BabyScanner82

I am going to apply for our LPN program at our community college this coming summer. I get worried too about the jobs available for LPNs and the issues about phasing them out. I don't think MAs will phase out LPNs by any means. I work with a girl who blew a ton of money on a rip off private school to become a MA and see makes less than I do with my CNA license!!! MAs can not work in LTC just like LPNs can't work administration positions. You will make more as an LPN. That is not to insult any MAs, its just the truth and if you do some more research you will see what I mean. If you go to Indeed.com and search LPN with your zip code you will see a number of jobs come up. I have over 600 jobs available within a 25 mile radius of my town!! Don't get discouraged!! :typing

I have been on Alli for about a month now and I have lost about 6 pounds. I never realized how much fat I consumed!!! Gross! Anyways, the program is easy but you do have to follow the guidelines (15 grams of fat per meal) I combine that with 4 1 hour sessions of cardio a week and I feel great. I am taking a break this week though because I miss certain foods and rewarding myself. Just can't reward too much!!

I truly hope the nurses who made the older postings are getting paid far better now! Here in Chi-Town the pay scale is around: CNA/PCT: $10-16 hr LPN: $16-25 hr RN: $19-28 Thank goodness we are in a profession that will always be understaffed!! :bowingpur

I could read these all day!! Some are pretty funny. I would love to say to the fourteen year old pt I had last week, " Oh congrats on your new baby! What a beautiful time in your life to welcome a child into this world!" " And, maybe when you get your driver's license in two years you can drive her to the park." It was pretty uncomfortable for me to help this pt. She had a group of teenagers in her room and one replied, "Oh I miss being pregnant, and rubbing my bell all the time!" OMG!!! GEEEZZZ Now, I may get attacked AGAIN on this thread for voicing my rant, but I think if that "well-to-do-nurse" had a 13 year old daughter get pregnant she may agree with me on this one.

Hello everyone. I work as a CNA/PCT on an OB floor and many days I am the only tech working with 6-7 nurses. (mother/baby-45 pts) Each RN has between 3-5 patients. (couplet care) Some days I work with great RNs who help work as a team and other days I work with ones that make me wanna pull my hair out. That being said, I think CNA work is FAR different than being a LPN or RN. You work much more independently as a nurse and you manage your own time. When you are a CNA, you have your everyday duties and the added bonus of 6 nurses asking if you could do this and do that. On a positive note, the demand for CNAs and RNs will always be good so if one place doesn't work it's easier to try another. I can't wait to become a nurse!!

Hello everyone, here in Chicago there are no hospitals that hire LPNs. I considered this route as well until I learned many of the LPN positions are hiring medical assistants or cna's to fill the job. I personally am looking for less bed side care so I have choosen to apply for the surgical tech program this fall. A close friend of mine just graduated at a local college and out of school she was offered a job starting base pay 17.00 an hour. Not too shabby!!! Good luck with your choices! I'm so exicted and I hope I get in to the program!!! :redbeathe :loveya:

I'm in school too, and I see this all the time. Sad isn't it? I even had a fellow classmate tell me, just have a baby and your school will be paid in full! I work on a maternity unit and I can honestly say that most medicaid patients come to our units with the nice Coach purses and high end cell phones! It makes me sick to think so many people are abusing the system. It's not right, and what's worse is the people who are quick to tell you to mind your own business. If they were wise, they would realize that it is my business when my hard earned tax dollars are paying for it. :angryfire

Hi! I just experienced a similar situation. I took my very first hospital job working on a step down cardiac unit working 11pm to 7am. I was overjoyed to be working at a hospital finally! 4 or 5 weeks into it my eating habits completely changed, and my sleeping habits where awful. My friends would call me up and I wouldn't even pick up the phone. I knew the night I'd rather get into a accident than go to work was the time to start looking for another job. This unit I worked on was horrible, and I seriously reconsidered my nursing education altogether. I think you have the heart for nursing but you just have to find your niche. This may take awhile and remember that's OK!! I have a terrible habit of living in the future and it sounds like we both need to take one day at a time. As for Mr.Wonderul, I ended my engagement about 3 years ago to my high school sweetie. We were together for 10 years until he decided to "shop around" one night we were engaged. He told me 2 months after and my heart has been broken ever since. I know the pain you are talking about and it is especially hardening when girls are age are getting married around this time. I have days when I can't hold it together, and some that are great. The best advice I can tell you is that YOU ARE NOT ALONE! And don't lose hope. You already have a BSN and remember the strength t took to accomplish that! Be proud of yourself and try your best not to lose sight of the big picture!! :redbeathe If you ever want to just vent or blow some steam just message me and I will be glad to help anyway I can. Hang in there girl, it's just a rough spot.

