moviefan2000

27,000 is a lot of money; you should definitely shop around! I live and work in NJ as an LPN. I graduated in 2007 from a one-year vocational school that cost 16,000. Then I paid about 8,000 going for my RN through Excelsior (rough estimate). Now I am waiting for my NCLEX-date. If I could do it over, I would still go for an LPN license first, because it gave me a chance to see if nursing was a good choice for me, and I didn't have to take out any student loans for the RN program. (After getting my first paycheck I started paying off my LPN-debt; and when it was done I started with Excelsior.) However, now I know that I should have checked out other LPN-schools, instead of signing up for the first one, because -as I found out way too late - mine was ridiculously overpriced, and I could have applied to other good, cheaper programs in the area. Good luck with your studies!

My friend was floated to a new unit today, where she had to give meds via a G-tube to a patient who (as it turns out) had had a positive sputum test for MRSA. She was splashed in the face from the G-tube (she wasn't wearing PPD!); it got into her eyes and mouth, too. She rinsed her eyes with water, and reported what had happened to the charge nurse, who said: Oh, yes, that patient has a tricky G-tube, you really have to milk it... And this was all. My questions are: Can MRSA be transmitted this way? Wasn't this a reason to fill out an incident report?

I would like to ask for your opinion regarding a med issue at an ALF. What is the better thing to do? To admit that your facility ran out of a narcotic painkiller for a resident, and you used the pills of another resident (who became allergic and whose pills were waiting to be destroyed), or to admit that you ran out, document that the narc wasn't given, use the PRN ES Tylenol in the meantime, and get a script for the narc and get it in, even if it takes days to get an MD to come in and write it for you? The first option clearly shows, that you borrowed narcotics, the second would give your facility a deficiency, because the med wasn't available. I would really appreciate your thougths.

Hi, I also live and work in Northern New Jersey, but as a new LPN, not RN. At my Assisted Living Facility the starting pay for an LPN is about $22-23/hour. At my first job at a sub-acute center RNs got $30/hour, and LPNs $21/hour. For an RN the rate offered seems rather low for this area. Good luck with finding a great job.:nuke:

Hi Everyone, This is my first reply to a posting. I work in NJ as a fresh LPN grad, this is my second month at this job. I didn't need benefits, and they offered me 25 $/hour, which I happily accepted. (Right after passing the NCLEX I worked at a sub-acute place where they paid $21, and the pace was really crazy, the nurse/patient ratio didn't leave any time for conscientious nursing, and I was a stressed out mess, dreading to go to work every day. I did this for a month, then quit.) I like this assisted living facility, but most of the time it feels like an administrative job that has very little to do with nursing.