okikuma

The patient ratio for MedSurg in California is 5:1 per licensed nurse. A licensed nurse is defined as RN, LVN, & Psych Tech. Certified Nursing Assistants are not licensed, therefore cannot be included in the ratio. Many hospitals in California will assign a RN and LVN together as a team. This team will then be assigned 10 patients total, keeping with 5 patients per licensed nurse ratio. Unfortunately, there's a number of hospitals that will give a RN, LVN team greater than 10 patients, breaking the law.

UCLA Medical Center actively hires new grads. Their New Grad Program is fantastic. UCLA Medical Center is listed a the best hospital West of the Mississippi and third in the nation. As a new grad, you will learn much about patient care and you will experience all the new and cutting edge medical proceedures. Remember, UCLA Medical Center is a teaching hospital. You'd be working with Interns, Residents, Fellows. UCLA Midecial center receives the most ill patients that other hospitals either don't want to take, or can not take because of the illness and acuity level. You will not receive more than 5 patients and often times just 4 patients. Still the patient load with 5 can be pretty heavy. Most nurses stay at UCLA Medical Center for 2 years and then move on to another hospital. I've been told by independent nursing recruiters that if a new nurse starts their new grad residency at UCLA and then moves onto another hospital after 2 years, most hospitals will offer that "2 year old nurse" a much higher salary and other nurses with 2 years experience. It's because of UCLA's reputation of having the best and most competent nurses. I hope this helps

ucla is constantly hiring new grads (adn rns) for the new grad program. they also actively sponsor and hire many rns from outside the usa. there's no pay difference for an adn or bsn. all new grad hires start as cn1 (at $28.00 per hour). after six months, one becomes a cn2 (at $29.90 per hour). as a new grad, one will receive the best of training and experience, because the patients who come to ucla are the most ill. ucla takes patients that other hospitals can't take, or give up on (that's why ucla is listed as best hospital west of the mississippi). after 2 or 3 years, many of those new grad hires then move on to other hospitals within the los angeles area at a much higher hourly rate than their peers with the same years of experience. this is because when the hiring person finds out that one has worked as a ucla nurse, they will offer higher pay for that ucla experience. then ucla looks for more new grads to fill the void. if you want to look at ucla job listings: https://jobs2.mednet.ucla.edu/css_ex...20061206222059&

I was told last summer by a friend who works at Tarzana that Both Encino and Tarzana hospitals were being purchased by Providence Heath Services. The same company who owns Providence Holy Cross In Mission Hills and Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Burbank. I've since asked several others that work at both hospitals about the condition of the sale and it is supposidly to be officially announced with in the next month.

This information was printed on a different post: I just checked the UCLA Medical Center Job listing and the LVN pay scale (the only one I can find that will list pay up front) is as follows: LVN 6 East Surgery (Med Surg) $14.75 to start $19.84 maximum Sr LVN 6 East Surgery (Med Surg) 15.50 to start $21.61 maximum LVN Orthopedic Surgery Center (a clinic I believe) $16.76 to start $23.37 maximum LVN Float Team Part time Per Diem (no medical benefits) $20.91 to start $22.66 maximum A friend of mine works there as an LVN and she told me that she really works hard for her pay. She's on a Med Surg floor. She says that she's teamed up with an RN but the LVNs do most of the work, whereas most but not all of the RNs she works with will just chart and hang IV meds. She also told me that only 3 units (out of 14 units and 4 ICUs I think she said) use LVNs within the hospital, while the rest have Care Partners (CNAs). I have another friend who works in a SNF and she makes $23.00 and hour but gives meds to 45 patients. The pay seams high, but as they tell me, they do earn their salary and often times feel it's not enough for all the work they do.

A curious comment. Why do you say so?

I'd like to hear from any Wilcox Memorial Hospital nurses on how things are at your hospital 2 months after the end of the strike.

