jude11142

I am an lpn, who just sent in applications to a technical college and one to a private college. Both offer a "bridge course", so you basically don't have to do the first yr of nsg school. I know several co-workers who went this route and they were happy to do so. As an lpn,first, we do have more experience than an RN right out of school. Whichever you choose, you'll be fine. You have to find the right way for you, and you will. I was enrolled with Excelsior, but I just wasn't disciplined enough. I felt terrible that I couldn't complete it,but I had to accept that it wasn't for me. Good luck in whichever you choose. JUDE :Melody:

i i would hope that the charge nurse would be available to you at all times. you should never feel that you are alone. As for night shift, I agree with others, make sure you restock, area is neat,and unless you were swamped, all of your tx's are done, etc...As a nurse who works 2nd and 3rd shifts, we are often left with work that days should of addressed(taking orders,updating md/fam, ordering meds). What makes it difficult, is that days seems to think that nights have it easy. Not so, how many times does a pt go downhill on nights ,or a pt falls etc...? that's all it takes for a bad night. We don't have all the staff days has. Each shift should take responsibility for such.You should always have somebody that you can go to for help. JUDE

I have no problem reporting any incident that is abusive, neglectful, illegal, inhumane, dangerous or potentionally dangerous and so on. As nurses ,we are the patients advocate and mandated to report any abuse. As a human being, I believe that we should report the same. What I have a problem with is when a coworker tells you about such an incident and you ask what happened and they tell you that they didn't do anything about it. Now what? This has happened to me several times and thankfully nobody was seriousely hurt, but.............I just didn't feel right. One time, I told our supervisor about an incident with one of our pts and a cna............what was I told?? :angryfire Did I see this for myself? No, I did not, but so and so told me. Ended up with the person who told me this being mad at me and with the sup doing nothing. I did tell my coworker that if they didn't report the incident that I was going to, so therefore, I could care less that she got mad at me. Other than making it a somewhat hostile atmosphere for a while, she got over it. She actually ended up leaving the facility for another job. Another coworker told me that I shouldn't of gotten involved with that situation but I feel that if somebody knows of abuse/neglect etc...and does nothing then they are just as guilty as the person who commited the abuse. What do others think about this? Have you ever been in such a situation and if so, how did you handle it?? JUDE :Melody:

Our facility recently changed the hrs of bowel regimen. Now, days gives out the MOM, evenings next with the supp. and night shift is to give the fleets enema if no results. It's crazy to wake up a resident in the middle of the night for this! Sometimes, I have 6 pts on the list. You can't wait until near the end of shift to do them because you don't have the time. Too busy with med pass, finger sticks, charting etc.....So, you really have to give the fleets around 4am............... We also have a good amt of treatments on night shift. Also, with the weekly body checks..........we already do a body check on their shower day but once a week on nights we do "foot checks"...aren't feet part of body check??? Makes no sense. We also had passed on to night shift more and more paperwork. Monthly summaries have been put on nights, ofcourse all the lab reqs are for nights to fill out, all st. caths done on nights......I say that when a nurse gets the order for labs, they should fill out the lab req. Seems like we are doing more and more labs......some nights just on one unit of 30pts, we'll have 15 labs!!! Nights is not a piece of cake to work. We all hear the stories where others think those who work nights sit on their behind all night and don't do much unless something happens. Yeah right!! OK, sorry this it turning into a rant,lol..........so I will sign off now,lol JUDE :Melody:

I don't know if this is an option for you but, what I do is I take a 10 minute break and go outside in our courtyard. I walk around and the fresh air gives me my second wind. I know that not everyone can just get off the floor let alone off the unit to outside, but I am lucky enough that I can do so. I work 3pm-7am twice a week and can relate to what you say. I have gained over 20lbs since taking this shift!! We would order pizza at 1am, hit the snack machines at 3am etc.....At first, I would try and bring some healthy snacks, lol, but I ended up taking them back home. Who wanted that when you could order pizza, nachos etc...... No matter what, working the night shifts throws your whole body into chaos. At times, when I got home in the morning, I'd take my shower and hit the fridge and think nothing of heating up a bowl of pasta. Then, I'd go to sleep!! No wonder, I gained weight. I am still struggling with this extra weight, but slowly it's coming off. I agree with the others about keeping busy. Clean out the med cart/room........order supplies etc.......It gets you going and before you know it, it's time to start that med pass, lol. JUDE :Melody:

