shull

Thank you RNPTL, It helped me greatly to understand it and to explain it clearly to staff. Do you happen to know what the JCAHO standard is for an assessment for patients on med/surg? Is it in a 24 hour period an RN must do a full assessment on the patient and record it. Do you suggest it be done on the day shift early? I have heard many different things??

Has anyone done the MSN from the university of Phoenix? Can you just do that or do you have to take a dual. I am still trying to decide if its necessary and would like to know if working full time as a nurse manager I will have the time to give to the work. Thanks in advance

I have come up through the trenches, laundry/hskpg in a nursing home and CNA, LPN, RN on oncology in acute care, manager on med/surg, LPN instructor and a DON in a nursing home. I am back as a nurse manager in acute care in a small hospital and I love it. I love nursing and experience is whats makes you a better manager. I am not saying that you can't be a good manager, I just feel experience is key. I have a BSN and a BS in Liberal Arts and a teaching certificate and a med/surg certification. I have also thought about a masters but for me a MBA wouldn't do anything for me. I am not a business person in that sense. I would rather a MSN/education if anything. But what a cost. It really depends on what you want to do and will that degree get you to that point. I don't have many years left until retirement so I am still weighing the options. Good luck, I hope this has helped

Hi NICUGUY, I am a nurse manager and have been for 14 years. It is a very tough job and you can't please everyone so you need to have a basic solid foundation for the unit to run effectively. Open door to me is that anyone can approach me at any time and I think that some people will never feel comfortable sitting with the BOSS! I also think that you get respect because you give respect. I have done just about everything there is to please the staff and there is always someone that will say the morale is low. I believe in myself and continue to be positive. I have been involved in restructuring units and getting the right staff for the right job is key. I hope this has helped.

Anne, Thats Terrific!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sally

Good job! I was an LPN for 9 years before I became an RN. I agree it was the best thing I ever did. Sally

Hi ERjunkie, Yes I will share my info please PM me.

To all ,just in case before you do any external program make sure you check with the state board where you plan on taking boards to make sure they accept that program. New Jersey and Pennsylvania recognized the Excelsior school as an accredited school. I took my original RN boards in New Jersey. SHULL

Hi Malka Yes you can even PM me here. I would love to share my info with you. SHULL

It really is a very hard decision to make. In 1992 when I started it was with three other LPN's and we did it together through RUE publishing company. Regents (Excelsior now) didn't offer the study guides at the time. It was very challenging and we all had many LPN years under our belts and a lot of support from each other. It depends on many factors. I did not want to sit in a class room again. I had teenage boys and a husband and a full time job. So the external degree program was the way to go. You don't have to go through the schools or publishing companies but you need to find out what classes you would need to graduate from Excelcior, because eventually you have to enroll. You can take the classes and then have them review the classes and then you can enroll. If you are not self motivated and dedicated then I would not do this. I would just go to school because it would be a waste of money. I found it to be less money than a traditional school. I am very happy with the results and I stayed on and got my BS with Excelsior. CPNE is just that an examination of clinical and it was nerve racking but again I really wanted it and couldn't afford to fail so I didn't go until I was ready and passed my three patients in a row and my lab. I dropped my forms in the mail on the way out of the parking lot right after I passed the clinicals. Its not for everyone but it was for me!! Good Luck! SHULL

Conniemarie do you have a fax machine?? If so I can fax them today, if not I will do it Wednesday when we go back to the classroom, its on my bosses computor. Sally

Hi Meme2, I was in the same boat as you are. I started as a brand new nursing educator and I had to teach OB and Peds. We live in a small rural area so we don't have a lot of exposure to peds sites so we get limited clinical. The floor at the hospital we go to only has a three bed ped unit and the other hospital doesn't have one at all. So if there is a ped patient that is appropriate for our student to take then I will assign them and then my boss has made arrangement with four doctors offices and clinics so that each student gets more clinical time doing vitals and observing the staff. So they do get exposure. I make sure we talk alot about vaccines etc. and play alot of OB/PEDS jeopardy games. The OB rotation is great because everyone of my students for the the past three years have all seen a birth. This is an LPN class and we have 21 students this year. Any time I see an important peds article I share it with the students. I have learned to be creative and find out where their weakness's are and focus on that area. It has been working out. Good Luck, Sally

HI Conniemarie, We have a form that my boss created on the computor and it includes: appearance, punctuality, professional growth, attitude, communication skills with instuctor etc, applies theory to practice, works well with others, completes procedures in a timely manner, safety, handwashing, documents pertinent info. There are others but they are eluding me right now. Its a great tool and it covers everything we are looking at in clinical. Every time we go to clinical we have the form dated and the name of the facility and in that date slot we give a either an S=satisfactory E= excellent I= improvement needed, F= failure for each catagory,and there is an area where we can document any pertinent inforamtion on their skills. We also inform the student in private immediately if something is right or wrong, I am a believer in letting them know quickly plus its not a shock at the end of the day or clinical rotation. At the end of the complete rotation ex: we go to one hospital for 3 months where they not only get several med/serg days but they do speciality rotations to the wound center, OR, ER, SPU, OB and others. Its an incredible learning experience, we give the form to the students for them to review and talk with them if they have issues and I must say we never have to because we address immediately that day. They sign it and we make a copy for them and one for their permanet file. Its a great tool. If you want to give me your e-mail address I can send you a copy of it. We also made up a clinical competiency form that has all of the procedures on it that LPN's are allowed to do. We have a section for assessments ex: GI, skin, respiratory, IV site etc and foley cath insertion tube feedings etc, vital signs, meds. There are procedures they will never do without an instructor but we note when they did the procedure. This assures that the student is staying with the rest of the group and if someone else has done something like a foley insertion we have the rest of the group get a chance before we let that person do a second one. I also want to thank VickyRN for the info on the site on research on teaching in the clinical setting. I felt very good after I read it because an instructor can make or break a student. I remember when I was in the LPN program (the same one I am teaching now) many years ago, my one instructor was so mean, nasty and rude. She would do exactly what that article says not to do. She would question you in front of everyone and ask questions that were above our heads for that time in our classes then belittle you, if I asked her a question about a disease process when we first started she would turn beet red and say LOOK IT UP! DON'T ASK ME! She never encouraged us and I really needed that since I was an adult returning to school. I think I was going to quit 60 times but I am glad I didn't because I do the total opposite and have great respect for my students and they return it to me! Sally

I agree! Well said Barb!

aprylLPN It makes me feel sick to my stomach when I hear this kind of nonsense! I was an LPN for years then went on for my RN then med/surg certification, then my BS and now I teach the LPN program and it is that kind of behavior that pushed me to teach. I don't know why NURSES feel the need or think they are so superior to everyone else that they have to make you feel small. I think they are so insecure that their behavior make them feel good SHAME ON THEM!! You are a good nurse I am sure and you must be very confident in yourself, don't let them get you down. Have you tried asking friendly nurses to critique you on a report maybe that would help or ask your manager to sit in on report to give you feedback, I did that on occasion when I was nurse manager in a hospital and Director of Nursing in a nursing Home. Keep your head up and keep us posted on the outcome!! good luck, shull