Well, I made a promise to myself that I would post my experiences once I start LPN school so any potential student would know exactly "what it is like". Before I give you the run down of day 1 of my program, let me give you a little background on me and my program.
First, I'm 31, married, and the mother to four children ages 12, 8, 4, and 1. I'm taking a part time LPN program that alternates between 2-3 days a week for 22 months.
Well, I had class today from 8 to 2:30. The first hour or so we just went over the school handbook. We talked about absences, that you had to maintain an 80% to pass the course, uniforms, clinical experiences, etc. After that, we hit the books.
We are using the Foundations of Nursing book by Christensen. We covered chapter 1 today in class. Our teacher elaborated on the stuff she thought was really important about the history of nursing and just skimmed the stuff that wasn't that important. We started to work on chapter two (Legal Aspects in Nursing) and we watched a short video about patient rights. That took us until shortly after our lunch break.
From 1 to 2:30 we worked on medical terminology and important abbreviations we needed to know for nursing. At the end of class, we were told we would have a quiz just about every day. The quizes can be (on average), from 1 to 5 questions. So, I really have to study tonight.
Well, I have class both Tuesday and Wednesday as well this week. If I get a chance, I'll give all of you aspiring LPN students a run down as to what we did.
I hope this helps someone out there considering going to an LPN program. I know I always wanted to know "exactly what they did all day during an LPN program"!
I am so happy for you and you WILL DO GREAT. You seem like a smart girl and you're almost done. Thanks for keeping us posted.
I am still studying for the net, the reading comprehension is driving me nuts.
Well God bless and Best Wishes:yeah:
Did you get the study guide? You can buy it at http://www.eriworld.com. I think it is around $30. It is EXACTLY like the test since it is made by the same people.
Did you get the study guide? You can buy it at www.eriworld.com. I think it is around $30. It is EXACTLY like the test since it is made by the same people.
You will go great! Keep studying.
--Marci, SPN
It works. I loved it. Believe me when I say that some of the questions came from the actual book. I took the test last Thursday, got my results this past Tuesday and I am in. If I did not have that book, I would not have had a fighting chance. Good luck
i read posts all the time here on allnurses.com and am usually amazed at all the stories that inspire me to chug along. :heartbeat i also started my lvn program on jan. 7th. it was a hard decision to go into lvn school because i really wanted to get into the rn program. i heard about this particular program from one of the students in my physiology class and decided to try it out. i am soooooooooooo glad i did!!! this has been an amazing past 6 months of my life. my dream of becoming a nurse is finally coming true! the ironic part of it is that my cc sent me a letter saying that i was an alternate to begin in august 2008, meaning that i won't be getting in until maybe winter 2009!! meanwhile, i'd be finished with the lvn program and thinking about transferring into an rn program as a 2nd year student. :chuckle
this program last 11 months, so that means that if i pass all my classes, i'll be graduating this december!!
it has been a bumpy road and it has been hard on a lot of people in my program. i think we started out with 50 people (5 were alternates) and now we're down to 42. usually they pick 30 candidates, but last semester, the school got funding for 15 more spots. the next lvn class starts in july and they are only accepting 30, so we got lucky last semester. our last clinical day is this wednesday for the first half of the program. we still have some more exams and a final in 2 weeks. hopefully i will pass and move on to second semester vn2. if all goes well, we will have a half-way there pinning ceremony on june 19th!!
it has been stressful at times but well worth it. you get a lot of information thrown at you in such a short period of time. before you know it you're taking care of patients. our clinicals started in february and i was always sweating bullets! :imbar we started out in pairs for the 1st week and then soon were all alone. gradually we all started getting 2 patients, completing vitals and head to toe assessments, passing out meds, watching some cool procedures, helping the nurses with many tasks, charting, running back and forth helping each other out with anything and everything. i've had 3 weeks experience in er and 3 weeks experience in sub-acute. we have been practicing on a med-surg floor and it has been very rewarding and a big eye-opener. i know that this is what i want to do. it just feels so right to help people feel better and listen to them. :redbeathe next semester we move on to other hospitals, but usc county hospital is the one that seems daunting yet exciting at the same time! i believe we will do peds and l&d there and i look forward to that so much.
