AprilW3

Here's my situation: I had been a CNA at a LTC for 5 years, went back to school and became an LPN, working full time thru school. After I graduated, I had 3 job offers, 1 at the facility I've worked in for the past several years, and 2 at other facilities (offering $2 more per hour than I make with my current job). I accepted an LPN position in the facility I've been working in for so many years. I've worked evening shift all this time. My 4 year old daughter is about to start school and if I stay on evening shift, I'll never see her. A day shift position came open this week. I signed up for it as well as a coworker who has worked as a nurse at the facility for 2 years now. I found out that my company seniority means nothing. She will get the position because she's been a nurse at the facility for a year longer than me. I'm so bummed! Now I have to look for a new job, because day shift soooooo rarely opens up in this facility. It just doesn't seem fair to me that company loyalty means absolutely nothing. I've been there 3 times longer than she has. I feel like if it was a promotion, give it to the person with nursing experience, but this is just a shift change. Am I just being a selfish whineybutt?

Our situations are very similar. I graduated in August and decided to stay at the LTC facility in which I've been a CNA for 5 years. I don't have a problem with call lights on my hall, but I do have to go to the dining room. Don't underestimate the importance of your dining room duties. A month after I started, I was in the dining room, a man started choking. He turned purple. I tried the heimlich on him with no results. He was on a pureed diet. I finally figured out that the heimlich wouldn't work on someone who was eating pureed foods, so we got him on the ground and did abdominal thrusts. Thank the lord it worked. They never taught us in nursing school or in CPR classes about not bothering with the heimlich in a situation like this, so I tell every nursing student I can (even though it may be a little embarassing to admit). I love my job...I get a lot of support and encouragement from the powers that be and I have great residents to work for.

I'm teaching the LPN nursing math course at a local school. I have 5 days to teach the systems of measurement, conversions, oral and parenteral dosage calculations and IV calcs (flow rate, hourly infusion, infusion time). Did you have any instructors who made the math fun or interesting? It's such a dull subject, but it's so vital to keep their interest. Please respond with any ideas.

Um...you left it to dry on the floor? I think that's a horrible thing to do. What about the patient's dignity? It's bad enough that he/she was incontinent....then you left it on the floor. You do know that you WILL eventually have to get your hands dirty don't you? And btw, in the facility in which I work, housekeeping isn't ALLOWED to clean up waste...that's nursing dept responsibility.

Check to see if your facility has a "no lift" policy. The facility I work at does. It means that anyone who needs as much help transferring as your resident does HAS to use a mechanical lift or a bedpan. Nursing staff in my facility would be in trouble if we tried to transfer this resident ourselves. It's not safe, neither for you nor the resident.

How long did it take you from graduation day until your first day on the job as an LPN? I would like to know how much longer I have to look forward to being dead broke :\

I'm starting the LPN program on Sept 4. I have no choice but to continue working at least 4 shifts per week. I thought perhaps I could work thurs evening, friday evening, saturday double shift. Then I'd have Sundays off. Do you think it's feasible to work like this through school? I know it's going to be difficult, but like I said, I don't have a choice. Some people have told me that you have a test every day. Am I going to be able to make it? I could really use some advice on how to work this out!

That's scary to me. I have lipedema (not lymphedema), so I will ALWAYS carry excess weight in my lower body and my upper arms. When I lose weight, I lose only in my upper body...diets don't affect my lower body. It's incurable, and not something that can be controlled with medicine or diet...I can only attempt to keep it from getting worse. Where would this leave me? I have a feeling this will be challenged in a courtroom.

It's been brewing for a few weeks now. One of my fellow CNAs, a new gal in our LTC, has had a lot of trouble adjusting. She seems to have an attitude problem. She always seems to be snippy, both to her coworkers and the residents. Quite a number of residents have complained about her attitude...they say she's been rude to them. She says she tries to be "firm but friendly." She really seems to have a big problem with nurses, too. If she's asked to do something, she doesn't get to it for a loooong time...and she really resents them for not answering more call lights. She seems like a nice person except for her attitude. And I know that she has had a LOT of personal problems. We've all discussed the problem, behind her back. Yes, I know it's not right...and I've been wrong to do it...but I feel like I have to vent sometimes. I have complained about her attitude and her refusal to help with call lights that are not her residents. Everyone agrees with me that she has a problem...and everyone on the floor has participated in the complaining. Another of my fellow CNAs, who has also participated in the vent sessions, has decided to get things REALLY stirred up, spreading both truth and rumors...making an already tense situation unbearable. The DON called a meeting with all of us. She said she could feel the tension with us all...she wanted to know what's going on. One of the nurses put her 2 cents in, she really let this CNA have it. I tried to be more gentle...I told her how I felt she acted angry with us quite a bit, and that I'd like to find a solution to all of the tension. I told her exactly how her attitude made me feel, without trying to make accusations or to attack her. None of the other CNAs or nurses who had a problem with her stepped up to the plate to give their sides...which I thought was pretty crappy. Now this CNA feels like she's being picked on and won't stop crying. I felt it would be a good thing for everyone to be truthful...to stop talking about each other behind our backs...I think it backfired. I'm tired of the he said/she said garbage. It has to end, and it ends with me. I will NOT listen to it again...it's poison. Now I'm feeling really crappy. I don't want to go back to work. My stomach is all in knots. And I'm tired of fighting my coworkers....I just want to get along with them. The good thing is that everyone knows exactly how I feel, and that if anything else is said and attributed to me, it's not true. Sorry this is so long, and probably unreadable. I'm feeling a little emotional right now. Do you think the situation is recoverable? How could I go about building a new bridge after we finally got everything in the open?:(

I'm applying with FAFSA for a Pell Grant. My husband and I made approx 60,000 last year before taxes and we have a 2 year old daughter. Do you think I'll qualify to receive anything from Pell? I can't afford to quit work, I'll have to work weekends...so if I can't get help with the tuition and fees, I don't know that we can afford for me to go

WooHoo! I just got back from taking the NET. I got a composite score of 91. 97 in the math...85 in the reading. I thought the reading part was sooooo much more difficult. The math was MUCH easier to prepare for. I'm on cloud 9!

I've been a CNA for 5 years, about to start nursing school. I live in Anderson Cty, just 20 miles north of Knoxville. I work in LTC. I make 11.50/hour. My mother-in-law is an LPN at another facility in Anderson Cty, works 12 hr shifts on weekends and makes 19/hr. Hearing what other people make around here is really discouraging. 18-20/hr for RN doesn't seem like enough for all the work & education. My husband works in a sit-down office job and makes more money than that, and gets better benefits. Makes me think "why bother with nursing"

I work 2nd shift in a nursing home, where I've been asked to participate in peer interviews of potential new CNAs. Do you have any ideas for good questions to ask the prospective applicant? I thought of a couple: What does "teamwork" mean to you? What character traits do you admire most in your co-workers, and which do you hope to achieve in your own work? But that's all I have. I don't want to seem like a big goober and not have anything to add/ask in interviews!