VetTechingWasEasier

I went to an LPN to RN program. 1st year, did practical nursing jobs...patient care, meds, reports. Next year, the "RN" year, it was a touch of med/surge, some clinpath and a WHOLE lot of theory. Capstones capstones capstones till you scream. I have a cousin who's been an RN in Florida for 6 years. I guess there must be a huge difference in the education. I didn't exactly go to a top school but I'm getting more and more surprised at students who graduated from more prestigious institutions. I recently saw her at a family-reunion type occasion in Southern California. She had allergies and wanted some benadryl. We didn't have any, but we had some Nytol which is the exact same chemical (diphenhydramine HCl) Her being a nurse for that long, I thought she'd know OTC meds like that cold. She was amazed that I knew it. I kind of joked "Long time since Pharmacology classes, eh?" and she laughed "Oh we never had to learn anything like that!" "Well don't you pick up stuff like that on the job, then?" "Ah no, I don't know what anything really is, I check the name, patient, dose, (etc) and down the hatch!" "....you don't know any of the side effects/adverse reactions/unsafe dosages, you know, so you can REPORT them?" "That's the doctor's job" (WHAT??????????????) ok fine, even the girl who got the Nightingale award at my school was far from being a walking Merck's manual but I was surprised that apparently 1) one can pass the NCLEX-RN without even a rudimentary familiarity with basic pharmacology 2) One can competantly pass meds with Nursing Theory alone 3) You can leave the task of checking for med related mistakes to the DOCTOR and not be fired out of a cannon..

I already have my Micro taken care of... I was wondering what "mandatory" classes they start in for 2nd year?

I'm planning to take my LPN program certificate to CCP and apply for accellerated admission. I'll be taking care of whatever prerequisites my academic advisor tells me that I still need, this fall and next spring. (Like Dietary class and LPN-RN transition) What classes are required for Fall and Spring of the 2nd year? I couldn't find a schedule online. I'm hoping to find out what kind of time I can expect to spend in class. On side note... I'm having trouble finding a job as an LPN because I let it slip that I'm going to try for RN as soon as possible. The response has been "But we need an LPN... if you become an RN we can't have you doing the same things and we can't guarantee there will be an RN position for you.." For this reason I'm considering going back to Vet Teching until I have my RN , and now the vet clinics are scared I'll get my RN and fly the coop!! Yay, can't get a job unless I don't tell the whole truth about my career plans!

No HESI at Cumberland!

update... I work under the table as a freelance mason/painter. It's good for making my own hours and I listen to my class lectures on my iPod while I'm working. Today I'm going to apply for a job as , yep, a vet tech again...the pay I expect to really be garbage but it keeps the material somewhat fresh. :twocents:

Woah. Tell you what,... If your school requires a score of 1000, and more than half of the class still manages to pass (WITHOUT spending hundreds of dollars on outside tutoring) , what can I say, sounds like the kind of school I wish I went to! Like I said in a previous post, if the cutoff at my school was even 950, all the girls who graduated would've all fit in the back seat of a hatchback car. When the nursing boards catch on that the do-or-die HESI policy in nursing schools is producing artifical competancy at huge expense to the students, they will change their ranking system.

Don't let the staff intimidate you. When it comes down to it, they're all very much accountable for the program they run, and if what they're saying was truely policy, it'd be in writing somewhere. They are just scared for their jobs because if too many students fail, the program is in for disciplinary action itself! As for the HESI...don't forget to relax and trust yourself. There is no reason to believe that all your work will be for nothing if you don't get through without a bump. You wouldn't have even gotten this far if you were not nursing material!

Cumberland doesn't require an exit exam? interesting..

