[mommyoffour]

Hello all, I am just starting my pre-req's this May at WCCC. Just wondering if anyone else is from my area and have jobs in the area. I am really hoping to be a labor and delivery nurse after all the schooling.. but my local hospital in Latrobe is not going to be doing deliveries after this summer, if memory serves me correctly. It's so sad. I had my 2 younger babies there and I would have loved to work there.

[june2009]

I actually live within walking distance of Latrobe hosp. I'm an LPN and I go to school at conemaugh in johnstown for my RN. I graduated from LPN school at WCCC and so did my sister. I was partially through the RN program there when I withdrew for personal reasons. I think around here the smaller hospitals want new nurses to work at someplace like macgee or west penn for some OB experience before they will hire around here. Mother/baby status can change rapidly and in a facility where they don't see a lot of high risk mothers, you need some experience to know what to do. That being said, Westmoreland is doing labor and delivery, which is only a 10 minute drive from Latrobe. Forbes regional just updated their whole OB department and it's beautiful. If you hit rt. 22, that's only about a half-hr. drive from Latrobe (depending on traffic). They might hire directly into OB. It's nice to meet you and good luck in NS. You'll love Mrs. Freedburg!

[mommyoffour]

Thanks for the reply! I was actually just at the ER here in Latrobe until about 1am last night.. my daughter broke her ankle at the skating rink.
The new ER is nice.

[june2009]

yes it is! I have twin 4 year old boys so I've spent plenty of time there! Well, let me know if there is anything I can help with. I have tons of care plan books (25 to be exact). you will have to write care plans at WCCC.

[LinH8]

June, I am three weeks shy of finishing my first year at WCCC. About careplan books, can you recommend a good one for OB/Peds? We have been trained to really hone our careplans, they place a large emphasis on them so with next year having OB/Peds and mental health, I don't think the Gulanick is going to cover that. Any suggestions you have would be great as I want to make my last year a good one!

[june2009]

Try Sparks and Taylor's Nursing Diagnosis Reference Manual (I have the 6th ed. ISBN# 1-58255-292-4) it has medsurg, peds, psych, and OB diagnosis and care plans, Mosby's All-in-One care planning resource (I have the 2004 ed. ISBN# 0-323-01953-6) it has medsurg, psych, OB, and peds care plans. Delmar and Springhouse also have individual care plan books for each (i don't have the isbn #s) Also, RN magazine has a series of books called "Plans of care for specialty practice" Now they are older (most from 1994-1996) but I have used them with great success in the past. There is one book on each of the following subjects :
Psyc/mental health, ambulatory pediatrics, inpatient pediatrics, Gerontologic nursing, oncology nursing, medical nursing, surgical nursing, community and home health nursing, orthopaedic nursing, cardiovascular critical care, and non-cardiovascular critical care. I havn't been able to find an OB one from them but I'm still looking. You can usually pick any of these ( and the other mentioned books) from amazon for real cheap. Especially since they are older editions. I love the gulanick books and like a fool, purchased the new edition only to find out that it's almost exactly the same as the brand new one. If you only want to mess around with buying one more care plan book, I would recommend the All-in-One book.
Let me know if you need any help!

Michelle

[LinH8]

Thank you! I'm going to look into the RN mags and have already located the Mosby all in one for real cheap. Thank you so much for your help. I just read that you work at Conemaugh. I have a cousin who works at Lee hospital down there. I don't know if you have this one or not but I just picked up the Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN. It separates everything (neuro, cardiac, etc) and gives a down and dirty nutshell review and then a ton of questions just for that section. I've been using it for Med-Surg I & II and it's been invaluable.

[june2009]

I have saunders, kapplan, and exam cram. Saunders is awesome! I also like the kapplan one because it tells you how to take nursing exams (and the nclex). I can usually figure out the right answers to the questions even id I don't know the actual answer because of this book.

[LinH8]

I have the 2007-2008 Kaplan one, but haven't opened it. Is it really that good??

[june2009]

Definitely. there aren't many practice questions but the way it tells you how to take the test is worth every penny.