LPN programs and IV certs...

Godswill · Aug 1, 2003

Hi, From what i understand out here is that we have to have 80% passing rate too .

And from what i understand we get IV certified,we take 45 hours of IV theraphy. BUt Lousiana allows LPN's to start IV and give blood,med etc through them. Where a lot of states don't allow that. So that may be why we get certified during the the program:)

MY program is 18 months long:) I have no idea about my classes or how many students we will have but i do not think it will be many.

TMCmom · Aug 2, 2003

I'm in MT and the LPN program I'm enrolled in is a 2 year AAS degree. 1st and 2nd semesters included A&P I and II, Nursing Fundamentals I & II, Nutrition, Med Math, Psychology, Pharmacology I, Business Communication and Computers.

I'm starting 3rd semester and will be taking Med/Surg I, Pharmacology II, and Maternal/Child. My 4th and final semester will include Med/Surg II, Mental Health Nursing, Nursing Role & Human Relations, IV Therapy, and a Preceptorship at a local hospital or clinic.

Classes require a 75% to continue, and clinicals are strictly pass/fail.

We started Nursing Fundamentals I with about 63 students, and are down to 28 (that number includes a few from previous semesters). The administration is scrambling to find clinical instructors for our class. The semester ahead of us has 17 students, and the one before them had just 14. It is the largest class they've had.

JnJTyson · Aug 4, 2003

LPNs in florida are allowed to draw blood, start IVs..but from what I understand..we are not allowed to push meds through an IV. We can hang fluid bags, or piggyback bags...that kinda thing...but if someone needs pain meds through an IV, from what I understand, we are not allowed to do that..RN for that. But the school I go to does not have the IV program in the lpn program. We have to take it after we graduate. No biggie! =0)

63 students...HOLY COW! And here our class was complaining about 30 some!! But I must say, in a setting at clinicals or lab work....30 students and one teacher is a little much. I wish they had stuck with the amt the public school system had set....such is life!

Jules

1 week from today I start second semester..WOOHOOO!

Todd SPN · Aug 6, 2003

Sounds an awful lot like my school. From what I was told, the IV class is separate from the rest of the program because you can become a LPN without needing this training. So they make it a 30 hr class you can take or not take. We started out with 32 in bio and by the time A&P was finished with had 20 which happens to be the number that is allowed for the nursing quarters.

rebeccaLPN · Aug 22, 2003

I am an LPN in WA state. Our state law does not specify specific procedures you can or cannot do, it just says that it is up to the facility and you must always be properly trained. Most of the hospitals that I know of use IV therapy teams on the floor (which are usually RN's but sometimes not), but if necessary a floor RN/LPN can start one. IV starts were included in our training. Most of the hospitals also let you do IV pushes (including central lines), but some have a few specific meds (and blood) that they require an RN to do. I personally like how my state has figured it out.

snoogans · Aug 22, 2003

Five years ago when I went to school, our program taught us in clinicals about IV's. Learned about hanging them, the actual plebotomy skills are left to the facility where we work. They don't teach it because not everyone will need in in their job I work in LTC am cert. for IV (not too many in LTC so I've only started two in the last two years) I draw a lot of blood on a weekly basis. Our program lasted from mid Aug to mid June. Our classes count for college credit. and the LPN part of the program will easily bridge of to the RN program of the college. No testing out of the first year. I've been a nurse for five years and the college reconizes that. Unlike most programs that require testing out of the first year and the third semester nursing student is treated like just that. a third semester nursing student.

Also please stop saying the first semester is only CNA work. It really isn't, it's a lot different. Now if you find a problem, you are the one who has to figure out what to do, if the MD needs to be called, and deligate the work to the CNA if needed.

MQ Edna · Aug 25, 2003

I'm an LVN student in Houston, TX. Our course is 3 semesters (June 2-May 15)...This first semester (summer semester) included Basic Nursing Skills (Fundamentals and Basics.....hx of nursing, basics of a&p..enema's, ostomy care...etc), Clinical Lab (bed baths, physical assessments, enema's ostomy care, etc.), Medication Administration and Calculation, Nursing Concepts (legal/ethical, how to be a successfull nurse..etc), Nutrition, Pharmacology (which I did not have to take because I took it before entering the program --thank god!!!--, and Geriatric clinicals---talk about a handful!!! I spent every weekend from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed studying, and doing my projects and clinical paperwork.

We started with 30 students and 2 instructors...6 were let go at the end of this semester for grades....clinical was once a week. 10 students went with one teacher to one nursing home, 10 went with the other teacher to a different nursing home, and 5 stayed at the school w/ an RN instructor doing "virtual clinical" on the computer. we rotated around where it came to a total of 4 weeks at the nursing home and 2 weeks in virtual clinical. Each week we had to care for the pt. we had chosen the week before and choose a pt. for the following week. For the patient's we chose we had to write a thorough report (pathophysiology of admitting diagnosis, definition of other diagnosis, a page of NANDA diagnosis' (20 total grouped by system that pertain to our pt.), drug cards, special equipment, scheduled procedures tests, scheduled activities, nutrition, and we had to create a care plan for the following week that we had to abide by (the instructor would come throughout the following week and make sure we were going by our careplan).

