[eastxlvn]

i have been an LVN in texas for about a year now and just in the last six months i have starting feeling like i know what i am doing! after graduating i felt unprepared by lvn school. i understood basic concepts of pt care and factual information. i was definatley prepared to take boards but felt i lacked clinical experience. i actually felt like i learned more valuable information on the job after starting to work on a med surg floor. i am just wondering if anyone else felt this way after graduating from lpn/lvn school. is it normal to feel unprepared after graduation, there is sooo much knowledge we learn over 1 years time and only a couple of weeks are clinicals which cannot prepare you for taking care of actual people on your own. also did anyone else get a reality shcok when you actually started working. clinicals were nothing like really working and taking pts.

[TheCommuter]

I'm an LVN. I learned more within my first year of working, than I ever did during school. The clinical rotations of school are tremendously unrealistic, because it is highly unlikely that you'll be performing full-care on 1 or 2 patients any time during your career.

[nghtfltguy]

you will be fine...
you do learn more in your first year of nursing than you did in nursing school.
because you are actually doing it... the commuter is right~
you learn more by doing it... you are not gonna be doing that kinda rotation stuff unless you are a float nurse.. which you aren't... hospitals for the most part don't put new nurses in the float pool...
anyway....
welcome to your reality shock....
deal with it
live with it
learn to love it...
you will be fine~~

[NancyNurse08]

Originally Posted by nghtfltguy

welcome to your reality shock....
deal with it
live with it
learn to love it...
you will be fine~~

Hee heeeeee!!!!! So true! So far, I've dealt with it, I've lived with it, and now I'm learning to love it. Of course, I'm not loving it when I'm in the midst of the craziness, but I am learning to be very proud of myself for the bite I have chosen to take, and how well I am chewing it considering.

Sounds like you're getting there, too, eastxlvn! Thanks for the encouragement. It's nice to know that it really does get better, and they're not just saying that....

[destiney]

Well I am a new grad and I start my new job on Monday! I'm nervous and feel like my clinicals will be nothing like on the job. I'm sooo nervous because the DON changed my position from a med nurse to a charge nurse. I felt like running out to get insurance. But the DON said old habits die hard and she feels confident in training new grads.....but I guess in due time ill learn the job and become more confident.

[lil' girl]

Originally Posted by eastxlvn

i have been an LVN in texas for about a year now and just in the last six months i have starting feeling like i know what i am doing! after graduating i felt unprepared by lvn school. i understood basic concepts of pt care and factual information. i was definatley prepared to take boards but felt i lacked clinical experience. i actually felt like i learned more valuable information on the job after starting to work on a med surg floor. i am just wondering if anyone else felt this way after graduating from lpn/lvn school. is it normal to feel unprepared after graduation, there is sooo much knowledge we learn over 1 years time and only a couple of weeks are clinicals which cannot prepare you for taking care of actual people on your own. also did anyone else get a reality shcok when you actually started working. clinicals were nothing like really working and taking pts.

YEP! Felt like " I wonder if these people that hired me know that I don't know what the &*ll I am doing". I think we all feel like that when we first start. As I said before, nursing school only begins with that first job!

[LesMonsterNS]

A wise nurse once told me (a clinical instructor in my LPN program, I believe) to consider the first year out of school as the unofficial "second year" of school. You learn more in your first year of actual practice than you can imagine. I doubt anyone feels completely prepared to practice right out of school, so you fit right in.

[pagandeva2000]

Originally Posted by LesMonsterSN

A wise nurse once told me (a clinical instructor in my LPN program, I believe) to consider the first year out of school as the unofficial "second year" of school. You learn more in your first year of actual practice than you can imagine. I doubt anyone feels completely prepared to practice right out of school, so you fit right in.

Sometimes, I think they need to include the first year and 8 months as well. When I look at myself now, versus when I started as an LPN a year ago, I see that I did, in fact, come a LONG, LONG way. I still think that there is loads more to learn, but, I do think better. I still criticize myself from time to time and wish that I was a bit more on the ball, but I learned to be patient with myself and keep the my ego in check. The Creator will bring me what I need to know when the time is right.

[LesMonsterNS]

Originally Posted by pagandeva2000

Sometimes, I think they need to include the first year and 8 months as well. The Creator will bring me what I need to know when the time is right.

I think that's why we call it practice - every nurse should consider each time they perform a procedure another chance to improve their skill and knowledge. At least I do and I've been a nurse for a while. enguin:

[pagandeva2000]

Originally Posted by LesMonsterSN

I think that's why we call it practice - every nurse should consider each time they perform a procedure another chance to improve their skill and knowledge. At least I do and I've been a nurse for a while. enguin:

I know. There is ALWAYS something new to learn in the medical profession. That is what makes it very interesting.