kfactor

I love this thread - I am sorry I do not have any "tips" as I myself and debating going back late in the game (I am 45). I withdrew from my RN program and obtained an LPN on the way out (since I was in the second year). I knew I would have failed if I didn't. My BA is in economics and I went to a good school but I was wildly unprepared for nursing school! The attitudes and out right cruelty of the instructors was a real challenge for me and I learned too late to fly as far under the radar as possible. Hearing your experience is very illuminating. The idea that LPNs do not need to think critically is bewildering! Anyway I am 45 now and work for a hospice but get very little respect due to having an LPN and I cannot help but consider going back (usually when I feel the grumbling of resentment about the power dynamics). Your post did bring me right back to nursing school however - and does make me wonder if I could endure it!!I see you have an RN now - and it makes me smile. Kudos!!

I am an LPN and certified - and btw any LPN who is working in hospice should definitely take the exam. I work for a mid size hospice (census 175) as a Transitions Coordinator (managing people before and after hospice). There is only 1 LPN working in our hospice and over a dozen RNs. However I struggle with the complete lack of respect that I get as an LPN. The other Transitions Coordinator is an RN and despite my training her and having more experience the fact that I "only have an LPN" plagues me. The role entails a lot but now that they want us to admit people to hospice I am really stuck. I am wondering if location is key with my struggle for respect. I live in MD (DC suburbs). I try to work on my self esteem but my supervisor seems to need to mention regularly as well. I am blown away to learn that so many hospices use LPNs!! Our LPN does a lot and she is excellent clinically but she is trying to get an RN. If she left I suspect they will not be open to another LPN. I do not want to be discouraging but it seems important to evaluate where you live as well as the organizations culture!

I am an LPN and have been doing end-of-life/ hospice philosophy care-giving for a year and a half now and I am at the point where I would like to go into business for myself if there is a way to work it legally whatsoever with an RN doing initial assessments etc.. I just am frankly a little stuck with the legalities and would love anyone who perhaps might have an up to date (2014) sense of whether this is at all possible without my having to go back to school immediately for an RN. I have been providing hospice designated client care as a surrogate family member at a 2 bed SFR (surrogate family residence) in Maine and am now moving back to Maryland where I am licensed as an LPN. I really am not wanting to be doing anything other than hospice designated/end-of-life/palliative care and honestly current highly corporate models of long term care is really not what I want to do or feel I can do well given the ratios - yet I know I would be considered lucky to get a med pass nurse job which is what I am currently filling out applications for. I want to continue providing the care I have been trained to do (and was coordinating care provision and doing training for in Maine)here in Maryland but in the role of an LPN and initially just in peoples homes. I actually have people that know me well and have seen my work offering seed money for me to do this as well as a string of family as well as some clinical (RN and MD) references which I hope would help as well but I just am a little overwhelmed by the legalities involved. I do not have quite the resources to set up my own surrogate family residence by myself here yet so I would like to just start with the in home care part of it if possible. Does this sound like something anyone knows is legal or possible at all without my going back for an RN right this moment. I have read some general thoughts about health department registration as well as malpractice insurance - it is really the fundamental capacity to legally provide end-of-life care which I am really struggling to learn about in the role of an LPN or surrogate family member. I am writing the Maryland state board now but would really love any information or suggestions from anyone who is actually doing this currently or who has tried to do this already. Thanks everyone!

I am really curious of the legality of doing any work independently in home health as an LPN. I am having a hard time getting a job with very little experience and none specifically as an LPN (I worked in a small hospice facility but it was considered surrogate family care). Is it legal for an LPN to just completely work independently? I'll keep searching but any thoughts would be great. BTW there is a family friend who would like me to be a care giver for her mother (5-8 hours per day at $12 per hour) temporarily and I am desperate so I want to say yes but I am unclear about the legalities of doing it.

I am reading this thinking that I would do anything to be hired as an LPN in Hospice work - My understanding was that only RNs were permitted - unless you were lucky enough to be in an inpatient unit willing to hire LPNs. I am a hospice volunteer and a care-giver at a live in SFR for dying patients in Maine - I do all care-giving on site. Please I would do anything to be able to be a hospice nurse in any capacity (I love the SFR but I do it for a stipend and it is nearly possibly to survive with what I make whatsoever). thanks so much for any thoughts!!!

Thank you for your assessment of the different study materials. I am saddened to hear that Saunders' questions are not as challenging as the real test... I am going to look into the audio material you describe. Thank you so so much again - I am nervous but feel less so reading about your experience and recommendations!

I am actually finished with the lpn program and am waiting to find out if I have a seat to continue as a second year rn student in January... I am in good standing etc etc - but there have been times when every single seat in a semester class was filled so while it is said I should have a seat in January - I will wait for the official letter to count on it - so in the moment I am a stopped out RN student and a finished LPN student. I must say - I know I really want to wind up having the autonomy permitted by the RN to do home health and hospice care but part of me wants so so much to not have to go back - sleep deprivation losses some of it's glamour rather early on...good luck seriously - and please take my thoughts with a grain of salt - i really think my class of LPN students was an anomaly (there were stories of students actively sabotaging other students - and I can only hope they were unfortunate tall tales) - but it was indeed a lot to cram in that short time. Alright - since I'm at it - your low GPA does give me cause for pause. I actually got literally straight A's in my pre-reqs - and nursing school was the rudest of awakenings for me - so I just hope you are at a place in your life where whatever was going on before to lead to the weak GPA has been addressed - Just so that once you do get into a program you are able to be successful - (hope this is not taken the wrong way - I just know how stunned I was at the volume I was expected to digest in the beginning and wondered why they let in folks without far more requirements in the first place - as it seemed to be almost a bit of a "set up") - Again good luck!

really liked this whole thread - especially the step by step explanation of the basics - which I know looking back seem maybe obvious (and they will later I promise) but at the time - oh my god the things I didn't realize, notice etc - but then that is what it means to learn right? I owe everything to my good compassionate, perceptive and constructive clinical instructors. To this day the one that I had for my first med surg - which I'm sure some would claim was helping me prepare???? (and seriously anyone able to show me a study linking abuse and humiliation to better outcomes for learning and better skills development - I am all ears) - well luckily she was the exception. I hope things are going better for you - and thank you to all who wrote such measured thoughtful responses...