Our rotation at the nursing home was basically CNA work (except a fellow student and I sneaked in some wound care/dressing changes care of a staff LVN...;-))...boy were we ridiculed by the nurses at the nursing home because we could not perform procedures...LOL.

I go to a community college down on Galveston Island (minutes away from UTMB --University of Texas Medical Branch--....the joke around here is that the RN's from my school are considered better qualified nurses than those with their BSN, RN from UTMB!!!! haha.

A good thing about where I go to school is that no matter what you are going for (degree, certification, etc.) everyone gets to walk at graduation in may...that's pretty cool I don't know how it is everywhere else...?!?

Oh yeah--also got a lot of crap about being the baby of the class (just turned 19), and a male (got some crap for that too) and how I needed "help" with everything the first few weeks because I didn't have any experience in the medical field...went in for evaluation last wed...passed this semester with 2 A's and the rest B's-she laughed and told me how surprised she was and how I came out this semester at the top of my class..thought that was neat...

oh yeah--We have to have a 75% or better

enough typing my hands hurt!!!

Dave

love4nsg · Sep 5, 2003

i went to school at montgomery college (part of north harris montgomery community college district) our program was 11 months long. we went to school from 0800-1530 every day m-f, unless we had clinical which our hours for those days were 0645-1300.

all day # are to the best of my memory

first semester (fall) we were mainly doing cna work two days a week in nursing homes (7 days), and hospital (10 days). we basically did baths, shaving, ambulation, assiting with walking and feeding all that fun stuff

second semester (spring) we were in the hospitals for tiw

~12 days doing med rotation were we took on total pt care doing everything for them that an lvn would do except iv's

~6 days were spent doing pediatrics were we went to school and worked in the clinics, went to the children's musem in houston and observed children's behaviors, and other child observation times like working in a childrens clinic

~18 days were spent rotating throughout different area's of a hospital like or, endoscopy, wound care, pacu, cardiac cath, day surgery, dialysis unit, hospice and many other area's of nursing outside of the standard floor nurse

third semester we spent

~12 days on the floor doing total pt care including meds(no iv)

~12 days rotating through l&d, postpartum, nursery, nicu, and er and other aspects of nursing

throughout the year we went on "field trips" to area hospitals:

shriner's orthopedic hospitalhouston, tx

shriner's burn hospitalgalveston, tx

texas children's hospitalhouston, tx

texas institute for rehabilitation & researchhouston, tx

m d anderson hospitalhouston, tx

hospice of texashouston, tx

our pass rate on nclex is always at least 96% for 1st time

our class size is 24, with 3 instuctors

i would recomend my nsg program to anyone

our program is respected by hospitals in the area we have been given jobs before we even graduated by just working on the floor i was approached by my boss while woking on her floor at the hospital as a student our program has an excellent reputation

i have talked with nurses in different programs and feel i got an awesome experience in nsg school

JnJTyson · Sep 7, 2003

Now that I'm three weeks into the program...I figured I'd give an update....

This semester (2nd) we started off with advanced nursing process (more blah blah blah legal, ethical stuff..common sense) and then got into advanced nursing procedures: sterile technique, inserting caths, dressing changes, documentation, tube feedings, glucometers..that kind of stuff...

2 days a week (Monday and Tuesday) are classroom days...notes, videos, and lab time...

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are all spent at the hospital. 8 of us are on Med/Surge floor and the other 10 are on Oncology. We had 10 and 10...but lost two to grades already.

We just started pharmacology....here's a question...I was speaking with another nursing student from a different school about pharmacology and exams. We have to pass a 100% exam to move on in the program. Meaning, we get a 10 question test, and 5 tries to get a 100% on it. Even if your grade is above an 80% in the general program, if you can't get a 100% on that test..you are booted from the program...anyone else have that in their school? There is also 1 100% in every section you go through after that (Cardio, MS, Resp...)

So..I'm not worried too much. Been studying hard and maintaining my average...came out of advanced nursing with a 98 average! WOOHOO!! =0)

Good luck to everyone! =0)

Todd SPN · Sep 7, 2003

Originally posted by JnJTyson
We just started pharmacology....here's a question...I was speaking with another nursing student from a different school about pharmacology and exams. We have to pass a 100% exam to move on in the program. Meaning, we get a 10 question test, and 5 tries to get a 100% on it. Even if your grade is above an 80% in the general program, if you can't get a 100% on that test..you are booted from the program...anyone else have that in their school?

We had to pass with 100% also. We had 3 chances.

JnJTyson · Sep 9, 2003

Ta-Da!! today was our first 100% exam. Out of a class of 20, only 5 people got a 100%...and I was one of them!! WOOHOO!! =0)

So I don't have to do the other 4 exams...so tomorrow during test #2, I get to go into another room and study for the unit test we have right after that...lol I'm so proud of me..I flunked out of high school..not for lack of brains, but for lack of...whatever....but I'm in LPN school with a 98% average...so pardon me if I sound like I'm gloating...its so nice to succeed for once in my life =0)

Jules