kitten77

You are not over reacting. It is good to know new people in the field of patient care have enough smarts & concern for their fellow man to worry about these conditions. If I were you I would worry about being sued for some action you were not informed of avoiding. They say "if you don't know - then you don't know what to ask".

I am a black sheep here. Just to be honest, with one or twenty one years of experience I would never say "gentle" while any physician is in the process of doing anything with a patient.

I completely agree!!!! They don't teach you this in school!

I am an LVN but just had to reply to your post. I think what you are experiencing is natural. When you are done with your program You can decide where to work and which shift! If you feel the whole "nursing" thing is not jiving with what you actually want please don't get discouraged. You might want to try for a clinical research position or something where you can make use of your BSN but not in actual nursing. I have noticed some higher up positions in clinical research want a BS in "any of the natural sciences or nursing". Please don't get discouraged - there are many options out there.

They are short handed in Boston, Ma & all over California

Just another note. Besides this incident, if you are in any danger of failing clinical I would quietly approach my instructor and ask them how you can be a better nursing student. I would tell them I respect their opinion and value their imput, even if this is not true. I would put the ball in their court but follow through with literally everything they say - every minute. Best wishes

I commend you for being honest about your actions! I, as someone else mentioned, would not blame this on ADD or anything else. This could, and, (I bet my license on this) will be used against you in more ways than one. I commend you for addressing this as being something you know is wrong, but please don't beat yourself up for this. Infact, besides your lapse of judgement you could have been doing a helpful duty - gee, what is that doing there, let me help out & get rid of this. They say (I have no choice to throw two quotes in, hope you don't mind) the road to hell is paved with good intentions....And another one.... No good deed goes unpunished. I would address this with whoever you need to before they address this with you. Coming forth in a calm but apologetic manner seems best. Who you address this with is dependent on your school/program, ect. Best wishes

Those topics are tough. On my cable they have educational programs which highlight exactly what you are doing. The Standard Devients (company name) sells great video tapes (their customer service is horrible, try to get them on E bay or something) about everything from biology to math, ect. I purchased a few which made a big difference. Try cable tv first then E bay....

Above all, we are human. We can talk all day about legalities but won't. I think it is a shame the nurse could not have an open mind during this rare circumstance.

My heart goes out to you. I just want to mention a few things. Some states have patient to nurse ratios (I respect the fact this won't help you just this minute) these rules set by the state are good to know about. Like someone mentioned I, too, would look for another job pronto. Just too much stress and risking my conscience and license..........It just can't be worth it. FYI I work in outpatient so I don't have to deal with this type of nightmare. My sincere best wishes.

Hi Katie! I work at UCLA but in the Doris Stein Eye Center which is outpatient. Just wanted to welcome you.

You mentioned you attend Moorpark - how do you like their program? I am an LVN & am applying to their RN program. Thanks for the info. Jeannie

I came upon your post and just had to ask where you applied. I live in Woodland Hills and have applied to Moorpark & LA County. I am just curious. I am an LVN, are you as well?

I don't mean to offend anyone out there but that area of Oakland is very rough. Bart is great transportation (I commuted from the Rockridge area of Oakland to UCSF Med Center for 5 years), even on weekends but I would NOT recommend this alone, late at night. I have lots of experience with this. I did like living in the East Bay, more sunshine than SF.

My friend applied to Glendale and Pasadena. She got accepted to Glendale (she was accepted by luck/lottery) about two months after applying & loves their program. I agree with the other poster, I would apply to both just to be sure. Best wishes

I did my IV cert at Casa Loma in Van Nuys and loved the class. The teacher was wonderful and the students were motivated.

Did you consider volunteering as a phlebotomist to get hours/sticks as experience? The Berk free clinic has an army of volunteers. This might enable you to do this for $ while in school.

The wife of a friend works at Kaiser & just loves it. She is in the San Fernando valley but I think Kaiser is like a chain store, they are run around the same from area to area. She started at 34 an hour and was increased to 36 an hour a few months later. The thing she likes most about Kaiser is the strict nurse/patient ratio. The floor she works on has a 4 or 5 patient ratio to each nurse. This is taken very seriously (she previously worked at a LTC facility and bombarded with patients, if they had a ratio is was violated daily) She likes Kaiser but it is not my bag, I am at UCLA Med & like outpatient stuff. Good luck

I saw your posting the other day and checked with a friend whose wife works at the big "K". She is foreign born & educated with about 10 years of experience (1 year in America). She started on one of the med surg floors for 34 hourly after a few months they increased this to 36. The strongest reason why she loves the K is that they have a strict patient ratio of 4 or 5 to one nurse. The ratio is taken very seriously. She has worked there (I forget is this is Woodland Hills or Panorama city) for just about 7 months. The Kaiser thing is not for me, I am at UCLA Med.

I would contact the board directly. I think they have a hearing for stuff like this. In school they let us go to the hearing to see what type of experience this is. Best Wishes

If you are willing to volunteer a few hours per month/week to gain experience you can call the clinics in LA. I volunteered at the Valley Community Clinic part-time ten years ago and had a great time. Many of the clinics that use "sliding scale" pricing for patient exams are places which have volunteers. If you volunteer at a hospital (in my experience) the work is less patient oriented. With all due respect I don't think you want to deliver flowers to patient's rooms, you would want real hands on stuff which is found at clinics. Good Luck

I am only familiar with the programs at Cal State Northridge and UCLA (UCLA is reinstating their program as of this fall). Both programs only take applicants if you have your RN. Otherwise I know little about this. There is no wait list at UCLA since their program is "new" again. Info can be found on their site.

I am going on 2nd hand information but want you to know of my friend's experience with Maric. She lasted only about three months in their LVN program, then quit. She said "most of the class and teachers are from the Phillipines, they are given priority for tasks and extra encouragement over people who don't speak their language". She mentioned the teachers would say catch phrases in Tagalog during classroom lecture leaving those who don't understand the language in the dark. There might be more than one location for Maric but honestly this was her experience.

Hi, Having worked in ophthalmology for 18 years I am not aware of this "new test" however, I have to mention, for decades it has been possible for a physician to take a sample from a patient's eye with a sterile Kimura spatula, smear it on a slide, look at it under the microscope and generally rule out most stuff. This should take about 3 minutes but you need to have a willing doctor and a good microscope which is not too inconvenient to access.