Gurnick academy of medical arts concord

[alwayswanted]

I just wanted to let anyone who is thinking of taking the LVN program at Gurnick Academy to be very careful. My experience at Gurnick has been anywhere from wonderful to horrible. I have had very professional teachers, ----, the Med/Surg teacher, -------- for Pediatrics and Psych, and my clinical instructor was magnificent. However, there were other teachers, especially those newly hired that left much to be desired. They hire new teachers and do not train them. Sure they make sure that they have nursing experience. But can they teach? Then when you go to the administration to tell them, they turn a deaf ear and make you look petty for bringing it to their attention.

If you ask me, would I do it again? I would have to say, "I don't know". I think I would have explored more schools and took a look at their contracts. Gurnick has gone through so many changes, that in the middle of a module they were adding clinical hours to our already heavy load. We had to attend a 3 hour clinical every Friday and some Saturdays just to keep up, even though we hadn't missed any clinical days.

And their rules.....change, change, change. Always putting out new improved "Kindergarten" like rules. Once even coming in and being told we had to have assigned seating after many months of not....

The program director doesn't listen to the students. She seems to put herself above the students and makes many feel unheard. It is to bad that the people above her don't see this. When put in a place of mediation, she shushes students and rolls her eyes and always sides with the staff, making it impossible to smooth things out.

Overall if I were to rate the education that I have gotten at Gurnick. I would give it a 6 or 7 out of 10. Which if you are paying over $26,000, isn't great. Just make sure you get it in writing, how many hours of clinical you are to do, see if they include Saturdays, etc.

They have talk there of actually putting a training program together for teaching the teachers to be teachers. If you understand what I mean. That would be a question that I would ask at an interview at Gurnick or any school. What do you do when you hire a new teacher - clinical or didactic? How long do you train them? Or do you just hand them a book and say, "Here you go". Which is pretty much what they do at Gurnick, or at least what they have done.

If anyone has any questions, just let me know.

[Christine2009]

I just wanted to let anyone who is thinking of taking the LVN program at Gurnick Academy to be very careful. My experience at Gurnick has been anywhere from wonderful to horrible. I have had very professional teachers, ----, the Med/Surg teacher, -------- for Pediatrics and Psych, and my clinical instructor was magnificent. However, there were other teachers, especially those newly hired that left much to be desired. They hire new teachers and do not train them. Sure they make sure that they have nursing experience. But can they teach? Then when you go to the administration to tell them, they turn a deaf ear and make you look petty for bringing it to their attention.

If you ask me, would I do it again? I would have to say, "I don't know". I think I would have explored more schools and took a look at their contracts. Gurnick has gone through so many changes, that in the middle of a module they were adding clinical hours to our already heavy load. We had to attend a 3 hour clinical every Friday and some Saturdays just to keep up, even though we hadn't missed any clinical days.

And their rules.....change, change, change. Always putting out new improved "Kindergarten" like rules. Once even coming in and being told we had to have assigned seating after many months of not....

The program director doesn't listen to the students. She seems to put herself above the students and makes many feel unheard. It is to bad that the people above her don't see this. When put in a place of mediation, she shushes students and rolls her eyes and always sides with the staff, making it impossible to smooth things out.

Overall if I were to rate the education that I have gotten at Gurnick. I would give it a 6 or 7 out of 10. Which if you are paying over $26,000, isn't great. Just make sure you get it in writing, how many hours of clinical you are to do, see if they include Saturdays, etc.

They have talk there of actually putting a training program together for teaching the teachers to be teachers. If you understand what I mean. That would be a question that I would ask at an interview at Gurnick or any school. What do you do when you hire a new teacher - clinical or didactic? How long do you train them? Or do you just hand them a book and say, "Here you go". Which is pretty much what they do at Gurnick, or at least what they have done.

If anyone has any questions, just let me know.

_______________________________________________________________

I am a student at the Concord Campus as well and have to agree with you on the director she is a little ditzy, but I really enjoy the instructors there. Yes, they can be a little unorganized, but this school is NOTHING like the school where I spent a year in their LVN program and was threatened everyday of being dropped...overall as a transfer student, I am learning so much from this school and love the experience.

As far as the extra clinical hours you need to put in during Module 3, that is because the STATE requires it! And you are given a choice between Friday evenings or Saturday's. So, yes, it is an inconvience to have to put an extra 35 hours of clinical time in, but look at it as a way to improve your skills!!!!

Overall, I give Gurnick a 9 out 10 and feel that you really should turn all this negativity of the school into a positive experience. After all, not every school is perfect and I am quite sure that there are other private schools out there that have even worst issues than the ones you have listed.

I hope that I have not offended you in any way. I am just expressing my opionin