wildcats

If I were a patient, I would not want unsolicited religious advice or discussions from my health care providers. If a patient wanted to talk to me about their religion, I would be more than happy to listen, but I wouldn't talk about my personal beliefs with the patient. Religion is a touchy subject and a very personal one and can be become a very heated and emotional discussion.

I don't see a problem with MAs drawing blood or doing an EKG (assuming they aren't responsible for interpreting the EKG) ... the CNAs in my local ER are trained as "techs" and do the same thing. What scares me is the phone triage and patient education. My dad is in his 70s, diabetic, HTN. I took him to a podiatrist that uses MAs and their protocol is to check BP and temp before cutting toenails. The MA took dad's BP and told him it was slightly elevated. I asked her what the BP was and she said 128/74! :trout: Thats not cause for concern on a young, healthy patient much less someone with HTN. It means dad's meds are working.

This is off topic, but PPD when referring to a TB test means Purified Protien Derivative.

I had lots of priority type questions, but everyone's test is different. One thing that one of my instructors said was to read the question, read the answers, and then read the question again before deciding on an answer. She said doing this would help get a better understanding of what is being asked.

I agree that a licensed nurse should pass meds. I, too, am glad that they are becoming more strict with the med aide education. Also, in addition to the pharm training, nurses have A&P, chemistry, etc. and also learn about meds in other nursing classes and clinicals which definitely makes it safer for licensed nurses to pass meds.

My state uses medication aides in ALF. The course used to be two 8 hour days. Starting July 1 they are becoming a little more strict. Here is part of the new training requirements. What do you all think? Here is the link to the page with a word document where you can view the entire thing: http://www.dhp.virginia.gov/nursing/ A student seeking enrollment in a medication aide training program shall have successfully completed the direct care staff training required by the Department of Social Services for employment in an assisted living facility or an approved nurse aide education program. B. Hours of instruction. An approved program shall consist of a minimum of 68 hours of student instruction and training to include: 1. At least 40 hours of classroom or didactic instruction over and above any facility orientation program or training in direct client care provided by the facility; 2. At least 20 hours of supervised skills practice in medication administration to residents of an assisted living facility, after which the training program shall evaluate the student’s minimal competency in the clinical skills of administering medications on a form provided by the board. The clinical evaluation shall be conducted one-on-one with a qualified instructor with experience in medications in long term care; and 3. An eight-hour module in facilitating client self-administration or assisting with the administration of insulin to include instruction and skills practice in the administration of insulin as specified in the board-approved curriculum. C. Content of the curriculum. An approved program shall use the curriculum developed and provided by the board which shall, at a minimum, include the following topics: 1. Preparing for safe administration of medications to clients in assisted living facilities; 2. Maintaining aseptic conditions; 3. Understanding of basic pharmacology; 4. Facilitating client self-administration or assisting with medication administration; 5. Following proper procedure for preparing, administering, and maintaining medications; and 6. Following appropriate procedures for documentation and reporting to the licensed healthcare professional on duty at the facility or to the client’s prescriber. D. In addition to the training curriculum, the program shall provide one or more four-hour modules that can be used by facilities as refresher courses or by medication aides to satisfy requirements for continuing education.

Thanks for the replies. They did say I would be working with just one doctor. Hopefully the doc is nice.

There are lots of jobs for LPNs in my area of Virginia. LTC is always hiring, and I see numerous ads for home health/agency, docs office, prisons, dialysis, state mental health facilities, and on rare occasions (in my area) even the hospitals. I believe there are hospitals in the Va. Beach area that use LPNs.

I posted before that I was going to start working in sleep center, but I declined that position because I got an offer from a large cardiac practice that offers really good benefits. Anyone have any tips on working that closely with the docs in an office? I feel kind of nervous because I am a new nurse and I don't want to mess up and have docs yelling at me lol. Thanks!

I went to one of the small, expensive technical schools. I walked in and filled out the paperwork, took a test, gave them 3 references, had a physical and 2 weeks later I was starting classes. If I had stayed in the day program, I would have finished in 15 months; but I went to the evening program because the pace was a little slower and I finished in almost 2 years. Two weeks after my last class I had my ATT and I scheduled my test for the following month so that I could study a little more and luckily I passed with my first try. The school I went to was the only LPN program in my area. Very easy to get into, but hard to stay in. Alot of people ended up being kicked out or just quit. Anyway, there are schools without waiting lists that are easy to enroll in ... I guess there are just very few of them. Also, as far as I know, there are no issues with my license and other states because of the school I went to. I have a multi-state privilege and my friend that was in school with me just had her license transferred to Georgia.

Oh, ok. I see now. My logical thinking must have flew out the window today. Thanks for clearing that up.

I'm confused now. I remember being taught in school to check PEG placement by pushing so many cc's of air (don't remember how many) and to place the stethoscope on a certain part of the abdomen to listen for the bubbling sound. I also remember doing this with a nurse in clinicals in a LTC. And it was definitely a PEG. So, were the students in my class taught wrong on this one? I know they also taught about aspirating and checking the color of gastric contents. But I don't remember much about it.

