Algebra in real life

Nurses LPN/LVN

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I am hoping to enter LPN school in January. I ordered the NET study guide and see that there will be algebra problems on the test. I hope this doesn't come off as a totally ignorant question, but I was really hoping any LPNs/LVNs out there who are on the job could give me some real life examples of how algebra is used on the job as an LPN/LVN. Or, if this question has been asked before (I'm new to this website), could someone please give me the link to the forum? Thanks so much!

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

most remedial math courses are taught by sympathetic instructors that are helping struggling adults with this embarassment. it is not to say that all of them are great, but when you take it without pressure, and you try and commit to studying the math, hopefully it will get you by.

i took my courses at community colleges that allowed students to then sit for the entrance exam. i'll never forget this experience because i went faithfully each saturday, and worked on the examples, but missed the last review before sitting for the test because joint commission was coming to the hospital and distracted me, and i had to take my son to the er the night before. i had a few questions to ask and was so mad i didn't make it. we were told that if we got 25 out of 40 questions correct, we would pass. we had to go to a testing site, where we had to complete the test in 40 minutes. i missed by two. i didn't give up, but was too embarassed to return to the same school, so, there was another community college even closer to where i lived and a class was starting in two weeks. signed up immediately!

when i went to the second one, this man was different. he warned of us the importance of passing that test, because they were going to make it even harder to pass shortly, and he said that most times, the minorities are failing, thus, not having an opportunity enter college, because of the socially being passed on without the skills. he said that we were to study the exact examples he gave, because those would be on the exam. he even arranged that we take the test in his classroom, rather than the testing site, because it was less intimidating and he would give us the entire class time to take the test (2 hours) rather than the 40 minutes.

it was a class of about 10 of us, and he asked us to introduce ourselves and share our goals. he worked really hard with us to make us understand, and then, the last review before the test, there was this guy (i'll never forget him, because he was so attractive!) that was really struggling. the instructor told him not to give up and no matter what, come to the class the following week to take the exam. made the guy promise.

finally, d-day came. we all got there early, and the instructor asked us if we wanted to review anything, and he even wrote examples on the board and left it there, but i noticed that the instructor was sort of antsy, because we didn't see the guy that was struggling. he waited as long as he could, then, said "damn! i really wanted to see him" and started the exam. i figured that once i got my 25 correct, i would get up and leave, but the instructor kept sitting me back down, and telling me to think hard and review my answers. once i got 38 correct, he shook my hand and said "goodbye, nurse...be well". yes, i passed, but i didn't know what he did for me until a year later...

i was accepted into a program by my job where they granted us a leave of absence with complete pay (tuition pay as well) to attend a community college to become either lpns or rns. i was interviewed by a panel of people and they saw that i already passed my entrance exam (which was applicable to all community colleges within new york state). when i got accepted, i went to register, and when they searched the computer for my grade on that exam, because i got over 35 correct, rather than just the 25, i did not have to take any remedials! if i had just walked out of that class with the 25 correct, i would have had to take the first remedial class where we reviewed basic math, but then, i still would have had to sit out another semester to take the remedial algebra course, which taking for an entire semester would have been taxing to my brain, because the math used in nursing is not even that difficult! the program that accepted me had a deadline that we had to graduate by two years, or we would have been in default. i would have wasted an entire year just catching up on math.

i had tears in my eyes, because that instructor gave me a chance! i went back to that school to find him and say a hearfelt thank you, but he was no longer working there...but i am a nurse. if it were not for him, i wouldn't be where i am today.

when it was time to take the nursing math, i returned back to that school the semester before (during the summer) just to have a refresher in basic math, and had met another one that helped me. he told me to bring in my dosage calculations book and he took time after class was over to go over the formulas there, so, i had a serious jump when the class actually started. those two instructors saw my vision, and gave me a chance, and i will forever be grateful to them... (sorry this was long, folks!)

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Zeethan: I wanted to get into nursing a few years ago, heard about/saw algebra equations, and stopped pursuing my dream because of it. And I like math! But when you have something that you want badly enough, I believe there is a way to make it happen. Despite my fears, I tried nursing again by taking nursing assistant training just this past August. I am now working as a nursing assistant and waiting to take my certification exam in two weeks. Next step...hopefully LPN school.

This site is incredibly helpful. By reading the posts in this thread and going to that link that lpnflorida posted, you will see that you are not alone in this and that there is hope to make this work. As pagandeva2000 said, right now you don't have any pressure to learn the math so it's probably the best time to get started. One idea I thought about after reading your post was that maybe you could find an LPN/RN where you work to tutor you one on one with the math stuff. That way you can have someone who is actually a nurse help you and be able to give you real life, on the job examples to make things more understandable.

I wish you all the best!

Funny that you mention this, because while I was in college, I got an RN student who already took the nursing math that tutored me privately. She was a tough cookie, but she made sure I understood, and I got an A. I had to go over math again when we got to peds, because you definitely have to calculate their medication dosages, and this time, I was in the study workshop with a tutor that used to be a doctor in his own country. He would give me scenerios..."I am the doctor you are working with. I am in a rush, and I want to go home, so, I prescribed this dose of medication to a child that weighs 25kg. Is this dose safe? Or do you have to page me to have me call the pharmacy and do a new order". He worked with me until I took that test.