Hi, I was a hair stylist like you before I began in healthcare. I was just hired on a step down cardiac unit at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, IL. I had no hospital experience whatsoever and they started me at $14.14/hr. Like you, it was a painful pay cut but the benefits are amazing (medical ins. and tuition remebersment) If you begin interviewing at hospitals really emphasize your customer service skills thru doing hair. It is the same concept as being a PCT. Best of Luck to you, hope that helps! Chicagoland has so many wonderful hospitals to work for and the pay is decent to compared to other metro areas!!:w00t:

Thank you Ruby Vee!!

I completely understand that one. Had a pt whose wife stayed with him THE WHOLE time. I work on a step down telemetry unit and this lady brought framed pictures, two lap tops with cords,(I tripped over one while trying to do bed side care) a ton of magazines that she laid across the heater, (Jacho loved that one) then she complained when the techs came into the room to do a sugar test. Unbelievable. My recent comment about obese people was not meant to offend anyone, and I never show that attitude towards any patients regardless of how nasty they may be towards me. I just don't understand what happened to old fashion responability? I mean come on, a patient comes in who has awful drug withdrawls and starts screaming and yelling your telling me that doesn't bother you? Better yet he pulls his IV out and pees all over the place. He/she has a serious drug problem and it's put them in the hospital because it's compromised their health. To me, it's the same concept as servere obesity. How is consuming too much food any different than abusing your body with drugs?

Almost forgot the classic.... 7) I'd love to say "instead of pushing that call light all night long why not put that thing down and try washing your stinky crotch on your own for once?"

Oh my god I am glad to see this thread up here. I have just started a new job at a hospital. I have been here for about 2 mths now as a patient tech in a Cardiac unit. It a freakin madhouse and I'm really wondering if I made the right choice about working there. The patients are SO NEEDY AND DEMANDING!!!! It blows my mind every night to hear them talk to the staff the way they do. Here would be my list of what I'd love to say to them: 1) Oh, I'm sorry, did the sign outside say the Ritz Carlton on the door? Because the last time I checked this is NOT a resort it's infact a hospital and your prognosis is going to require a little effort on your part. 2) Why is it that when I ask your 300 pound butt to stand up on a scale you are tired and need me to throw out my back assisting you? But when you need that chocolate chip cookie on your table you suddenly have the strength of SuperMan? 3) As if it wasn't bad enough that Spanish is becoming the primary language in this country, I get the traditional stare of confusion when I ask important questions to patients who don't speak English. Now unless I had a freak accident while traveling, I wouldn't sit in a hospital in France and keep talking in English because they wouldn't understand me now would they? Why am I the only one who finds this disturbing? 4) Just because your family member sneezed, or sniffled doesn't mean I'm going to drop what I'm doing to rush to their side!! 5) This one is my personal favorite, every shift I hear numerous complaints about how bad the food is. What I would give to tell one of these patients, your in a hospital, not a hotel. That food you were eating that put on that extra 100 pounds may be the very reason your lying in that bed with shortness of breath!!! I guess that would just be an anwser with too much logic now wouldn't it? 6) Im completely aware you need a bed change from excessively sweating. Again maybe it's the fact that your 300 pounds? I know many of you may read this and think I am insincere, but the simple truth is many patients I take care of could turn their health around if they lost some weight. It comes down to responability pure and simple. As you know heart disease is the #1 cause of death in women and many of these patients are so heavy they haven't seen their crotch in 10 years because of the belly hangin over it. Thanks for the rant.