so to all you guys contemplating becoming a nurse, cna, lvn, rn, go for it!! it is so worth the time and effort!! i know that i am enjoying it immensely!!
i read posts all the time here on allnurses.com and am usually amazed at all the stories that inspire me to chug along. :heartbeat i also started my lvn program on jan. 7th. it was a hard decision to go into lvn school because i really wanted to get into the rn program. i heard about this particular program from one of the students in my physiology class and decided to try it out. i am soooooooooooo glad i did!!! this has been an amazing past 6 months of my life. my dream of becoming a nurse is finally coming true! the ironic part of it is that my cc sent me a letter saying that i was an alternate to begin in august 2008, meaning that i won't be getting in until maybe winter 2009!! meanwhile, i'd be finished with the lvn program and thinking about transferring into an rn program as a 2nd year student. :chuckle
this program last 11 months, so that means that if i pass all my classes, i'll be graduating this december!!
it has been a bumpy road and it has been hard on a lot of people in my program. i think we started out with 50 people (5 were alternates) and now we're down to 42. usually they pick 30 candidates, but last semester, the school got funding for 15 more spots. the next lvn class starts in july and they are only accepting 30, so we got lucky last semester. our last clinical day is this wednesday for the first half of the program. we still have some more exams and a final in 2 weeks. hopefully i will pass and move on to second semester vn2. if all goes well, we will have a half-way there pinning ceremony on june 19th!!
it has been stressful at times but well worth it. you get a lot of information thrown at you in such a short period of time. before you know it you're taking care of patients. our clinicals started in february and i was always sweating bullets! :imbar we started out in pairs for the 1st week and then soon were all alone. gradually we all started getting 2 patients, completing vitals and head to toe assessments, passing out meds, watching some cool procedures, helping the nurses with many tasks, charting, running back and forth helping each other out with anything and everything. i've had 3 weeks experience in er and 3 weeks experience in sub-acute. we have been practicing on a med-surg floor and it has been very rewarding and a big eye-opener. i know that this is what i want to do. it just feels so right to help people feel better and listen to them. :redbeathe next semester we move on to other hospitals, but usc county hospital is the one that seems daunting yet exciting at the same time! i believe we will do peds and l&d there and i look forward to that so much.
so to all you guys contemplating becoming a nurse, cna, lvn, rn, go for it!! it is so worth the time and effort!! i know that i am enjoying it immensely!!
thanks so much for posting your experiences as well. i'm sure many aspiring lpn students will consider it an "eye opener" as to what school will be like.
Did you get the study guide? You can buy it at http://www.eriworld.com. I think it is around $30. It is EXACTLY like the test since it is made by the same people.
You will go great! Keep studying.
--Marci, SPN
Yes I have the net book, in fact it's true what you guys say about it being the same as the test.
As I said before, I failed the reading comprehension part before because of the timing. I missed 8 questions, sadly my time ran out. But now as I try to study I find myself lost and not able to concentrate and that is very fustrating for me, for some reason I keep thinking that this reading comprehension is so hard. God help, please help!
i read posts all the time here on allnurses.com and am usually amazed at all the stories that inspire me to chug along. :heartbeat i also started my lvn program on jan. 7th. it was a hard decision to go into lvn school because i really wanted to get into the rn program. i heard about this particular program from one of the students in my physiology class and decided to try it out. i am soooooooooooo glad i did!!! this has been an amazing past 6 months of my life. my dream of becoming a nurse is finally coming true! the ironic part of it is that my cc sent me a letter saying that i was an alternate to begin in august 2008, meaning that i won't be getting in until maybe winter 2009!! meanwhile, i'd be finished with the lvn program and thinking about transferring into an rn program as a 2nd year student. :chuckle
this program last 11 months, so that means that if i pass all my classes, i'll be graduating this december!!
it has been a bumpy road and it has been hard on a lot of people in my program. i think we started out with 50 people (5 were alternates) and now we're down to 42. usually they pick 30 candidates, but last semester, the school got funding for 15 more spots. the next lvn class starts in july and they are only accepting 30, so we got lucky last semester. our last clinical day is this wednesday for the first half of the program. we still have some more exams and a final in 2 weeks. hopefully i will pass and move on to second semester vn2. if all goes well, we will have a half-way there pinning ceremony on june 19th!!