I did those things under the gun, but because I had a foundation (even though it is weak), I got an A in pediatrics. Man, I had a great deal of angels on my shoulders that carried me through my dream. Since then, the tutor that was a doctor in his country got a position at the same college as an anatomy professor. I continue to hear that he is phenomenal. He is working on obtaining his license to practice medicine here in NY and he remains in contact with me as a close friend to this day. I actually have tears in my eyes as I think of all of the help I had to get me to become a nurse.:bow::up:

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Zeethan, listen to Pagendeva and take a remedial math course. Start with arithmetic and work up.

You HAVE the brains to do this, just a phobia combined with a poor grounding in the basics.

Also, look for an alternative kind of teacher. I hope I make sense, find a teacher or tutor in an alternate math like physics.

I struggled with math early in life but ran into a math teacher in high school that was really a physics Ph.D. He basically threw out everything we learned about math and taught us in a different way and taught us a new way to see math. It has worked wonders.

Sometimes someone that doesn't just teach Algebra can help, especially someone in those alternative math areas.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Sometimes someone that doesn't just teach Algebra can help, especially someone in those alternative math areas.
I currently am enrolled in a remedial math class at my local community college. The course is being taught by an elderly engineer, so I agree that professionals in alternative math/science careers also can be very good instructors.

By the way, the class is comprised of a mixture of traditional-age students and adult students.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I currently am enrolled in a remedial math class at my local community college. The course is being taught by an elderly engineer, so I agree that professionals in alternative math/science careers also can be very good instructors.

By the way, the class is comprised of a mixture of traditional-age students and adult students.

Sounds like you are enjoying the class. Sometimes, I used to wish I either paid better attention, or had better high school teachers, because I certainly missed out alot on math. I do plan to take an algebra class one day, just for the heck of it...under no pressure, but to learn it for the first time and maybe even enjoy it.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
He said that most times, the minorities are failing, thus, not having an opportunity enter college, because of the socially being passed on without the skills.
This is so true in many cases. I was a voracious reader and writer during childhood, so I had always achieved high test scores on exams that measured verbal, reading, and writing skills. However, I never properly learned the basics of math due to being socially promoted while attending schools in a working-class public school district.

Although both of my parents had graduated from high school, they could not perform many of the skills that the schools expected them to already know, such as fractions. I'm assured they were socially promoted during their time in public schools, too. Therefore, they were unable to assist me with homework assignments, and I had to depend solely on the schools for any learning experiences. I ended up falling miserably behind in math, and got socially promoted from one year to the next.

I am now one of those adult students who is attempting to learn math skills that are totally new to me. I have faith that it will all come together.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I was also socially promoted. My first semester in high school, I had algebra. Never understood a thing. Eventually, they decided to remove me from advanced math and gave me basic math, which, I got a 65 because I was just focusing on graduation and not comprehending.

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Specializes in LTC, Med-Surg, ER.
skwlpn: I laughed out loud when I read "math moron". Thank you for sharing your story with me. I'm making a complete career change from accounting to nursing and I still think when it comes to algebra, I'm a math moron as well unless I have something "in the real world" to relate it to. You mentioned nursing school pharm...is that something that will come up for me during LPN school?

Yes, in nursing school you will learn dosage calcs that involve very basic, simple algebra that you will find a breeze because you understand WHY you are "solving for X". The problem that I always had with algebra was that I had nothing to relate it to. Heck if I knew what "X" was, I would have just used a number instead of a letter!

You will have no trouble. Don't let fear of anything interfere with your dream. Your school will teach you well, you will have opportunities for extra help if you need it and, if your class is anything like mine, we became like sisters on a mission to make it through this common experience.

God bless those girls! We got each other through. You will be FINE! Go for it.

Stacey

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pagandeva2000 and TheCommuter...I have to ask...what does "socially promoted" mean exactly?? I'm clueless here.

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pagandeva2000 and TheCommuter...I have to ask...what does "socially promoted" mean exactly?? I'm clueless here.

Social promotion is the practice of promoting a student (usually a general education student, rather than a special education student) to the next grade despite their low achievement in order to keep them with social peers.

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Years ago while I was in high school, I asked my Algebra I teacher how/when would you EVER use algebra in real life..she had no answer for me except, you NEED to know this.

I aced Algebra I and moved onto Algebra II. Again, I asked the teacher how/when you would ever use it in real life..SHE had an answer.

She said that although you won't ever really sit down with a huge algebraic equation, you would use it in every day life, every single day. She went on to explain, anytime you sit and think out a problem or situation, you are using algebra and its foundation. You think to yourself "well, if I do ABC would 123 happen?" Or "how can I go from 123 to DFG?"

She used a word phrase I didn't know at the time but years later it came back again and again and again..she said that algebra teaches you to CRITICALLY THINK! :D (thank you Mrs Wilcox, yes, in all honestly, algebra did start me on the path to critically thinking!)

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She used a word phrase I didn't know at the time but years later it came back again and again and again..she said that algebra teaches you to CRITICALLY THINK! :D (thank you Mrs Wilcox, yes, in all honestly, algebra did start me on the path to critically thinking!)

Exactly. Math isn't a 'skill.' It is a way of thinking and seeing the world. When you can embrace or understand this way of thinking math becomes ridiculously easy. This is why people become physicists. It's like a whole new world opens up and it changes how you see everything... It no longer becomes an issue of 'can I do this' but rather 'what can I do with this.'

Well I might be over stating a bit but it does change how you see things.

(A good example would be the part in the Matrix at the end where his vision changes from regular to seeing everything in the green code). It literally opens new avenues of thought.

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