In my area: SNF/LTC- $15-20 ALF- $14-18 Corrections- $18-24 Hospital- One hospital uses LPNs, but only on certain floors and only 1 or 2 LPNs- $12 Doctor's Office- Pay seems to be a big secret for some reason, but I do know that one large cardiac practice starts at $15

I couldn't even begin to imagine what its like to deal with patient's family members in the ER ... I probably was annoying the triage nurse to no end lol. I think everyone probably has issues with certain types of patients ... I am a new LPN so I don't really know what I may have to put aside to provide care. I know I am way OT but I am in a small city with 2 hospitals and both ERs are always full. It's amazing. And one of the hospitals is a rather large university.

I'll be happy to let you know how they sleep when I find out. I do know that this place has those expensive special type mattresses ... they even have a TempurPedic memory foam mattress. :)

I don't want to hijack this thread but your post reminded of what happened to my fiance a while back. He came home from work ... greasy, dirty, smelly, etc. complaining of a stomach ache. As the evening went on his pain was getting worse and he was vomiting green stuff. This had happened before a few years ago when he had a bowel obstruction so I listened for bowel sounds ... none. By the time I got him to the ER he was screaming in pain and hyperventilating because he was panicky and scared. I had to lift him out of the car and take him in the ER in a WC. He's in triage still screaming and vomiting and barely able to answer the yes or no questions so I help answer the nurses questions. She got his vitals, slightly elevated BP but otherwise normal. I explain about his past bowel obstuction (he has scar tissue that built up from a previous surgery). The nurse asks what they did for the last obstruction and I told her that they put a tube down to decompress. She then begins to tell me that it couldn't have been an obstuction because they didn't do surgery. So, I guess the docs a few years ago and the CT were wrong? Anyway, he's still screaming and vomiting and the nurse looks at me and says "He does this often doesn't he?" I said no he really never complains about anything so this must be really painful. She says well all our beds are full and there is nothing I can do so you will have to wait. I know the beds were full, the ER was packed. She never listened to bowel sounds either ... I honestly don't know if thats part of a triage assessment. Anyway, we wait about 20 minutes and during that time two "walkie talkies" were taken back. I was livid. He is still in pain, vomiting, etc. I go back to the nurse. "Sorry no beds." I have had enough and I take him back to the car and lift him back in (lucky he's only 140 lbs. lol) and we go the other ER in town which is full also. Triage takes him back and decides ... yes, somethings wrong here. They put him in a bed behind triage until they get a bed for him 5 mins. later. Doc immediately comes in and orders pain meds and nausea meds and a CT scan. Scan shows a bowel obstuction ... he was admitted to hospital for 4 days to decompress. Sorry so long. I don't know why the first triage nurse acted as she did ... was it because she thought he was faking or a drug seeker? Or was she just overwhelmed with work? Honestly, the first hospital we went to is a very large medical center and there is no way that I would have been able to handle the amount of patients that triage nurse was responsible for. Anyway, I know its aggravating and ERs see alot of faking and drug seeking, but just because someone smells and screams doesn't mean they aren't sick. (I want to add that tone of a post is hard to tell so I am not putting anyone here down for their beliefs or actions. Just telling a story in a nice way ... or trying to.)

Thanks! And good luck with your sleep study!

Wow. No one, huh? I assume that nurses aren't frequently used in this environment. Anyway, wish me luck! Thanks.

Hi, everyone ... I am supposed to start a job in a sleep disorders center next month and I was just wandering if anyone here has worked in a sleep center and how you felt about the job? Thanks.

I had worked as a CNA in a nursing home. But MICU is way different. The CNAs on my unit don't have a pt. assignment, we just help everyone. Some of the things you see are really sad, like overdoses and suicide attempts in a young pt. My unit has pts. age 14-elderly. My orientation on the floor is about 2 weeks with another CNA but the nurses are great and they understand that I wont remember or know everything in that amount of time. The thing I really like about my unit is that the CNAs arent made to stay over past their shift to wait for another CNA to relieve them like in other settings. Sometimes there just isn't a CNA scheduled and thats okay because the nurses have 1-2 pts. and they will provide all care to the pt., but of course the nurses like to have a CNA there to help. I don't know how many MICU operate that way but it is nice. I can't really think of anything for you to ask your interviewer right now, but it is almost 3 am here. :zzzzz

I am not a nurse but I am an LPN student that recently started work as a CNA on a medical ICU. One of the major things they looked for was to be self-directed. They want you to be able to know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it without being told (at least on my unit after orientation period). Some of my responsibilities include setting up the rooms and stocking supplies for a new admit, performing (not reading) EKG, accuchecks, cleaning/turning patients, assisting with transport of pt. to diagnostic tests (x-ray, ct, mri)-this requires alot of stuff to be brought with you in case of emergency. There is a lot to learn and I really like it and I wish you the best of luck!

I don't think that older vs. younger really matters. There are older people in my nursing program but just because you are older doesn't mean you have a lot of experience. Personally, I don't really care if a nurse is young/old or new/experienced as long as the nurse knows what they are doing. :wink2:

Wow! Makes you wander what kind of physician would let a MA write prescriptions and perform complete physicals. I am shocked. That is so dangerous (and dumb)!

Are you talking about the story in Virginia? If so, I recall reading that this person was found without a pulse, so that would mean dead wouldn't it? (I know that sounds like a dumb question;) ). I remember in my BLS class they told us you can have a pulse and not be breathing but you can't be breathing if you don't have a pulse, so I just assume no pulse=death. (I haven't read all the other posts yet). I remember reading about a person in my hometown that said they were "medically dead" and figured it was the same story.

My school did a background check. But I figure a background check by the BON would be a good idea because anything can happen between the time you start school and NCLEX.