Highly appreciate the information

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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Specializes in med surg ltc psych.

I just recently posted a question regarding transfering my CNA certification to California. I'd like to thank Daytonite for the valuable information posted in response. I have been cruising along this site since last year, and have found a wealth of information and feel empowered. My hat is off to you Daytonite. You are so thourough and offer vital information to us all. I had originally thought California has reciprocity not only for LPN/RN but also CNA's. I think perhaps the person I spoke with via phone simply did not know the legal stats or procedure for a person to transfer to the state. I am currently in an LPN program, but my program has a glitch. I am waiting for second level to start in January. They are not transitioning second level folks in this fall and have slated it for January. But as more time goes by, my name is moving further down the list for January. So, if it is not to be that I continue and have to wait so long, I just wanted to at least know that if I move I could obtain employment out west. Thaks again!

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

You are very welcome. I remember your post. Keep up your spirits.

It seems like every time I've pursued something worthwhile and serious in my life all kinds of curve balls get thrown at me. Don't know if you follow my posts, but a few months ago I had a colonoscopy and a tumor was found. I had the surgery to remove it and found that I would need chemotherapy followup. Did the fun stop there? Oh, hell no. I got a wound infection which is delaying the chemotherapy. And just for fun it developed into a septic infection that landed me in the hospital on IV antibiotics for 11 days. AND (there's more!) they discovered that my heart was bradycardic with rates down into the 30s and 40s just to see if the nursing staff was on their toes (Ha! Ha!) I had to have a pacemaker put in! Chemotherapy, something was talked about ages ago, it seems, might start in a week or two--maybe. My PICC line, which was put in over 2 weeks ago for chemotherapy, is now looking red around the insertion site and one of the docs is talking about getting it replaced with a Hickman line. In the meantime, I'm counting off the possible days I have left to find homes for my kitties in case we don't cure this cancer. This is just the current example of FUBAR (f****d up beyond all recognition) in my life. You wouldn't believe the nightmare I went through to get into my BSN nursing program!!

But, you know what? You have to just keep on putting one foot in front of the other. Some days you're the dog; some days you're the hydrant. In the end, you call the experience wisdom and pass on what you've learned as I have done for you.

FYI. . .these licensing departments are so swamped that they seldom take phone calls anymore and it takes weeks for them to respond to letters. Most have the information on their websites--somewhere. Depending on how skilled their webmasters are, it may be buried in unrecognizable file names. I've been learning how to dig the information out and I'm often amazed at where I'm finding it.

Good luck to you.

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Specializes in med surg ltc psych.

Matter of fact Daytonite, I have been reading your posts since last year, but I see now that I missed hearing of your colonoscopy and findings. Oh my gosh what serious scary news that was for you. I surely hope you are getting well and have the very best of care. How are you today?

You are so right Daytonite. Today I was the hydrant after I applied for a position today. All the big build up from the receptionist and the DON "oh we'd love to have you, we need someone with all your qualifications and skills" etc. And they needed the position filled yesterday. Well, they send me back home with no interview and told they will be calling me this afternoon to come back in to talk to administrator. It's 4:45 p.m. and no call back. I took off my interview duds after sitting here 3.5 hours waiting, doned my flip flops and get on my laptop all fed up. Another bait and switch. My mother tells me frequently to not dumb down and that it's alright to notate on an app that you have a college degree, other than nursing related info (it's sweet that she still coaches me and I'm 47!) Woops, I'm overqualified again? They didn't want my CPR cert, Hep B, TB skin or CNA cert I printed off the state registry but was told to bring it in. I just want employment until I go back in Jan for second semester of the program, and change to a different shift once back in school. Evidently I was not aware I was applying for the only two jobs available on the entire southeasten hemisphere. What a crock of unprofessionalism. I know darn well that some employees who do the meet and greet of applicants are already sizing you up. Just irks me thats all. Like you were saying, just keep going. You are an inspiration and a walking wealth of knowledge. Glad to have you in my corner. ;)

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

hang in there. i've deliberately left off some of my higher education on some job applications to nursing homes figuring that putting my bsn down would look too intimidating to them and got the job. you never know. the person they hired may not work out and you will be the next person they call. it happens. i call it planting seeds. you never know which seed, even a puny one, might grow and blossom into a beautiful plant.

come to california. california needs rns bad. there are opportunities here, particularly in the la/orange county area. california has a nurse/patient staffing law in effect and a number of nurses were very quick to point out to me recently that very shortly the ratio changes to 4:1. this applies to rns in the acute hospitals. i also heard on the news today that king medical center in la, the huge city hospital, was finally closed. that is going to create problems for the surrounding hospitals who will have to take on that patient population, also will require them to beef up their nursing staffs. california--land of opportunity. many of the community college nursing programs are going to a lottery system and doing away with the waiting lists to get into the nursing schools because they are getting unreasonably long. i know, for sure, that rio hondo cc goes by lottery now. you can apply to any and all cc nursing programs in california to increase your chances when you are resident. i am hearing of hospitals that are giving grants of money to nursing schools to hire nursing instructors so they can get more nursing students into their nursing programs and trained. i was originally trained at an adn program in california but got my bsn at an eastern college. i think my california training was superb. when i moved back east i was hired immediately and told a number of times that my california training was greatly desired.

i'm feeling much better today. the infection seems to be clearing up and my open surgical wound gets smaller every day. tomorrow i'm having a pet scan--looking for metastasis. my him instructors are hounding me about registering for 2 fall classes which start next week.

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Specializes in med surg ltc psych.

Hey there again, had to get back with you on this one. I've lived in California all my life with the exception of the last seven years. I've lived both NorCal and SoCal. I couldn't get in to a nursing program out there. A wait list/time of a couple of years and a lottery system for selection made me nuts. I went back in 03 and attended a CC in Norcal prerequisiting and still couldn't get in, applied here in Louisiana and got accepted. My plan/goal was to finish here, sit for NCLEX here, go back to Cali and endorse. There are numerous good things for nurses out west YAY! as you mentioned the nurse:pt ratio, better hourly rates and an official union for California nurses. Sometimes I think of the lyrics from a Jouney tune "I want to get back to my city by the bay" but seems so far off. Hopefully when I get back, they will need me. I wonder too what is going to happen in L.A. county since MLK has been shut down. What a terrible debacle that occured there. I just hope I'm ready to deal with all the traffic!

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Traffic? My sister refuses to drive on the freeways. Me, I don't mind it. Bumper to bumper at 15 miles an hour will still get you there faster than going on a main road.

You might consider getting an LVN first and then doing an LVN to RN bridge program. You'd be earning more money as an LVN while waiting to get into an RN program. Some California CCs have night and weekend classes for LVN and RN courses. They are looking for more ways to crank nurses out back here.

They said MLK might be able to re-open in a year. It still puts a burden on the other hospitals in the area during that time.

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