I just checked the UCLA Medical Center Job listing and the LVN pay scale (the only one I can find that will list pay up front) is as follows: LVN 6 East Surgery (Med Surg) $14.75 to start $19.84 maximum Sr LVN 6 East Surgery (Med Surg) 15.50 to start $21.61 maximum LVN Orthopedic Surgery Center (a clinic I believe) $16.76 to start $23.37 maximum LVN Float Team Part time Per Diem (no medical benefits) $20.91 to start $22.66 maximum A friend of mine works there as an LVN and she told me that she really works hard for her pay. She's on a Med Surg floor. She says that she's teamed up with an RN but the LVNs do most of the work, whereas most but not all of the RNs she works with will just chart and hang IV meds. She also told me that only 3 units (out of 14 units and 4 ICUs I think she said) use LVNs within the hospital, while the rest have Care Partners (CNAs). I have another friend who works in a SNF and she makes $23.00 and hour but gives meds to 45 patients. The pay seams high, but as they tell me, they do earn their salary and often times feel it's not enough for all the work they do.

First thing Tim, It's not the fault of the overseas nurses desire to come and earn more or have a better opportunity for themselves or families. That is not even an issue. Second, the hospital I work at pay overseas sponsored nurse the same hourly rate and give the same benefits as an "American" nurse; as they should. To pay less or provide less benefits solely because someone is hired from outside the US is illegal and immoral. If any hospital does that, they will get caught and pay the price. My point is your difficulty in becoming a nurse is because they way the system is set up. It's not your fault, It's deefinitely not any of the overseas nurses fault.

Sorry, but I had to log off earlier. To add to my previous post ... Not many would accept the hard work being a nurse except those who either suffered the 6+ years to become and RN here in the states or those who are willing to leave home, and work extra hard to help support their families. The past ten years in California, many Univeristies had dropped their BSN programs. The state BON stop accepting Excelsior College graduates in 2004 (where as 50% of all nursing graduates in California came from Excelsior College alone, the other 50% came from all the ADN and BSN programs within the state combined). Interestingly, when California implemented the Ratio Law, I have yet to hear of a hospital closing down in California because the added expense of hiring more nurses to remain within the law destroying the profit margin. So it all comes down to $$$$. Earn the highest amount of profit, with the least amount of people. All industies follow this including hospitals. Yes, it is frustrating, especially to those who have it in their heart to become a nurse.

Sit down boys and girls cause I'm going to enlighten you on something. I have come to the realization that the nursing shortage in the US is a manufactured shortage. There's several reasons why I have derived this conclusion. This is all based on my observations, people I have discussions with (including members of the California BON), and two retired hospital administrators. I'm sure the same applies all around the country. The first thing we must recognize is that hospitals in the US are a business. Hospitals make money by taking care of patients which provide a service and collect $$$$. OK nothing wrong with that basic idea, however it goes far beyond that. Ever wonder why it is so difficult to enter any nursing program in the US? What is the logical reason? To keep the number of nurses down? I think it is just that. On average, it takes 2 to 3 years to get all the prerequsites done before one is allowed to apply to nursing school. Then one is put on a waiting list or even worse, a lottery. Either system will cause one to wait an additional 2 to 3 years before being accepted. If accepted, then an ADN program is an additional 2 years. Wow! That makes on the average 6 years before one can become an RN! Who would wait that long? Well, most don't when they realise that one can get a BS or BA in another field in 4 years instead of an ADN in a minimum of 6 years. Who decides the rules governing the education level of nursing programs? The California BON. Now who are members of the California BON? Well I found out that they all are senior administration members of various hospitals within the state who volunteer to be on the state board. Wait! Can that be? The same people who are responsible to assure that the hospital they work for earns the most $$$$ for the service they provide? Hmmmm ... What about the rules and regulations for the level of education and how many can enroll for the various nursing school in the state? Well those are made by the members of the BON. Hmmmm ... So, since there is a "shortage" of nurses, where do they find some? Well some come from the local nursing school, yes, but most are recruited from overseas. God love 'em, these recruited off shore nurses want to be good nurses, work hard so they can help provide family back home. The next statement most likely will not apply to California because of the recent (2 year old) ratio law, however it will apply for the other states. "Because of the nursing shortage", you nurses will just have to take care of 8 - 10 patients. Do you see the pattern?

