues want you to look at something awful that is growing out of their body (I was sure that was a myth). It is the loss of good television. An EMT friend of mine ...

It is tough for new nurses in accelerated nurse practitioner courses to find a first job. A lot of the places willing to hire new grads want them full time, which is impossible with the work load our training requires. There are some employers that require new nurses to sign a binding agreement to complete a certain amount of hours or pay a ...

Last month during the lull of winter break, I had a sudden fear that I would not be able to find a job after graduation. I guess it was because of the lull, no case studies to do, clinical hours completed for the semester, and final grade deemed passing, that I had the time to contemplate a life after school. This month, as my classes resume ...

I am currently in a  class called ''Societal Forces'' as a precursor to my first semester of advanced assessment in the Adult/Gero Primary Care Nurse Practitioner track. The teachers are passionate and well informed. The speakers are excellent, but the subject matter...The subject matter is frankly depressing. The class theme seems to ...

I have developed a few fears recently, regarding my hopeful future career as an NP. A few weeks ago, while at clinicals, I saw a patient with vague non-specific complaints that did not relate to any one ailment. I found the situation frustrating and asked my preceptor for guidance. It was then that it hit me: What in the world would I have ...

There have been times in my nursing career when I have put the pieces of a clinical picture together only to see something entirely different than the treating physician. The picture I would see was not based only on the lab work, or clinical manifestations of an illness, but was guided by the narrative of the ...

In an accelerated NP program, newly-minted nurses often find themselves in graduate-level classes with people who have been in the profession for most of their lives. I just passed the NCLEX two weeks ago -- hang on -- I can't hold it in. Hire me! I'm great! Anyone in the central Mass. area looking for a new grad Murse with a background in ...

Fall has officially begun. Usually I am excited because I love fall, but this year, as I enter into my fifth week of class, I wonder where summer went. These first few weeks are usually clumsy as I learn my way around the course and assignments. I know that as I settle into a routine, it will get better. Again I was lucky to find ...

As I entered the patient's room, I introduced myself and asked if her name was ''Sarah.'' She said ''yes,'' nodding in my direction with a welcoming smile. Prior to entering the patient's room, I had diligently reviewed the chart. She was 93 and had been hospitalized after slipping and falling in her home, where she lived alone. Her husband had ...

Terry Clarke, student nurse here. I am in an accelerated nurse practitioner program at UMASS Worcester. We just finished our year-long RN BSN equivalency. I've been feeling like a hand-stamped 18-year-old at a bar, able to join the conversations but not order a beer. As my NCLEX draws nigh, I finally feel competent to write about this experience. ...