rjf59

Thanks for the info.

I know someone who claims that she doesn't buy textbooks and just studies the chancellors studyguides and passes her tests (including Micro) with A's and B's. Did any of you that are using Chancellors find this is so with you OR are you using texts along with the studyguides???

I don't work at a hospital either so I was really nervous about the CPNE also and when I told someone at EC, they set me up with a phone appointment with one of the testers. She set my mind...and nerves...more at ease about the test. If you are really nervous about it, call EC and speak to someone. They seem very helpful.

Thanks for the info. I just signed with Excelsior and got my info for Micro BUT haven't been doing anything but stressing about the CPNE!!!

I was in the RN program and ended up with phlebitis and the doctor advised me to get out of the program at that point. I left the program with an A- average and I was so depressed for awhile. I planned to go back for the RN but ended up doing the LPN program so I could make enough money to get through. Now, I just started the Excelsior program. So, I'd say... go for the LPN and then do the RN while making more $$$

I've had my LPN license for about a year now. I now work in a Psychiatric Nursing Center and an Assisted Living. I worked in a LT Facility for one month but wasn't suited for that particular facility. I have no IV's, hardly any treatments. Do you think I need to get into LTC to be able to pass Excelsior's Clinical component??? I'm starting to worry about it because I feel I'm starting to lose what I learned in school that I haven't done since being out of school. Any comments/suggestions???

I live in CT and make $21 at my current job.I've had my license for a little over one year now. I've made up to $25 at a job I didn't care for and left. I also have a job in Mass. and my wage there is $17.75 and that's after a raise from $17

I work in a LT psyc. facility and in an assisted living at this time although I did work in a LTC on rehab for a short time. At an assisted living facility, the residents there should be under the status of "chronic but stable" in condition... Not so in the LT facilities. At our assisted living facility, there are no treatments to be done, unless someone gets cut and needs a bandage or falls and needs a bandaging. If there are treatments to be done, the Visiting Nurse Agencies come into the assisted living facility. I think in the assisted living the nurse also has to be up on his/her assessment skills. Even though the residents are "chronic but stable" when they come in to the building, it doesn't stay that way. They often get sick and can't put their finger on what's wrong and we have to figure it out. In the LTC facilities, the nurses administer all drugs BUT in the assisted living facility I work at and at the others in my area, the nurses pre-pour most of the drugs into pill minders and the CNA's have an assignment sheet to tell them when to prompt meds and they do those that we pre-pour. We do administer to those residents who take narcotics. Also, another difference is that there is more paperwork and charting in the LTC facilities. At the assisted living there is much less charting but there seems to be more calls and faxes to the physicians though. I'd have to say the work is easier at the assisted living than at the psyc center or the LTC facility I've worked at, BUT I do have triple the "foot-work" at the assisted living. I'm always running for someone falling or someone not feeling well... etc. etc. etc....And because they pay BIG $$$ to be in assisted living (all of those in my area are private pay only) They want everything done yesterday!!!! Really, I loved my job at the LTC facility (had to leave because there was mold in the building and I had two anaphylactic reactions there), I love my per-diem job at the psyc. facility (it's a LT veterans psyc center) and I love my FT job at the assisted living. All are very different but they are all rewarding jobs. Hope this helped you.

I think I read in the study guide that one of the recommended books was the Microbiology Color Book. I've been spending all kinds of time coloring the slides instead of reading the text. At this rate, it will take till Christmas to color the whole book so I can start reading the text!!!How helpful would that info be OR do you feel that most of the questions on the test were covered from the Micro text itself?

I live in CT and went for a Home Health job and they told me that after I've had my license for a year to go back and they would hire me.

I agree about the $$$ reason for becoming a nurse. I have a friend who was a CNA and said she needed to go into nursing to "get more money for doing less work" (Less work, I said, are you paying attention to what the nurses are doing around us!!!!) She went into nursing and worked as a floor nurse for a few years, became a supervisior and got fired, became a supervisior somewhere else and got fired!!!! Had a friend who got her an asst.don position and she got walked off that job, became a don and got fired...etc. etc... get the pic???? She burned so many bridges (because many facilities are sister facilities to others) that she couldn't get another job. She finally landed a job with a nursing agency and she hates that job too!!!!! To make a long story short...... $$$$$ is Not the reason to get into nursing!!!

I told the CNA's on my floor over and over to please not wear their gloves from room to room and to change them during care etc. They gave me a horrible time until I told them about a resident (un-named, of course) who had herpes of the eye. They got grossed out as I not only told them about that resident but also about some of the illness/disease that can be spread. Then I told them that IF I saw any of them from that point on, coming out of a resident's room with a pair of gloves on their hands, I'd write them up... They argued about how they'd bring the soiled linens out and I told them to bag it in the room and bring it out...It worked!!!

I work at a psyc center for vets and it's well out of the way. The facility has a CNA that they call on to come in (punch in), take the facility car, and not only drop off specimens but she also comes in to bring the guys to doctor appts. and such... I had an incident where I was asked to bring a resident to an emergency dental appt. Everything went fine but then he started drooling and wiping the blood from his mouth (from the extraction) and got blood all over the passenger seat (my leather seats!!!), and on the door and on the dashboard!!!!! And the car was fairly new!!! I went back to the facility and said..."NEVER AGAIN!!!" I wouldn't do it either...that is... unless it was specified in with your job description that you may have signed.... How they get you sometimes is by stating in your signed job description... "and any other tasks needed to perform your duties" and sometimes written in different ways to say, Whatever we need you to do....DO IT!!!!! Good Luck.