UCLA is constantly hiring new grads (ADN RNs) for the New Grad Program. They also actively sponsor and hire many RNs from outside the USA. There's no pay difference for an ADN or BSN. All New Grad Hires start as CN1 (at $28.00 per hour). After six months, one becomes a CN2 (at $29.90 per hour). As a new grad, one will receive the best of training and experience, because the patients who come to UCLA are the most ill. UCLA takes patients that other hospitals can't take, or give up on (that's why UCLA is listed as best hospital west of the Mississippi). After 2 or 3 years, many of those new grad hires then move on to other hospitals within the Los Angeles area at a much higher hourly rate than their peers with the same years of experience. This is because when the hiring person finds out that one has worked as a UCLA Nurse, they will offer a little higher pay for that UCLA experience. Then UCLA looks for more new grads to fill the void. If you want to look at UCLA Job Listings: https://jobs2.mednet.ucla.edu/css_external/CSSPage_BrowseJobs.ASP?T=20061206222059&

There's a common misnomer that the ratio law in California only applies to RNs (the California Nursing Association an RN union, perpetuates this disinformation) ... wrong! The law applies to Licensed Nurses (i.e. LVN and RN). Currently, the ratio is 5:1 per "licensed nurse" on a Med/Surg floor. Also, the nursing assignment can not exceed 50% of LVN. So out of 6 nurses, 3 must be RN and 3 muse be LVN. There's nothing within the law to disqualify and RN & LVN working as a team. This means that an RN/LVN team can legally have up to 10 patients together and many hospitals do just that. It's legal because of the definition of Licensed Nurse. What I have seen and heard, because of the Ratio Law, many hospitals have removed their LVNs and replaced with CNAs. CNAs are not licensed so the ratio law need not apply. One CNA can be split between any number of RNs. If any or all CNS on the floor call in sick or a no-show, well sorry Mr. or Ms. RN, you will just have to have your 5 patients alone today (and the hospital saves money because one or more less person to pay for the day).

What's an ELM Student?

My wife and I were staying in Kailua on the west side of the big island when we experienced the quake. I had just finished showering and started getting dressed when the quake hit around 7:07 AM. The condo shook violently but I couldn't help notice that we did not experience much side-to-side motion. My wife and I are very experienced with earthquakes since we are both Southern Californians so we were not scared. The condo survived the quake very nicely receiving no damage nor us with any injuries. I told my wife that we need to get to higher ground fairly quickly in case of a tsunami since we did not know where the epicenter of the quake was. My wife got dressed while I brought the car around. We were up the hill within 10 minutes only to meet about a dozen other couples (all Southern Californias too) seeking high ground for the same reason. We were all commenting that there were no Kama'ainas (locals) up there with us, only to find out later that many of the kama'ainas ran down to the beach to watch for the tsunami (as told to me by at least 5 different kama'ainas themselves during the past week). It was kind of festive up on the hill and there was no sense of panic at all among the group there. I made a call to the mainland to a friend of mine and he went onto the USGS website and told us the location and strength of the earthquake. I scanned the AM and FM bands on the car radio but all the radio stations on the big island were knocked off the air. After a half an hour there was no tsunami so I told my wife, we're safe so let's get back to the condo. While there, my wife showered and we then went to church. After church, we went and had breakfast and proceeded to continue with our vacation. For me, it was interesting to watch how the civil defense and emergency services operated. There was no sense of panic with any of the kama'ainas I saw or met, a definite no sense of urgency to clear the roads, no sense of urgency to run out and purchase food and water, and no sense of urgency even to report if their house was damaged. Even the Red Cross volunteers who assembled to go out and perform damage assessment had no vehicles available to them at that time to perform that function, so the decision was "we'll have to wait until tomorrow." No joke, that was written up in the local newspaper. With the lack of panic and the lack of urgency, it really made the experience enjoyable. None of it was an inconvience to me but just added a memorable experience to an already enjoyable vacation.