I'm sorry, I was so busy ranting that I didn't answer your question! The only ADN program I know of that doesn't require a "Do or Die" exit exam, is Del Tech in Georgetown, DE. NY nursing schools, do not require a HESI, but they do require a very, very high score on the NCLEX to get your license. (2nd only to California)

More and more nursing schools nationwide are jumping on the HESI bandwagon, because it artificially raises their ranking through finding a new and creative way to make sure that students who won't pass the NCLEX on the first try, don't even get to sit for the exam regardless of their academic performance. Don't ask me what kind of nurses this system will produce, because real life isn't multiple choice. One of the girls in my class who failed the HESI, saved a patient's life during one of her clinical rotations. (She noticed that the RN she was shadowing was about to give someone a killing dose of the wrong insulin IV!!!) Meanwhile, one that left an incontinent patient in a bed full of his own waste when it was time for post-conference because "She already changed him THREE TIMES" got an award for her high GPA at pinning. Go figure.

As a matter of fact...the HESI has another purpose, according to their own web site. It's other purpose is to make sure that schools are actually teaching a proper curriculum. How many of us were missing questions on the HESI that were about subject matter we NEVER went over in school? Plenty. How many of us had to use SAT-type answer elimination strategies to even muster a passing grade? Again, many. I believe schools should be ranked by their HESI pass rate!!!!! I think we'd see a massive change in the curriculum and the quality of the classes. If they're ranked by pass rate of the NCLEX and only graduate students who'll pass, according to the HESI model, a school can legally just have their students play kickball for 2 years, graduate just 1 student who passes the HESI, and STILL CLAIM A 100% PASS RATE and pocket the other 80+ student's tuition with impunity.

Isn't that a screwed statistic, pretty much having the students take another version of the NCLEX and only let whoever "passes" sit again? that's like me having a Marathon Running School. I guarantee that YOU can run 26 miles after you graduate!!!! However, to graduate, you have to run 40 miles. Hahahahahha! Unethical? Maybe.

Is anyone from a nursing school that ties your HESI score to a grade in a specific class? In mine, we have a 10-credit hour MedSurg class that if you fail the HESI 3 times, you get a 10 credit F added to your transcripts. To reapply to the program, you have to also re-take all the 1st Semester final exams. Once in, they have to retake all the 2nd semester classes + clinicals, then re-take the HESI and you get only one shot. If you fail, you can never reapply for the program. Nice, huh?

According to the HESI website, the test is also made to put the school's curriculum to the test, to see if it's truely preparing the students for the boards. I myself came from a nursing school where 60% of the students passed the HESI and were able to graduate, and we had an 850 point cutoff. If our cutoff was 900 or even 950 there would've been maybe 12 girls at pinning. I believe that if less than half the students can pass this Do-Or-Die test, doesn't that mean that the SCHOOL isn't doing it's job?

My LPN year was going smooth, I was even enjoying it, until 2nd semester I started hitting serious money problems. If my family didn't pull through for me when they did, I would've probably quit to start working full time again, rather than let my credit go to hell and finish the last few months of the school year living in my car!

Depends on what your program leaves you with. Some make you wait a year to take it again. Some programs have you repeat an entire class, some programs make you repeat the year, some change your grade in your heaviest class to an F, sending your GPA off to Davey Jones, to hobble you and make sure that getting back into nursing school will be as likely as you striking oil in your backyard garden.

Think of it as a massive horse race... where the horses that do not place, get a leg broken for their trouble.

Yes, Salem Community College requires the HESI exit exam to graduate. Be warned, the exam itself is tied to other courses, meaning if you cannot pass the HESI exam, your grade in another class will be transmuted into a very heavily weighted "F". (The class it was tied to for the LPN Class was a 10-credit hour one). With that "F", not only do you have to repeat ALL the classes of spring semester (23 hours worth) but to even get into the program again, you must re-take all your 1st semester finals and take your place last in line for consideration on admission back into the program. With the "F" on your transcripts, you won't be able to just transfer into a program at a different school, either. Last but not least let it be known: About half the class statistically can pass the HESI. Not just the top half of the class, there were many students with better GPA's than me, who missed by just a few points and now have nothing to show for their last year in school. A few students who were at the very bottom of the class grade-wise passed the HESI. It is not a reflection of academic aptitude. Good luck!

