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"!
Specializes in Addiction & Recovery, Community Health.
Thanks Marci! I think I can handle that. I was hoping some of the textbooks had workbooks, some do, because that "works" for me as a learning style. I guess I will only know the whole story once I start in Sept.
I am going to GST BOCES. Hey! BTW. Did it make the news down your way, I know you aren't too far from here, what happened up here at our BOCES school? Some girls estranged husband showed up with guns, at the school, ran her off the road, dragged her out of her broken wind shield and started to beat her within and inch of her life right in front of the staff and other students. It was awfull. Lucky for us the state police barracks is right across the road. The guy didn't care, he was high on heroin!
Thanks Marci! I think I can handle that. I was hoping some of the textbooks had workbooks, some do, because that "works" for me as a learning style. I guess I will only know the whole story once I start in Sept.
I am going to GST BOCES. Hey! BTW. Did it make the news down your way, I know you aren't too far from here, what happened up here at our BOCES school? Some girls estranged husband showed up with guns, at the school, ran her off the road, dragged her out of her broken wind shield and started to beat her within and inch of her life right in front of the staff and other students. It was awfull. Lucky for us the state police barracks is right across the road. The guy didn't care, he was high on heroin!
Thanks again. Keep up with us once in a while.
Cheers!
Wow! No, I didn't hear any of that. I sure hope she's ok. She's fortunate that help was nearby.
We started clinicals on Thursday at a nursing home and it's really sad. The CNA that me and one of my friends from class has to follow around is really rough with the patients. During the bed bath, she left the little lady completely uncovered with Carlos and I both standing there. She kept leaving the room and leaving the door open with the poor lady completely exposed so Carlos and I covered her up. She was washing the lady really rough and you could see on her face that it was hurting her. Carlos gave her a back rub and I was putting some lotion on her. I was so afraid I was going to tear her skin just by putting the lotion on her. If everyone ends up in that state when they get old, I don't want to get old ever.
I commend you & carlos for being so compassionate & caring for the elderly patient & i am sure she appreciated that you & carlos took the time to be kind & give her the respect & dignity she deserved. You & carlos will make excellent nurses. That is the kind of nurse I am going to be respectful, helpful, & compassionate. That CNA should be ashamed of herself. You both did the right thing in helping the patient & I am sure she apprecaited it.
I commend you & carlos for being so compassionate & caring for the elderly patient & i am sure she appreciated that you & carlos took the time to be kind & give her the respect & dignity she deserved. You & carlos will make excellent nurses. That is the kind of nurse I am going to be respectful, helpful, & compassionate. That CNA should be ashamed of herself. You both did the right thing in helping the patient & I am sure she apprecaited it.
Missy,
Thank you for this. It did feel really great to help that lady. Now every time Carlos and I go see her, she smiles. Something we haven't seen her do since we got there. If we ask her questions she nods her head and apparantly wasn't doing too much of that before either.
Thank you for this. It did feel really great to help that lady. Now every time Carlos and I go see her, she smiles. Something we haven't seen her do since we got there. If we ask her questions she nods her head and apparantly wasn't doing too much of that before either.
Well ur very welcome. You & Carlos made a impression on your patient with the compassion & kindness & now she will always remember both of you. Both of you should be very proud of yourselfs, you both have made a real difference in a patients life. I hope to one day make a difference in a patients life. I cannot wait to start Nursing School!!!! I wish you & Carlos the best, keep me posted ok, if you don't mind.
Well ur very welcome. You & Carlos made a impression on your patient with the compassion & kindness & now she will always remember both of you. Both of you should be very proud of yourselfs, you both have made a real difference in a patients life. I hope to one day make a difference in a patients life. I cannot wait to start Nursing School!!!! I wish you & Carlos the best, keep me posted ok, if you don't mind.
I sure will!
The other day we had an interesting case. It was only my 4th day in the LTC facility and I have never done patient care before in my life! There is a man that is somewhere in his late 80's and has cancer. The night before we got there, he had fallen out of his bed and busted his head open. They had a hard time stopping the bleeding but finally did. The week before, I had been trying to get vitals on the man and he was asleep. All of a sudden, he ripped off the BP cuff and scared the crap out of me. He seemed still asleep though. He seemed to be alert during the rest of the day. Well the next shift I was there which was the day after he fell, we were doing his neuro exam. Pupils are nonreactive, he isn't verbal, very combative, etc. Well Carlos and I were there with a few other classmates and the man's nurse. The nurse had just given his meds to him and he swallowed them without any obvious problems. Carlos was on his right side and one of the other classmates, Mary, was on his left. The man grabbed Carlos's hands and held them and all of a sudden turned to his right side (where Carlos is) and started throwing up black blood everywhere! Now mind you, we all have to wear completely white everything. Carlos stood there trying to help the man (he is an EMT) and helped to clean him up without getting anything on his scrubs. The man has a tumor on his neck which had popped open during the process of him vomitting. The cancer had also metastised(sp?) to his brain. It was so scary because we really couldn't do much for him. I just kept getting towels and the nurse let us handle everything pretty much. After we got everything controlled we left the room and left him with his hospice sitter. As far as I know, he was ok after we left.
