New LVN grad needs work experience and skills practice.

[Life is Good]

I need some serious direction from the experienced nurses out there... I am a newly licensed LVN who is enrolled in an online RN program (Excelsior), but wanting to achieve work experience while achieving my RN license. To make a long story short, as a new nurse I don't feel like I'm ready to jump out into the workforce with little to no guidance. The agency where I was recently hired sold themselves to me on their wide range of client cases (well-baby care, post-op, wound care, etc. not just Hospice)...I say this because I am not comfortable with Hospice cases as I have no experience in that area, yet they have called me to work and (although I voiced my hesitation with Hospice up front) it is a Hospice situation. Am I way off base to think I can gain experience as an LVN without working Adult Care Facilities (LTC) and/or Hospice? I would take the occasional Hospice case IF I felt well-prepared, but that is not an area of care that really interests me. I love people, I love helping people, and I have personal experience as a cancer survivor who got better while on Hospice so I understand the important role... I've just never dealt with the dying process, and the thought of handling that all alone frightens me. Is is okay to say that area is just not for me, or should I suck it up and search out Hospice training in order to achieve SOME experience while continuing my education so that I have job options once I am an RN? Gosh, if there were just a handbook for all the gray areas once you graduate and are licensed! Also, in regards to skills taught but not able to practice on clinical rotations while still in school... How do I become more proficient at IVs, foleys (or any cath), etc.? I don't want to be the nervous Nellie on the job, or berated by seasoned nurses who think I should be perfect at all skills, or left in an Agency situation (in home or on site) where there is no one to assist. I hope I don't appear like a train wreck, I just really want to make my patients (clients) comfortable and take the best care of them possible... Not use them as practice dummies. Tell me it will get better....

[Lifeofanurse]

Honestly I would be happy you have a job at all.

I know there are tons of advertised positions but being a new grad LVN with nothing but clinical experience and no real world experience...we can't find jobs.

I've been looking since August. I've applied everywhere and can't even get an interview. I graduated from a prestigious program. Have excellent references and still can't find a job.

At this point I'll take any job offered if nothing more than to get my year of experience before I move in the directions of nursing I would prefer to work in.

I say...do what you can to educate yourself on your specialty...you don't have hospice experience...ok...buy some books, talk to other nurses who work for the agency and learn what it takes to be a good hospice nurse. Once you have some experience your oppty's will widen.

[Life is Good]

Lifeofanurse,

Although I thank you for your time in responding, you missed my point. I too graduated from a great program and I am quite capable of reading a book without direction. I am seeking guidance from veteran nurses who acquired their work experience in an area other than Hospice. I'm slightly offended at your tone ...as I am not looking for a babysitter or someone to hold my hand, but positive suggests from others who possibly felt as I do.

[Cuddleswithpuddles]

Hi Life_Is_Good,

I am no veteran but I have been a LVN for 5 years and now a new grad RN and what I am hearing is a lot of fear and a deep-seated need for a comfort zone where you can be confident in yourself. I resonate with your feelings to this day but my advice to you (and often to myself) is...

"When we accept tough jobs as a challenge and wade into them with JOY and ENTHUSIASM, miracles can happen." - Arland Gilbert

I have this quote posted on my study table. I highlighted the words JOY and ENTHUSIASM because I am often wrought with anxiety by new tasks, rarely if ever thinking of the good things that can come out of a new challenge.

You will never be 100% ready. The only way to become ready is to do it over and over again, whatever "it" is.

If you avoid long term care and hospice as a LVN, you will be waiting for job opportunities for a very, very long time. And even if you do manage to get an acute care position in the long run, death and chronic disease will still be there. Pain and suffering will still be there. Unfair patient loads will still be there. So you might as well learn how to deal with these things the best way you can as a LVN.

The areas available to you may not be your ideal but have faith that every lesson you learn you can carry with you for the rest of your nursing career. Every area of nursing as a different flavor and skill set, yes, but at its core, our profession still deals with beings that need air, water, food, safety, love and belonging etc. There are a lot of common threads in the vast variety of settings we can practice in so grab the threads offered to you now with joy and enthusiasm and make your own miracle. :)

[Life is Good]

JBDinCA,

Thank you SO much for the words of wisdom (and in my book, you ARE a veteran )... No doubt about it, I am scared and I'm desperately looking for ways to not be scared. I guess (like many new grads) I had this "dream" that I would acquire my license and be 100% ready for anything and everything. But truly that is a fantasy. There are so many skills (starting an IV is at the top of the list) that I had one opportunity to perform in a clinical setting with an instructor, and now I feel almost imposter-ish (lol pardon my made up wording) and guilty for being set free to practice on patients. But I guess this is how it is for everyone...? I just can't thank you enough for refocusing me on the fact that if my heart and my spirit are in the right place, then the rest will be okay too. I take great comfort in knowing that my heart is in the right place, and my attitude is always that of someone who is honored to provide comfort and care, love and support to my patients and their families. I guess I really AM a nurse now!