Opinion on Loma Linda?

suzanne4, RN · Jul 20, 2006

It is a huge facility, also has a University affiliated with it. And they have every specialty.

Excellent place.

seahorses2 · Jul 23, 2006

Its a teaching hospital very BIG on policy and procedures as well following seventh day adventist. I worked there but it was not for me they are not very flexible and most of the nurses have been there well over 20 years. They are also one of the lowest paying hosoital. But if you want to learn go there.

br107 · Jul 31, 2006

ok thanks that sounds good. but what about the school's nursing program? nclex pass rates dont look too hot. other than that?

seahorses2 · Jul 31, 2006

actually I heard they do have good nursing program but it is a requiremnet to take religious courses. Its just not a plaesant place to work especially in the OR and especially for a circulating nurse very stressful. I am a surgical tech and I saw alot of this and alot of complaints but good school for nursing from what i here. but again the lowest paying in calif I believe new nurses start of at between 20.00 and 25.00 thats low. Registery nurses can make up to 48.oo. I believe riverside is at 30.00 20 40.00.

vee

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Jul 31, 2006

I live near there. Many people view Loma Linda focuses too much on bookwork and not enough on actual clinical aspects. For example, they get more practice on care plans and nursing notes. However, they fumble through NG tube insertions and catheters. Several people have told me this. But I remember nursing school only gave me one chance at a catheter! So, this could be the same, everywhere.

I know they are very expensive

baby_huggs82 · Aug 1, 2006

I haven't worked there, but I work with residents from there at my hospital. I don't know how good their nurses are (from the school I mean), but I had an awesome experience with my peds rotation there. They are a Level 1 Trauma Center, and are very well-known for the Children's Hospital. They have a pediatric ICU, and probably state-of-the-art everything. The residents are usually pretty good too. They also have a dental school, and the VA hospital down the street is pretty good too.

Queenlizo · Aug 5, 2006

ok thanks that sounds good. but what about the school's nursing program? nclex pass rates dont look too hot. other than that?

Hi-

I was thinking about going to Loma Linda for nursing, but was turned off by the nclex pass rates. It looks like all of the community colleges in the area have much better pass rates than Loma Linda. So, it looks like I'm going the community college way, and then get my BSN when I start working as an RN.

I don't know much about the nursing program, but I used to work at Loma Linda University for years.

Not much help to your original question! :monkeydance:

Liz

bridge34t · Aug 10, 2006

I'm living in LL.

What position am I looking for if I'll take CGFNS Certificate?

br107 · Aug 13, 2006

Yeah I think I will pass too. Costs to much for that kind of pass rate. Seems like that's the trend for the private schools. Might be an expensive mistake...

RebeccaJeanRN · Aug 15, 2006

OK, I admit to a MAJOR bias, because its my alma mater...but here is my take on their NCLEX scores...Loma Linda really has a diverse student population and actively recruits non-traditional nursing students. It seemed like 1/2 of the nursing class students did not speak English as their first language, although they surely were able to in their classes. These students were great students and will be great nurses and represented all kinds of ethnicities and languages (Filipino, Chinese, Japanese... and of course plain old White Bread Caucasians! LoL) My belief however, that I just can't shake, is that NCLEX is much harder for people for whom English is not their first language, no matter how good a student they were. (I read somewhere that foreign language students have only a 55% pass rate on the NCLEX and the number one reason is understanding cultural differences that are evident in the test questions) So its kind of like the Catch-22 that a hospital that specializes in Cardiac surgeries has, with regard to mortality statistics...they will have the highest number of cardiac related deaths, just by virtue of the number of cardiac patients. Loma Linda has a lower NCLEX passing rate, IMHO, but many factors contribute to that. I'd like to make another analogy: California school teachers are picked on for being so bad, because of test scores. But they also have the highest number of students who don't speak English. (my daughter is a CA teacher, can you tell by my defense of CA teachers?) Anyway, things are not always quite what they appear on the surface. And Loma Linda Medical Center is where everyone wants to send their most critically ill family member...that alone speaks volumes!

Postscript: I just learned from an educator at Loma Linda that their running 2006 NCLEX pass rate is up to about 95% thus far (at 2/3 of the way through the year). That may not be their actual number at the year's end, but it looks like their efforts directed specifically at NCLEX for all their students are starting to pay off!