I had very poor LVN/LPN training. Anyone else?

[I love my cat!]

I ran into a woman who is taking the same LVN course that I took before I got my RN. So, I asked her a few questions.

Seems as though they are teaching the same old useless stuff. I say "useless" because I personally felt so unprepared and under-trained when I started my first LVN job in LTC.

Looking back, I can see how so much of my training was wasted on completely useless "skills". Not that the skills are not important, please don't get me wrong, but when I see the skills that I really should have been taught in order to function on the job in the real world, I would say that the College had their priorities messed up.

For example, we spent days on how to make beds and miter the sheets, how to read a Mercury thermometer :uhoh21:. How to brush a patients teeth and feed them. How to introduce ourselves, etc.....

Minimal time was spent on Pharmacology. No time was spent on how to start IVs or troubleshooting problems with IVs. No training on how to draw blood. We weren't even taught how to do a finger stick, draw up insulin and calibrate the monitors! We were assigned 1 patient for one week during clinicals. That didn't give me any idea how to adequately handle 30 patients when I started my first job. I also could have used some training on how to deal with difficult patients, bossy co-workers, intimidating doctors and controlling families. Maybe some role playing? So, when these situations actually happened, I wasn't standing there looking like an idiot with my jaw dropped open or taking something personally and getting upset. I know some people have a quick response to ANY situation, but I would say that most people in my class of 35 did not.

I felt so incompetent when I first started working. I actually felt that I could have just skipped my year of training and just started working. That is how little I actually learned in the program. I really feel that I could have had all my training on the job as a new LVN....would have saved me time wasted in class and the $$$$ for tuition.

I know there are some excellent LVN/LPN programs out there, but mine was definitely not one of them

I definitely envy those that had great instructors and thorough training!!!!

[iwanna]

Honestly my LPN training left a lot to be desired. We did not have enough of clinical time. However, I was in RN training, mostly. And, I sure was grilled(and thank God!) there! I stepped back into LPN for a quarter because I failed a course in RN training. But, had I gone to just the practical nursing program, I would have been in terrible shape. But, the instructors said that you will get the chance to learn when you have a job. The LPN program was not a challenge at all. I was very disappointed. However, it may have seemed easier because we covered just about everything in my RN training. I wanted to be more challenged in clinical. In fact, I had one instructor that was supposed to observe me doing a sterile dressing change. I was fuming when she did the whole thing, then marked off that I did excellent. I would never recommend that nursing program.

[Jo Dirt]

My clinicals were an absolute joke - and my program has that reputation. And it's still got a wait list.

I went to school in Tennessee and the training was a joke. We had to be checked off on skills like bedmaking and reading a mercury thermometer, also. Clinicals were even more of a joke. We got to pick what department we wanted to go watch. I gave one insulin injection and that was as technical as it got.

I understand that most of your learning occurs on the job but I was talking to another nurse who trained 20 yrs. before I did and they did everything: catheters, feeding tubes, all kinds of injections. I say the standards are lower today as far as training goes.

[Lorie P.]

my lpn school was 15 months long, 12 of those being in nursing classes. we had clinicals 3 days a week and lectures 2 days. our instructers we b****es from h***l, all 3 of them had msn's.

they taught us like rn students. we learned how to give, po, subling, rectal, topical, im, sq, id injections, draw blood, draw up insulin, accu checks, iv meds and start iv's. we learned how to put in foley's, ngt's as well as remove them.

we did peg feedings, ngt feeding, trach care.

we rotated from med/sur, neuro/ortho, ob, peds, pp, nursery, we even did roatations in the ed, or , pacu and out pt. there really wasn't an area that we didn't see or work in learning all the above skills.

we started out with 2 pt's moved up to 4 and then learned how to be a team leaders that had to be the so called " charge nurse" making assigments for 3 jr students that had 2 pt's each.

the first day of clinicals we had to be at the hosp ready to go at 6"45 to receive report and didn't leave till 3:15 after giving report. we had to know the disease process, the nursing interventions, the rationals for the interventions. also we had to know pharmacology, the class of drugs, actions/indications, iv push rate, 5 nursing implications along with 4 major side effects.

we had to learn how to do care plans also. even though it was tough and hard, i came out of school very confident. my instructor taught us like they had been taught and it paid off.

i have had several old and new rn's tell me that i learned way more than they did and i have even shown and helped new rn's put in iv's, foley's and ngt's.

all in all it was worth every miserable day i made my self get up and go.

if a student missed 3 days no matter what the reason, you were dropped from the program. also for the first quarter one could only fail 2 exams before being dropped and for quarters 2-4 only 1 exam, before being canned.

our clinical paperwork was out of this world and heaven forbid if it was wasn't done on a daily basis and you better knew what drugs, how much, and the 5 rights before even letting them know you were ready to pass meds. also 4 meds errors you were dropped.

this was how my lpn school was taught and is still taught today. we started out with 22 students and only 4 of us made it to graduation and passing boards.

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

you were ready to pass meds. also 4 meds errors you were dropped.

this was how my lpn school was taught and is still taught today. we started out with 22 students and only 4 of us made it to graduation and passing boards.

wow! so did students know ahead of time how tough the program was? that most don't make it?

[Jo Dirt]

this was how my lpn school was taught and is still taught today. we started out with 22 students and only 4 of us made it to graduation and passing boards.

as bad as my school was we started with 36 and finished with 11.