it has been stressful at times but well worth it. you get a lot of information thrown at you in such a short period of time. before you know it you're taking care of patients. our clinicals started in february and i was always sweating bullets! :imbar we started out in pairs for the 1st week and then soon were all alone. gradually we all started getting 2 patients, completing vitals and head to toe assessments, passing out meds, watching some cool procedures, helping the nurses with many tasks, charting, running back and forth helping each other out with anything and everything. i've had 3 weeks experience in er and 3 weeks experience in sub-acute. we have been practicing on a med-surg floor and it has been very rewarding and a big eye-opener. i know that this is what i want to do. it just feels so right to help people feel better and listen to them. :redbeathe next semester we move on to other hospitals, but usc county hospital is the one that seems daunting yet exciting at the same time! i believe we will do peds and l&d there and i look forward to that so much.
so to all you guys contemplating becoming a nurse, cna, lvn, rn, go for it!! it is so worth the time and effort!! i know that i am enjoying it immensely!!
wow!!!! thank you for sharing your experience. this just gets me pumped up even more to start!:yeah:
Thanks alot for sharing this with us. I am starting my LPN in August and am very scared. Wish all of you luck. Anybody joining Assabet Valley inMassachusetts? Is it necessary to get flash cards before starting? I want to avoid buying things that I dont need because its going to be hard making it through financially.
i read posts all the time here on allnurses.com and am usually amazed at all the stories that inspire me to chug along. :heartbeat i also started my lvn program on jan. 7th. it was a hard decision to go into lvn school because i really wanted to get into the rn program. i heard about this particular program from one of the students in my physiology class and decided to try it out. i am soooooooooooo glad i did!!! this has been an amazing past 6 months of my life. my dream of becoming a nurse is finally coming true! the ironic part of it is that my cc sent me a letter saying that i was an alternate to begin in august 2008, meaning that i won't be getting in until maybe winter 2009!! meanwhile, i'd be finished with the lvn program and thinking about transferring into an rn program as a 2nd year student. :chuckle
this program last 11 months, so that means that if i pass all my classes, i'll be graduating this december!!
it has been a bumpy road and it has been hard on a lot of people in my program. i think we started out with 50 people (5 were alternates) and now we're down to 42. usually they pick 30 candidates, but last semester, the school got funding for 15 more spots. the next lvn class starts in july and they are only accepting 30, so we got lucky last semester. our last clinical day is this wednesday for the first half of the program. we still have some more exams and a final in 2 weeks. hopefully i will pass and move on to second semester vn2. if all goes well, we will have a half-way there pinning ceremony on june 19th!!
it has been stressful at times but well worth it. you get a lot of information thrown at you in such a short period of time. before you know it you're taking care of patients. our clinicals started in february and i was always sweating bullets! :imbar we started out in pairs for the 1st week and then soon were all alone. gradually we all started getting 2 patients, completing vitals and head to toe assessments, passing out meds, watching some cool procedures, helping the nurses with many tasks, charting, running back and forth helping each other out with anything and everything. i've had 3 weeks experience in er and 3 weeks experience in sub-acute. we have been practicing on a med-surg floor and it has been very rewarding and a big eye-opener. i know that this is what i want to do. it just feels so right to help people feel better and listen to them. :redbeathe next semester we move on to other hospitals, but usc county hospital is the one that seems daunting yet exciting at the same time! i believe we will do peds and l&d there and i look forward to that so much.
so to all you guys contemplating becoming a nurse, cna, lvn, rn, go for it!! it is so worth the time and effort!! i know that i am enjoying it immensely!!
thank you so very much your post is awsome:yeah:!!!! reading your post pumps me up even more in becoming a nurse:nurse:!!!! i start my community college's lvn program this august 25, 2008!!!!!!!! i just got my acceptance letter on thursday june 5th!!!! i cannot wait to start nursing school:cheers::1luvu::w00t:!!!! i wish you the best, keep us posted ok!!!
