username44

Nursing darwinism it's time for change

You definitely cannot work more than a few hours a week. My classes are the easy part of the program. We have nowhere near as much homework as you describe. It is a good thing though since the clinicals are so grueling. :up:Good luck!

The more I think about it, I believe the excessive clinical homework is the policy of our head instructor. She invites input, but not much changes. I don't think the other instructors have a lot of say either. Some of them seem pretty sympathetic to our clinical homework ordeal. I guess what I'm looking for is some authority to back me up. Probably someone has done research on what works for training nurses. I will fish around at some other forums and google it when I get more time.

Here is my schedule: Monday: 7 AM --12PM Patient care at LTC 12Pm --? Homework: 7-page history and physical, med dosage schedule , med worksheet, lab list, 5-lab worksheet, 5-diagnosis worksheet, sometimes a surgery worksheet, 1 patient problem worksheet, 2 nursing care plans, patient teaching plan focused assessment plan time management plan Tuesday: 7:15 AM--3:30 PM patient care I do have many common labs and diagnoses done from past assignments that I can cut and paste to save time. I do as few new ones as I can get away with. I do not cook or wash dishes. I do no other type of homework. The only thing I stop for is to pick up my kids from school, and help them with their homework. Yet 1:00 AM is the earliest I ever get to bed. I have to set the alarm for 5:00 AM in order to get myself and children out the door in time. So figure 4 hours sleep at the most. I would like to be alert at 7:15 Tuesday morning, but I always feel like something the cat dragged in. Would you want me taking care of your loved one? Since we are all about evidence based learning, where is the research to back up this teaching strategy? Send me a link or something. I always work better when I know the rationale. I'd like to believe in what I'm doing.

I don't work outside the home. I have a seven and an 11 year-old. For clinical homework I have a 7-page history and physical, a med dosage schedule , a medication worksheet, a lab list, a 5-lab worksheet, a 5-diagnosis worksheet, sometimes a surgery worksheet, one patient problem worksheet, 2 nursing care plans, a teaching plan, a focused assessment card, and a time management card, all to be all completed between 12 PM Monday and 7 AM Tuesday. I do patient care for half a day at an LTC on Monday, then go home and do homework until 1:00 or 2:00 AM. The only thing I stop for is to pick up my kids from school, and to help them with their homework. I don't cook. I don't wash dishes. I don't do any other kind of homework. I have many of the common diagnoses and labs done already, so I just cut and paste. Even so, I cannot seem to finish it all in time to get enough sleep to be fit to care for seriously ill patients by 7:15 AM the following day. I should be complaining because I am not being taught many of the procedures that I need to know. But I am just relieved to be free of that extra stress. Maybe I am slow. Maybe my nervous system is weak. Maybe I'm a whiner. Maybe in a few years I will be embarassed that I had the nerve to criticize something I did not understand. Or maybe my newcomer status gives me a fresh perspective. Maybe I don't accept that something is the best way just because it has been done that way for hundreds of years. Time will tell.

below is a cut and paste of my rant in the student forum. in addition to blowing off steam, i really want to know what is the current thinking on this subject? why does sleep deprivation have to be a part of my lpn training? i'm told it is necessary to do massive amounts of homework the night before a clinical in order to get the "total clinical picture" for my patient. but that rationale is not plausible to me. i retain very little of what i study after about 10 pm. i retain very little of what i learn at the clinical site after having slept only 2 or 3 hours the night before. it hurts me that the quality of my homework is not what it could be. i would like to take the time to get a little more in depth knowledge about certain disease processes or drugs. but instead i take every available shortcut in order to complete all the assignments. sleep deprived medical students used to be one of my pet peeves. now i am one. i know darn well there is a better way. it is possible to learn more and sleep more. so why? is it a throwback to the days when nurses were sisters and self-flagellation was in style? is it the perverse preference of the head teacher at my school? or is this the norm? i will have to endure this ordeal one night a week almost every week between now and october. i keep wondering if i should drop out and try some other type of program. medical assisting? medical lab tech? do i want to be a nurse this badly?

Why does sleep deprivation have to be a part of my LPN training? I'm told it is necessary to do massive amounts of homework the night before a clinical in order to get the "total clinical picture" for my patient. But that rationale is not plausible to me. I retain very little of what I study after about 10 PM. I retain very little of what I learn at the clinical site after having slept only 2 or 3 hours the night before. It hurts me that the quality of my homework is not what it could be. I would like to take the time to get a little more in depth knowledge about certain disease processes or drugs. But instead I take every available shortcut in order to complete all the assignments. Sleep deprived medical students used to be one of my pet peeves. Now I am one. I know darn well there is a better way. It is possible to learn more and sleep more. So why? Is it a throwback to the days when nurses were sisters and self-flagellation was in style? Is it the perverse preference of the head teacher at my school? Or is this the norm? I will have to endure this ordeal one night a week almost every week between now and October. I keep wondering if I should drop out and try some other type of program. Medical assisting? Medical lab tech? Do I want to be a nurse this badly?

Are there any benefits with home health care?

Thanks so much for your nice long reply. It confirms what I remember from my past experience. That is, you never know what you are walking into. Still I enjoyed it a lot. My only complaint was a lack of regular hours. I have to work when my kid's daycare is open, weekdays 6 to 6, so I don't know if a homecare company can schedule me for enough hours.

How is your schedule? Do you normally have regular hours? Do they have enough work to keep you busy? If a case ends, do they find another one quickly?

Is it possible to work regular hours doing home health care? Can you get full time if you want it? Can you count on having enough work from week to week? I'm curious about private duty lpn work also.

Does any of you LPNs do homecare? I did that back in the 80's and enjoyed it alot. I think I might like doing that as an LPN when I graduate. Can anyone tell me about that?

That is fine if you don't give a company name, I can still use your response. Thanks.

i am going to start an lpn training program. in order to get a certain type of financial aid (wia), i need to interview two lpn's. does anyone want to anwer a few questions? what company do you work for? what department or position? do they require experience to hire lpns? if so how much? is there a dress code? what are the physical demands? what is the starting wage? are there health benefits? what is your job description? thanks so much for your help. i just got my acceptance letter in april, and i've had to put all the financial aid together in less than a month because the classes start may 12th. i'm going to upper valley joint vocational school lpn program, in miami county ohio.