Couldn't help wondering about the idea in context of my community college program - which has both LPN and RN programs - I got my LPN on the way and stopped out (waiting to hear about January return for year 2 of the RN and take my lpn license exam in 2 weeks) . At my school the classes were actually identical (I was just in with the RN students) - then decided to take this path to get the LPN on the way - and Frankly the LPN completion course - (which for me was technically an elective) was by FAR the hardest I had taken at the school -this was due not only to the warp speed so content much was crammed into but to the shockingly competitive and uncooperative atmosphere. I am thankful I passed and I honestly think I might have drowned had I been with that group throughout. Anyway - if the program you are considering is modeled similarly then your idea might not be the best one... Just my 2 cents...

I must say I think you are brave for speaking up but I do feel concerned for you. I really agree with the comment about your right to speak up if you feel you are being mistreated. I feel that students deserve respect and support and guidance. I wish I had seen that more in my final course in the LPN coursework at my school. Unfortunately the atmosphere in my last course was one that engendered fear and to add to it the students were consistently undermining each other in a really disconcerting way. It was a very difficult course and lightning fast and I while I was lucky to do rather well grade wise (and be among the passing half at the end alone) I felt like I was struggling to keep my focus in an unendingly negative environment. I hated feeling like I was constantly needing to watch my back and I know that the experience did not help me become a better care giver in any way - just a more cynical one. One woman's situation for being suspended just still bothers me - as her mistake was innocent and one I know is common. The hard part was learning that it was another student that reported her mistake. I was disheartened over the situation but not surprised in the least. She was the first of many to be dismissed or suspended in my class. Anyway I just feel for you and admire your bravery. I am sorry you are being targeted for bringing the administration's attention to an unhealthy situation. In terms of advice - well I really wish I had more. I found that being a really strong student grade-wise always counted for a lot and might be helpful if you can perform as well as possible. I would try to excel on exams and other "objective" performance indicators and do everything by the books as much as is possible from here on out. Also I really treasured a few professors whom in your shoes I may have turned to - but again I would have done so cautiously given that I had reported the behavior of a colleague. Of course I would have as much specific documentation as you can tucked away in case things do "go down. I hope you have outside support and that you can stay grounded throughout the course.

I was thinking about how much I could relate to your initial post and how much harder nursing was for me than I think I ever imagined it would be. I guess I might disagree with those encouraging you to speak to your instructors. I struggled through fundamentals and felt like approaching my professor was a really bad decision - I didn't get the encouragement that I think others might be imagining you will get. I ended up doing well in that class despite my experience and only after I did better did I feel like I was treated with any respect (my prof actually told me that I probably wouldn't pass the nclex - it was obscene.) I did really well in med surge and have an A in my current class. I hope that you have a better experience - but please don't give up if you don't. For me just studying all the time day and night was the only thing that did any good - good luck!

I really don't think anything along the lines of the fact that the system kept a bad nurse from practicing. Just the opposite. You are thoughtful, articulate, insightful and from my perspective the nursing universe would be lucky to have you. I'm sorry that school is so "insane" - I too have been failed (by a razor thin margin) and had to wait for an entire semester and a half (broke, stuck, directionless) to be seated again just to retake the class. I can't believe I am saying this - but it might just be worth it to give it one last try. I thought 10 months was an eternity but now I think I just might have gone in the right direction. I took pathophys and medical terminology during my time waiting and I just finished med surge with a rather high score. I'm now retaking the class I failed (neonatal nursing) and it really is a bit of a review. But more than the content, I was so relieved at how normal it has become to fail a class. I think realistically a full third of my "new" class did not pass med-surge. It seems like at this point so many people are in my shoes (where we have got to pass this last part of our second semester and then at least are allowed to sit for the LPN exam) that there just seems to be next-to-no stigma around failing. Anyway- I am glad that so many people responded with such compassion to your sincerely poignant post. BTW I have a bachelors in economics from a small liberal arts program -and that was nothing compared to the rigor of nursing school!!! Sorry you were also failed by such narrow margins - mine was by 5 hundredths of a point - and that is not an easy thing to live with! - Thanks again to all the folks that wrote such thoughtful responses - I have to admit I hope this will be a new trend - I have seen one too many posts that just seem shockingly cruel and bizarrely superior in tone regarding grades/performance - but maybe this is a good sign for things to come...

I am re-entering the program in August (2011) for RN day - (just received my letter this week) and know a lot has to happen in a short amount of time. Anyone up for studying over the next month to get a jump on Med Surg? (135)

I'm sorry for your struggles - and for what it's worth for me sincerely the only antidote to rising levels of performance anxiety was practicing over and over and over - I hope you can hang in there!

Thank you for this thread. I am amazed at the culture myself. I am trying to transition out because the nursing profession has been so unforgiving. Frankly I wonder about folks who seriously suggest that nursing is not more dysfunctional than other professions. Have they been anything other than nurses?