LVN Correctional Nursing

[Kittynurse619]

Hello Everyone,

I recently applied for a LVN position at a correctional facility in Northern California. I have an interview next week and I am really nervous. I had previous looked at the job description that was listed on their website and the one they sent me for the interview is slightly different. I noticed that it states that I will have to do lab draws. While I have done a few in the past I haven't done any in a couple of years. My question is how often do LVN's draw labs for patients? Is this something LVNs do more than RNs or vice versa? Also will they provide any type of refresher or practice if I haven't done so in a while?

Thank you for your help in advance,

kittynurse619

[linoleum]

My experience is in New York, not California so I can't say with certainty what it will be there. Lab draws are one of those things you are only going to get better with practice, so if you have a lot of them you will just keep getting better. Some of your patients are going to have experience with finding veins, so use their advice.

Sometimes inmates are really hard sticks (due to a number of reasons such as dehydration, scarred veins, really low blood pressure from laying around all day doing nothing, etc.). My guess is the facility wants everyone who legally CAN draw blood to have this in their job description so that nobody can say "that's not in my job description" when it is her turn to try to get blood.

[Saleger]

How did your interview go? I have one coming up in two weeks in s.cali and I'm super nervous! Any advice?

[lvnforschool]

I had an interview about a year ago, and it was very eye-opening for me.

There were 2 people doing the interview, and they had a paper taped to the table in front of me, asking multiple questions regarding scenarios. Each one was very difficult to answer for me, mostly because I did not have hospital experience, or they seemed more like RN functions vs LVN. In the end, I think my chances went down to zero, because I could not work per diem shift at a moments notice like they wanted me to. They sounded like they were looking for someone who was available 24/7 if someone called in sick, and like most people I needed FULL-time work.