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

My LVN program has some good points but all of us students feel it is weak on Pharmacology. The teachers are good but since they don't check our Pharm work books almost no one does it! I think one thing that really hampers the program is that it is too large. They accept 60 students for each class and we are all taught in one large classroom. I hate being one of 60! Without the personal attention there are too many cracks to fall thru. I could get by without doing some procedures and oh well there was just no opportunity. Another downside is that with such a large class there are some students who have grouped up and just take over. At my last clinical unfortunately many memebers of that group were all put with me and I totally hated it. I felt very harassed/bullied. They wanted to leave as soon as possible and so in afterclinic time every time someone said something they were told to be quiet and quit talking We felt we couldn't ask questions. So not as much learning going on and the instructor did nothing; she ignored it. (I could start a whole different thread on this!) I feel the program and instructors could be better organized.

Some good points. We do rotations where we go to clinics where LVN's work. I went to Peds, and GI, clinics. (Now I want to work in a clinic while I'm an LVN and going to RN school) I've also gone to the ER 3x which was amazing! I was with an LVN there but everyone was very helpful and showed us things-even the docs and the PA's. I want to go back one more day. :)

IV certification is a different class that one takes after they graduate. Since when do LVN's do IV's in school? I've never heard of that. If they do let me know. We get to discharge an IV and that's it.

At the end we have Employment Readiness 8 hours a day 5 days a week in a chosen clinical site. That will be in another 3 weeks so I'm not there yet. Many student's say they couldn't have gotten along in the real world of nursing without it.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I understand that most of your learning occurs on the job but I was talking to another nurse who trained 20 yrs. before I did and they did everything: catheters, feeding tubes, all kinds of injections. I say the standards are lower today as far as training goes.

It really depends on the school. I have worked with students from a couple of other programs and their clinical training was incredibly thorough.

Like you, I gave *an* insulin injection. That was the most technical I got, as well. These other students? They'd done it all.

[CHATSDALE]

i knew a nurse who was failing at one school and was told to go to another school [both state run schools] and she said it was a piece of cake..i believe her too she was poor nurse as long as i knew her

drop/failure rates at some schools USUALLY run about 75/80 percent..

however sometimes they know what they really want when given the opportunity to return to school

[Lorie P.]

wow! so did students know ahead of time how tough the program was? that most don't make it?

yep, everyone knew how hard it was and that only about 4-6 make it a year.

[OgopogoLPN, LPN, RN]

I've just finished my classroom and finals for semester 1 of LPN school. We start 3 weeks of clinicals on Monday.

I can say that so far, the education has been excellent. We have 3 BSN instructors who are awesome and have a GENUINE DESIRE to teach us well and see everyone succeed. They won't however coddle someone along. If someone is failing, they will be put on academic probation and kicked out if there's no improvement.

I can't wait for semester 2 and learning even more technical stuff!! :)

[I love my cat!]

Like others have mentioned, I also witness several surgeries and two births, but it did not teach me anything. I mean, I was just a passive observer. Now I know a lot of people learn a ton by just watching, but for me, I need the hands on type of training to really have it sink in. Heck, I learned more from my own surgery.

When I first started in LTC, I remember when I read in the MAR that a patient needed her pacemaker checked. I had absolutely no idea what they meant by 'over the phone with the magnets'. I'd never even heard of anything like that!

In school, we were never taught about Hoyer lifts or how to correctly transfer patients. I learned that from the CNAs on the job.

When I said minimal pharmacology, basically all we really needed to prove was that we knew the drugs for the 1 patient that we had for our 1 week in the LTC clinical. I cracked down and memorized everything r/t the 9-10 drugs my patient took, but to be honest, I didn't have a clue about the other hundreds of drugs out there. It was scary and I felt very overwhelmed.

I was very flustered when I started work and the MAR would have the generic name for a drug listed when I was only taught the Brand name in school. I mean we would learn a few of the generic names, but for the most part, we stuck with the brand. I think weekly quizzes matching the generic names of drugs to the brand names would have been an excellent learning tool for me. Would have been a lot more beneficial for me than making a bed 100 times or having to show the correct way to wipe a plastic bottom over and over.

I'm, glad to read that some people are getting excellent training. It sure makes working a lot easier and a LOT safer.

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

A lot of posters here mentioned making beds over and over, metered corners, and learning other basic care. At my school we did NONE of that. One of the requirements to get in my school was to be a CNA so we learned all that stuff in CNA class. Also, we only went over everything once in CNA class. Then we were expected to know it and do it in clinical. And my CNA school, (same as for LVN because it's an adult school) had way more clinical hours than any other school. But where did I really learn basic care? By working as a CNA. :) That's when it all came together for me. It does seem like a complete waste of time to learn how to make beds, etc while training to be an LVN.

My LVN program is also known for having way more clinical time than even some ADN programs. As for watching a baby being born- our students don't get to watch, we participate. We are right there working with the nurse. I took VS on mom and baby, I held the mom's legs in labor, I checked the lady parts (wearing sterile gloves) to see the head coming so the nurse could see and run out and get the nurse midwife. But I had the most wonderful nurse in the world :) Then we checked over baby when he was born. We also get to work one day in the nursery. On my day a new babe was brought in and right away he had retractions while breathing and began grunting. The regular nurse had just stepped out and I was with a travel nurse who had not been there before. We searched for the oxygen and found it but wow what an experience that was!

But we don't get to watch a surgery. We did get to go with someone to dialysis though. And the dialysis nurse taught us everything about it and quizzed us on dialysis so we learned everything we could on dialysis.

My program does have a reputation for being good but I think it could be better if it was more organized and the drama were left at home. (whole 'nuther thread)