After that, on the next day, Carlos and I got to spend the day in the physical therapy room. That was so fun! I played kick ball with an elderly man for a while. Afterwards, I had gone to take him back to his room. I got back and everyone was surrounding the table/bed thing with Carlos's patient on it. Apparantly after I walked out of the room the man had become unresponsive so they moved him to the table. His blood pressure and O2 stats were really low so they got him so oxygen and gave him insulin and everything started to go back to normal again......but right there next to him again was Carlos, taking wonderful care of him. I really admire Carlos. He is a wonderful friend/person and I know that he is going to be a great nurse. I am very lucky to have him as a friend.
Well, I passed my vitals skills check off in the lab today. Not too hard at all. We had to do an apical pulse, respirations, and to take a fellow classmates blood pressure while our instructor listened in on the dual stethoscope. For those of you who are students, always remember to take the apical pulse for a full minute. You never take it for 15 seconds and then times it by 4 like you would for a radial, etc.
I start clinicals on Monday! I can't wait. I can finally put my new found skills to full use! I'll let you all know how that goes.
I have a horrible test to take on Tuesday. It's on Fluid and Electrolytes. It is such a hard chapter. I guess many people in the full time class failed it. Hopefully, I won't be one of them.
Well, I just wanted to give you all the latest update on my journey to becoming an LPN. I'll try to check in as soon as I can next week to give you all the update of what clinicals are like.
Clinical went pretty well today. Last week was just an "orientation to the facility". Nothing really great to report there. It was just all policy and procedure.
Today I got my first REAL, LIVE patient. It was sooooo much fun. We had to do an assessment on our patient (head to toe), full AM care, bowel and bladder care, etc. We fed residents (even if they weren't our patients) for breakfast and lunch. I got to look at the MAR on the med cart. That was pretty neat.
We have to do a care plan on our resident for next week so we got to search their charts for info. I've never been in a medical chart before, so it was amazing to read all of the information related to my resident.
I got to listen to "normal" lung sounds, and lungs sounds of someone with pneumona. Wow, what a difference there.
All in all, a pretty good day. I'm tired, though. Class is from 8 to 2:30. However, clinical STARTS at 6:30 and goes to 2:30. Needless to say, I'm exhausted.
Yay for you! It must feel so good to know that you are accomplishing such a feat with young children to care for. I start classes May 1, and very grateful to you for outlining your 1st days.
I had my orientation Apr 3 & it was a disaster!! We had a severe thunderstorm the night before and a huge family squabble. 2 of my dogs are DEATHLY afraid of the noises the storms bring, and spent the night keeping me awake. I had a 40lb boston terrier on my chest panting for what seemed like hours & his 26lb sister wrapped around my neck panting & shaking like she had seen the dead rise!! Well, the lack of sleep caused me a migraine. I attended the next day, but was VERY green throughout the whole thing. I ended up having to excuse myself so I could vomit. I waited a year for this day to arrive & it was horrifying for sure. I now kind of chuckle at myself, because it was ONLY orientation...what will the rest of my year be like???
Yay for you! It must feel so good to know that you are accomplishing such a feat with young children to care for. I start classes May 1, and very grateful to you for outlining your 1st days.
I had my orientation Apr 3 & it was a disaster!! We had a severe thunderstorm the night before and a huge family squabble. 2 of my dogs are DEATHLY afraid of the noises the storms bring, and spent the night keeping me awake. I had a 40lb boston terrier on my chest panting for what seemed like hours & his 26lb sister wrapped around my neck panting & shaking like she had seen the dead rise!! Well, the lack of sleep caused me a migraine. I attended the next day, but was VERY green throughout the whole thing. I ended up having to excuse myself so I could vomit. I waited a year for this day to arrive & it was horrifying for sure. I now kind of chuckle at myself, because it was ONLY orientation...what will the rest of my year be like???
Believe it or not, you will learn to cope and operate under circumstances like these. I had to go to clinicals last week dead tired because my daughter had me up most of the night before with an ear infection. When things like that happen, I try to remember this quote: "You only see the obstacles when you have stopped focusing on your goal". With that being said, I try to only think of the prize, my future as an LPN.
Keep your eye on your goal and keep us posted as to how school goes for you.
KIMYNURSE2B
204 Posts
I started Monday. We had a quiz on monday and a final on Friday.
This Monday and Tuesday are quizes.
I really enjoy school but it is tough lots of reading & understand what you have read.
Oh I got a 100 on my quiz