I think it's strange how the cost of education+workload for some vocations is so grossly disproportional to their earning potential. I saw a classified ad on Monster.com, the facility wanted a social worker with an MS,a decade of experience and all kinds of certifications, for a job that paid 18k a year and no benefits. I suppose it's a good thing that money is in fact not everything, or else human health care would be obsolete in this day and age.

OK fast forward half a year! 80 students, 29 were able to pass the exit exam! Drama! Thrills! Chills! Spills! Did I mention Drama! I'm taking my ball and going to Philly! I've had enough of this school and the monkey business that goes on behind closed and not-so-closed doors! For professional reasons, I'll leave it at that! PPppbbbpbpbpbpbpbpbptptptptptptptptptptpttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:angryfire:yawn::argue:!!

If you think you're 100% up for it, go for it. The rewards are many and it will be a valuable springboard in your nursing education. The money is nice too but the programs have effective ways of weeding out (and brutally punishing) those who are just in it to make more money. I'm sorry to hear that you apparently live in a state where LPN's are not paid well. Other states like NJ where I'm from, pay double what you're saying for new grads. SO, ...if not for the money, do it for the Foot-In-The-Door aspect for getting into an RN program, and also for getting an RN job that people who walk in off the street just can't hope to get.

:confused:I've just graduated, and I'm waiting to take my NCLEX-PN... does NJ issue GP temporary licenses? Does it automatically get issued when my application to take the boards is fully processed? *** Oh, and I beg anyone who replies, please please please don't bother replying with "Your nursing instructors should have told you" or "Every answer you could wish for is easy to find and eloquently explained on the NJ Board of Nursing Web Site..." Myself and everyone I've talked to from my class has been getting the runaround on this issue. Ideas?

Every nursing class has it's recipient for the Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing Studentry! I have extrapolated the traits and habits of the recipient of my class and will share them with you eager young new students so that you can more easily graduate top of your class. 1) Quit your job. Live with your parents and have a boyfriend/husband who's making ridiculous money and can easily support you. 2) If you have any children, have them all live with a trusted relative. 3) If you have any "down time" on the floor during your clinicals, do not help your fellow students with patient care. Disappear into the nurse's lounge and study your flash cards. 4) Have 100% reliable transportation (see #1 for funding source) 5) Have a 100% stable home life. 6) Spend all your free time studying, after all you'll have a lot of it. 7) Have zero extracurricular activities for this will interfere with your study time. This includes hobbies and pet care. 8) Never drink, smoke, or listen to music. 9) Cry whenever you do not get 100% on any quiz or test. 10) Avoid having, or having had any job that you could've picked up any sort of real-world health care experience. All of your questions will be "textbook" related and real world logic/experience will only interfere with your good grades. 11) Never under any circumstances miss class, even if it means having to be wheeled in on a gurney. 12) Do all extra-credit assignments, and do about 1000x more than was required. *example= If the assignment was a poster presentation, make a mural that takes up half the wall. *12b) On all class projects, Be sure that it's nakedly obvious that your father the pediatricion helped prepare the material. 13) Study alone or study with the student who failed last year and already knows what will be on the exam. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES will you study with anyone who knows less than you. 14) Join student organizations, but do not participate. This will interfere with study time. 15) LAST= Do lots of squat-lift exersizes, so that on graduation day, the weight of all your tassles, stoles, capes, ribbons, medals, etc do not cause you excess lower back strain! Congratulations, Validictorian of the Nursing Program!!!! :yeah::yeah:

CONGRADUATIONS on your first job!!! Keep us Posted on how it works out!!! :yeah:

Don't take it personally. Someone having trouble finding a job, can fall into the trap of thinking "It's because I'm not good enough!!!" This is rarely the case. Being TOO GOOD is just as harmful, it scares people away because they know that the chances of you falling into line as slim to none. This is Managed Care logic. You have a lot of useful credentials and experience, I'm guessing that you also have a moderate to high salary history and an admirable work record. To Hospital HR, you are an expensive potential wave-maker with too much job mobility!