i think that everyone feels nervous at first.....as for being grossed out, i worked in the o.r. as a scrub tech, so blood and guts don't bother me..............what does gross me out is vomit, lol.....if you weren't nervous, i would be worry....it is normal to be nervous.....as you get more experience, you will become confident in what you do. it's amazing, because i was soooo nervous at first, and now? i no longer feel that way and i love nursing!! remember, that as a nurse, you are always learning new things,it never ends. that's one of the things i love, learning......ask questions if you aren't sure of something and remember that there are no stupid questions only stupid answers, lol...... jude :melody:

we had a good amt of rules when i went to school. yes, we had to have our hair pulled back/up. the only earrings we could wear were studs or small hoops. the only rings allowed was a wedding band. minimal make-up..........absolutely no perfume! even down to the underwear, lol, no thongs, lol....(not something i had to worry about, lol). the rest was basic, ya know, clean uniform, white shoes with no scuff marks,,,,,,,,,,oh yeah, we were reminded to wear deodorant. lol, they said that the previous yr they had several incidents where some students had body odor. then there were the childish rules, lol, no gum chewing, no cheating, no talking during class, raise your hand etc.....that's about it. jude :melody:

i was just past my 40th birthday, when i was accepted into the lpn program. i too, thought that i'd be the oldest student, but there were others who were even in their fifties!! i always wanted to be a nurse :melody: but the time was never right. ya know, raising children, having to work etc.....then all the sudden, i was like, "this is it", i'm gonna do it. i have never looked back, as a matter of fact, i am going for rn....so, go for it!!! you will not regret it. jude :melody:

We have a 156 room facility. On night shift, we have 4 licensed staff. We have 5 units and our supervisor(RN)takes one unit. The other 4 are covered with either lpn or rn, many times it's lpns. One of the nurses has to work a "double unit"(60pts)and the other 2 work a 30 pt unit. I'm not quite sure how they determined to have one nurse for 60 except for the fact that those rooms are blended??? Anyways, that is how the night shift is divided up where I work. JUDE

I work in a LTCF and have to say that we seem to have the same employees calling out time after time. Doesn't really matter if they are nurses, cna's, dietary etc...If it's a weekend that they call out on, then they have to work the next one. I often wonder why nobody gets fired?? I don't understand it esp since we have many applicants that would love to come here to work?? Makes no sense?? JUDE

Very dangerous, I feel. I would never work in a place where there are medication aides. No way!! Med pass is not just doling out pills(as we all know)...what about side effects, allergic reactions, monitoring effects and so on??? This is nothing but asking for trouble. JUDE :Melody:

I think that every nurse has at one time or another has made a med error. The main thing is to learn from it. You realized how serious of an error you made, so now you need to learn from it. When I first started working in a long-term facility, I was petrified of the med pass. But, I got over that fear and became more focused and confident as time went on. You need to stay focused during your med pass and try to concentrate only on that. I don't know if you are getting distracted or if you are feeling rushed?? Like others have said, "Check, double check and check again"!!! Don't let this experience kill your dream of nursing. Next job, make sure that you get a good orientation. I would make that one of my priorities when job searching. Never hide the fact that you made an error. I am always very leary working with a nurse who says, "I never made a mistake" or one that is always finished with her med pass when it takes everyone else 2-3hrs or with somebody who "knows it all"...............Admitting that you made an error is not something any of likes to do but.............it's the right thing to do and it is how we learn. So try not to look at it as a mistake but as a learning experience. Hang in there, JUDE

I 100% agree with you. I have seen this happen and it makes me sick!! All patients should be treated equally. Yeah, some may need more attention than others but that's something totally different. It upsets me also when a coworker will say "so and so is my best friends mother, make sure she is treated extra nice"..WHAT??? Extra nice?? LOL, I happen to be a nice person first of all, second, I like to think that I treat all of my patients well. We are there to care for them, not to make them like us etc... If anyone tried to tell me that somebody is VIP and to take extra care with them, I would tell them how I feel. I'm also not going to kiss anyones you know what. JUDE

I work in a LTCF and got a sign-on bonus of 2500.00. 1000.00@6 months and the rest @ 1 yr. 2500.00 seems to be the avg sign-on bonus around here for LPN's. JUDE :Melody:

Hi, I was enrolled about a yr ago with Excelsior and had found it hard to make the time to study. At that time, I had alot going on in my life, with hubby in hospital etc...Now................I am ready for it!!! I have my work schedule pretty much to the point where I can have time to devote to studying and most of all, I want it! So, here I go again, lol. How did you find the exams? Were the study guides enough? I did purchase several books last yr, so I can probably use them too. Any suggestions? I appreciate any input. This time, I am going to follow through and do it. I will check out the section on distant learning and see what information and/or support I can find. Bye for now and good luck on your future tests. JUDE :Melody: