napswithcats

Do what is best for you. I have friends that wanted and/or needed to finish school, become nurse and obtain a better salary FAST so they went with the LVN route. The schooling was also way cheaper and easier to get into. In one year they are making $22 an hour as opposed to the $13 an hour they were getting before. I went the RN route, had to starve myself for way longer, acquired some debt but I had no kids or anything better to do. We now work a long side each other doing pretty much the same job but I am making $8 more per hour....but then again I have a 20k loan to pay off while they have none.

When I was a CNA, I remember being picked on by LVN's for being "just a CNA", now I'm an RN and these same people are picking on me for not having my BSN. Next, I'm going to be picked on for not being an NP and then for not being a doctor. When I was a CNA, I worked my butt off and tried to be the best CNA I could be and I was proud of the letters on my name tag just as I am now. Everyone in the healthcare field worked HARD for their licenses and you need to be proud of what you were able to accomplish given your circumstances because healthcare is not easy. But please don't go into nursing to feel special or trying to prove anything because there is no room in healthcare for egos. You will be humbled VERY quickly by other nurses, by doctors and patients. It's always a competition between LVN's and RN's. They belittle each other and try to feel superior to one another when you should be focused on your patients.

SNF’s are hard because of the amount of residents you get!! I recently started my first job, received “extra” orientation (A total of 6 days) and it was so overwhelming. I am floater and some sections have as many as 41 pt’s and I see nurses have to give meds scheduled at 5 pm and 9pm together in order to finish on time. I also see them charting assessments they didn’t do and ignoring changes of condition because they just don’t have the time. Sometimes they clock out and continue working. They have the best intentions but it’s just impossible to finish on time without taking shortcuts. Everyone is very over worked. But as you get to know your residents and the routine, you will get faster. But for now , don’t worry about your speed, worry about doing things right and eventually you will develop your own style, know where everything is. Who the picky ones are and have to get to first, who you can do last etc so your shifts will be a lot smoother.

It's been maybe 1 month since I started my first job at a SNF and its been terrible to be quite honest. I'm very slow at passing my medications, a change of condition will ruin my day and I never go home on time. The paperwork, charting, and policies are still confusing and I have tons of audits. My 6 days of orientation wasn't very helpful. I cry every few days because its so overwhelming and I feel like I'm struggling to do the bare minimum and I wish I could do more for them. I always watched certain nurses and vowed to never be like them, now I am them. Some of my classmates have had very good experiences though. I guess it depends where you work and your ability to adapt. It's hard and it makes me miss nursing school when I THOUGHT that was stress. But every day you learn, every day you get better, just remember why you chose to be a nurse in the first place.

It is a very ghetto skilled nursing facility, the local ghetto hospital pays $32 an hour. Other hospitals do start at around 45$ for new grads

I would gladly take a pay cut if the resident to nurse ratio was better. There’s just too much work and I don’t feel like I can give the good quality care these people deserve. I only have enough time to do the bare minimum for my 36-41 residents.

As a new grad RN, they offered me $30 and the RN supervisor who has been working there for almost 2 decades makes $38/hr Don’t do it, don’t work at a SNF. The low pay isn’t the worst part.

30$ and hour as a new grad ADN in a SNF. I live in San Diego and It’s a struggle because everything is so expensive here

I ended up choosing to just work part time through it and volunteer at a hospital as I don't really love my job at the nursing home. I just don't feel like a nurse there just passing meds to 30 people. I'd rather focus on school.

They feel really hot and make me so sweaty, they feel like plastic!! I do not like them at all

I have officially been on my own now for a few days and it feels inhumane for both the staff and residents. I don't feel like a real nurse or like I am giving good quality care as I only get to spend like 3-5 minutes with each resident to give them their meds and v/s if needed, do only the most critical treatments and handing/delegating creams and ointments to the CNA's (which I am not supposed to do) in order to get everything done. I do not sit down until its time to chart, work through my lunch, and when my shift is over, I clock out and go back to chart for an additional hour (they don't want to give overtime). The turn over rate is absolutely insane. The orientation is only 3 days for most (I begged and got 5) because many nurses don't stay past the first week. I am scared for my license but I need a job.

oh gosh, I wonder if we are working at the same place. I just started at a similar LTC that still uses paper charting. I only received 5 days of orientation in the 5 different stations and will be floating through all of them when I start next week. I am terrified. The dementia unit has 40 residents per nurse, many without arm bands and all of them running around fighting each other and falling (a lot of incident reports). Everyone passes their meds at the same time, skips treatments and signs that they did them. Daily assessments consist of making up vital signs and copying what the last assessment page says. I feel horrified but as a new grad with an ADN/ASN, my options are limited to these kinds of places for now.

I just finished my RN program and will begin my first job at a nursing home (it's the only thing I can get without a BSN) while I attend UTA's accelerated online RN-BSN program. Since its online, it's flexible but each class is only 5 weeks long so I am wondering how heavy the courses are and if it's a bad idea to work full-time while in the program?

I failed a physiology class which disqualified me from all the BSN programs in the area as they are super competitive. So I studied my butt off for the entrance exams at an ADN program, got a great score, explained my past failures and got in. I finished and I am about to start an RN-BSN program online. No it’s not the path I wanted but at the end of the day, I’m in a way better position than i was before. Also don’t knock down LVN’s, it gets you entry level experience, it’s easier to get into, affordable and in many cases, as short as year. LVN’s are still nurses and make way more than CNA’s, I would rather do that without much debt than go into a 6 figure RN program and be in debt for the rest of my life.

In my area there are less and less CNA’s at hospitals due to budget cuts. If they spend too much on supplies that month, the first thing they cut are CNA’s and just have the RN’s do the extra work. During my clinical rotations, I often saw only 1 CNA per unit that would take 1 pt from each RN, leaving the nurse to fully care for her other 3 on her own. Mind you this was at fancy magnet hospitals. Where there IS tons and tons of work for CNA’s here are SNF’s, they won’t let you leave without interviewing you right then and there. I worked in various SNF’s and would quit all of them because they were all severely understaffed and I would get up to 22 full care, heavy , confused or combative patients. Now, the job market here for RN’s isn’t good either. There are always jobs posted at hospitals but impossible to get if you don’t have a minimum of 2-3 years in acute care in your desired specialty. Even with experience, there’s tons of competition. If you are a new grad, forget it, you are going to work at a SNF unless you move to a different state to get that experience. There are thousands of qualified applicants for the very few new grad positions opened once or twice a year. It’s tough.

I had no choice but to get my ADN as I was getting older and I was disqualified from any somewhat affordable BSN program because I failed a physiology class. Of course a BSN is better but some of us have to do what we can with the options we have. I graduated in May, passed the boards a few days ago and I am quickly learning that I won’t be able to work at a hospital with an ADN in San Diego and my only options are nursing homes. I am somewhat disappointed as the pay isn’t as great and it’s not my dream job but I will be making $30 an hour as opposed to $13 the same facility offered me as a CNA. Also the longer you work at a SNF, the harder (it’s almost impossible) it will be to move on to acute care. There are lots of things to consider such as the job market where you live, what your goals are , and how quickly you need to become a nurse. It’s personal for everyone.

Without HESI, I probably wouldn't have passed the NCLEX as it encouraged me to study harder. I LOVED it, it offers remediation and it tells you what your weak points are and what you should focus on which is different for EVERY student. It encourages accountability because at the end of the day, in every nursing school there are going to be some amazing professors, terrible ones, and some who's teaching style does not suit you personally but it is each student's responsibility to do what they have to do to acquire the necessary knowledge to be a safe nurse and HESI is a great tool to identify those knowledge gaps.

In San Diego, starting pay has been $25 and the highest I've seen is $32. LVN's make around $21-$24. We aren't worth much but definitely a little more than $22!!

Yes!! My school was actually in danger of loosing accreditation because of NCLEX scores. What is mortifying is that these exit exams and the NCLEX test safety and the only basics of nursing! It’s scary that students are given the opportunity to fail them multiple times. I’ve known people that have taken the NCLEX 6 times. I wouldn’t want to put my loved ones life in the hands of someone who failed the most basic exam on safety multiple times.

My school was doing very poorly on their NCLEX exam pass rates and they randomly introduced HESI’s at the end of each nursing course with a minimum passing score of 850 then increased it to 900 and my my did it help! Sure, many more students got held back and weren’t able to graduate on time or graduate at all but the NCLEX pass rates went from 56% to 92%. You should be able to pass the HESI and comply with all requirements because people’s lives are going to be on the line. I would want the nurse taking care of me to at least meet their school’s minimum requirements, pass all necessary exams and NOT fail the NCLEX their first time which she’s in danger of if couldn’t even pass the HESI. The better prepared you are as a new grad, the better and that is exactly what these exit exams are for. She’s honestly lucky she has yet another chance.

Congrats RN!!!!! ???

That was me last week LOL and there is no way, you just have to suffer through it, post on allnurses, google “how do I know if I passed”, and alternate between rock solid confidence and debilitating insecurity until you get your results. When you do get your results that you did pass, it will be the BIGGEST relief and you will update this post and we will give you virtual pat on the back!! But suffering through this waiting period is part of the process ?.

I’ve seen people fail it multiple times and keep trying and succeed, for you to go into a deep depression for an entire year over failing once doesn’t make sense to me. If you were smart enough to pass nursing school which is pretty brutal, you are smart enough to pass the NCLEX. Study harder and try again, you can do this but it’s NOT going to happen if you avoid it completely and feel sorry for yourself. also know that the longer you wait to take the exam, the more knowledge you will loose and the more you will have to study so don’t wait any longer, get on it NOW, TODAY.

They have been pretty fast in Cali!!! I took mine Saturday and my license was up Tuesday at 12:30 a.m

I worked at nursing home and LVN’s WANTED me to help them with the stuff they didn’t want to do such as wounds, colostomy bag changes, and scabies treatments. I always refused because I’m not getting paid to do it, there will be plenty of time to practice skills during clinicals under an experienced instructor and when you actually pass your NCLEX and are actually getting paid to do it.