Reaching Out!

[nenyart92]

Hello everyone !

First off, i'd like to introduce myself. I would also like to share to all of you my story. My name is Nick, and I am 25 years old. I am currently starting at the bottom of the ladder in California in the nursing program to become a LVN. After school, i'd like to work the field and break down my specialties and find out where I will ultimately fit in and excel the most in the medical field. Once I have had some experience, I will continue education for the BSN program. Once i'm finished with my BSN, i would like to become an ER nurse, or run my own floor/station. My goal is to become a NP, PA, or PCP. My dream is to run my own family practice with other fellow nurses and doctors.

The one experience that truly inspired me to work in the medical field occurred when i was a child. My brother had bilateral fractures to his left humerus, and right radius. A surgeon as a local hospital took the case, overstepped his boundaries, and my brother fell into malpractice. My brother had to be reassigned to an orthopedic specialist after his healing was finished with the previous local surgeon. He had suffered an entire adolescence of immobility and depression from missing all the opportunities to be a teenager. It was then I decided I will go into med school to become a doctor, study and practice to the best of my abilities. In this case, anyone who falls under my care will get the best care they can possibly get; and not suffer !

I am shouting out to the world and stumbled upon this wonderful discussion website! I have no contacts and would absolutely love to start building my own nursing community. I absolutely love the in depth science of anatomy, etiology, and pathophysiology of the human body. I'm sure there are many of you just like me that must understand "deeply" as to "why" a patient has elevated BUN/Creatinine, or "why" the sudden onset of respiratory distress, "how" compensatory mechanisms of the body work to maintain homeostasis, and everything on a molecular level. Thanks for reading ! Please feel free to comment, add, and introduce yourself below !

Thanks,

Nick

[Sour Lemon]

The NCLEX is a national test. California's testing for licensure is neither more nor less than any other state.

True, although the RN educational requirements are known to be more strict ...particularly for international students. Many are able to get licensed in alternate states after being turned down by California.

But ironically, you can challenge boards and become an LVN in California with only CNA experience and a pharmacology course. You don't have to actually go to nursing school, at all. LVNs who earn their licenses that way (without school) are not able to work in other states, as far as I know.

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

I'd like to treat, diagnose, and adjust care according to the outcomes of patients, and be able to delegate tasks to RNs, LVNs, etc. What would you recommend I look into ?

Maybe look into getting a Bachelor's in one of the sciences and apply to Medical or Physician Assistant school?

[MunoRN, RN]

I'd like to treat, diagnose, and adjust care according to the outcomes of patients, and be able to delegate tasks to RNs, LVNs, etc. What would you recommend I look into ?

That's basically what an RN does. We formulate a plan of care for the patient in coordination with the patient's medical providers, some of the plan is primarily driven by the medical providers, some is primarily driven by the RNs caring for the patient. RNs formulate this plan using what is basically the scientific process, we assess, diagnose, plan, treat and adjust care according to our assessment of the results.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

That's basically what an RN does. We formulate a plan of care for the patient in coordination with the patient's medical providers, some of the plan is primarily driven by the medical providers, some is primarily driven by the RNs caring for the patient. RNs formulate this plan using what is basically the scientific process, we assess, diagnose, plan, treat and adjust care according to our assessment of the results.

Disagree. RN's do not diagnose.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I'd like to treat, diagnose, and adjust care according to the outcomes of patients, and be able to delegate tasks to RNs, LVNs, etc. What would you recommend I look into ?

This is not what you would be doing as a Nurse Manager, the one who "runs" the floor.

I don't really think anyone "delegates tasks" to RNs. The RN is the one in charge of taking care of the patient. The Charge RN may make the assignments, give RNs admissions, etc but there's no one really delegating their duties to the RN the way an RN may delegate something like medication administration to an LPN or vital signs to a CNA.

[nenyart92]

Wow, this is all eye opening everyone. I appreciate all of you taking the time to further clear things up and break things down for me. I'm glad i decided to make an account on here starting as a student nonetheless. I will most definitely consider all the info and start structuring my long-term goals. I guess it was unclear with knowledge of who does what in healthcare. Now that it's in perspective, it seems that staying on the side of nursing would better suit what i'd like to do. But I'm sure aspirations and goals will change along the way. Once i get my license and start working in the field, i'd like to get about a year of some experience while knocking out prerequisites on the side (short-term). At this point, i don't want to give myself the option to slack and wait to go back to school. Thanks again everyone.

[MunoRN, RN]

Disagree. RN's do not diagnose.

Of course we diagnose, it's a minimum requirement of Nurse Practice Act to utilize the nursing process, step 2 of the nursing process is to diagnose.

I think you're referring to making a medical diagnosis, although even then it's not completely true that RN's don't diagnose medical conditions, the term "diagnose" refers to evaluating something and describing the problems you find, which is something nurses do all the time.

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

Not the NANDA Nursing Diagnosis', please not those! Oh how I hate them..no it's not pneumonia, it's "impaired gas exchange" :)

[MunoRN, RN]

Not the NANDA Nursing Diagnosis' please not those! Oh how I hate them..no it's not pneumonia, it's "impaired gas exchange" :)[/quote']

Thankfully, diagnosing does not require the use of NANDA, I wouldn't call picking from a pre-set list of descriptions of problems to be consistent with nursing principles. One of the things that differentiate nursing from medicine is that we don't view patients as whatever overly-simplified pre-defined term best describes them, NANDA is an unfortunate attempt to make nursing more like medicine, even though our value is that we view patients and their problems differently than medicine. A true nursing diagnosis is a complete description of the patient's problem(s), only limited by the English language (or whatever language you're using).

[roser13, ASN, RN]

Of course we diagnose, it's a minimum requirement of Nurse Practice Act to utilize the nursing process, step 2 of the nursing process is to diagnose.

I think you're referring to making a medical diagnosis, although even then it's not completely true that RN's don't diagnose medical conditions, the term "diagnose" refers to evaluating something and describing the problems you find, which is something nurses do all the time.

It is clear that the OP desires to make medical diagnoses.