Thanks u gave a great look into what 2 look 4 in the lpn program 4rm what I'm getting from u its a lot of work from day 1 but I'm very interested in being a nurse and look foward 2 ur experience good luck 2 u with ur career.
i read posts all the time here on allnurses.com and am usually amazed at all the stories that inspire me to chug along. :heartbeat i also started my lvn program on jan. 7th. it was a hard decision to go into lvn school because i really wanted to get into the rn program. i heard about this particular program from one of the students in my physiology class and decided to try it out. i am soooooooooooo glad i did!!! this has been an amazing past 6 months of my life. my dream of becoming a nurse is finally coming true! the ironic part of it is that my cc sent me a letter saying that i was an alternate to begin in august 2008, meaning that i won't be getting in until maybe winter 2009!! meanwhile, i'd be finished with the lvn program and thinking about transferring into an rn program as a 2nd year student. :chuckle
this program last 11 months, so that means that if i pass all my classes, i'll be graduating this december!!
it has been a bumpy road and it has been hard on a lot of people in my program. i think we started out with 50 people (5 were alternates) and now we're down to 42. usually they pick 30 candidates, but last semester, the school got funding for 15 more spots. the next lvn class starts in july and they are only accepting 30, so we got lucky last semester. our last clinical day is this wednesday for the first half of the program. we still have some more exams and a final in 2 weeks. hopefully i will pass and move on to second semester vn2. if all goes well, we will have a half-way there pinning ceremony on june 19th!!
it has been stressful at times but well worth it. you get a lot of information thrown at you in such a short period of time. before you know it you're taking care of patients. our clinicals started in february and i was always sweating bullets! :imbar we started out in pairs for the 1st week and then soon were all alone. gradually we all started getting 2 patients, completing vitals and head to toe assessments, passing out meds, watching some cool procedures, helping the nurses with many tasks, charting, running back and forth helping each other out with anything and everything. i've had 3 weeks experience in er and 3 weeks experience in sub-acute. we have been practicing on a med-surg floor and it has been very rewarding and a big eye-opener. i know that this is what i want to do. it just feels so right to help people feel better and listen to them. :redbeathe next semester we move on to other hospitals, but usc county hospital is the one that seems daunting yet exciting at the same time! i believe we will do peds and l&d there and i look forward to that so much.
so to all you guys contemplating becoming a nurse, cna, lvn, rn, go for it!! it is so worth the time and effort!! i know that i am enjoying it immensely!!
i also started in january and will graduate in december. our pinning ceremony is july 15th! clinicals have been great. we go on thursdays and fridays. so far, i have been to med/surg, er, or, wound care, ltc, ortho, respiratory, and icu. it's been really neat. i love or and er. ltc, wound care, and med/surg not so much. can't wait to get to nicu, l&d, peds, and mother/baby. my favorite thing to do so far is give injections. don't know why but i love it. i've done dressing changes, vitals, dc'd ivs, passed meds, basic patient care, i also removed a cast in wound care. lots of other things but i can't remember them all right now.
Marci where are you? I hope you are doing well. Hope you passed finals and enjoyed your well earned break. I hope you're coming back!! I spent the last hour reading about your experiences. Living vicariuosly through you.
I was in the RN program at my CC. Single Mom, 3 kids. Overwhelmed wiht the time consumption. Did well in exams but never felt confident wiht skills-too sleep deprived by thursday, lab day.. I failed 2nd semester clinicals, completely panicked, couldn't think.
I wonder about being an LPN. Your post has been helpful. You're lucky you can take a part time program. Can't do that here, no BOCES type programs either just CC and its evenings and weekends .
this has been an amazing past 6 months of my life. my dream of becoming a nurse is finally coming true! the ironic part of it is that my cc sent me a letter saying that i was an alternate to begin in august 2008, meaning that i won't be getting in until maybe winter 2009!! 
meanwhile, i'd be finished with the lvn program and thinking about transferring into an rn program as a 2nd year student. :chuckle
.
L&D_2b
506 Posts
Did you get the study guide? You can buy it at http://www.eriworld.com. I think it is around $30. It is EXACTLY like the test since it is made by the same people.
You will go great! Keep studying.
--Marci, SPN