koolau

Any of the Saunder's should work, least i think mine was yellow (have no idea where it is now). Everyone I talked to used that publisher and had good results.

I was so nervous for my first scheduled test date, I pushed it back a month. All I did was do questions for about 2 hours a day out of the yellow Saunder's NCLEX study book. I didn't want to overstudy and just worked on it until I lost concentration then stopped. The others that failed the first time from my class, passed the second time because they weren't so worked up about it. It is stressful, and it can have an effect. But this time, you will go in knowing more of what to expect which is always good.

Every one of my classmates that I've kept in touch with work outside of hospitals. Most of the hospitals have very limited LPN spots, and most people that get those seem to have worked there as a CNA or somehow else to get a foot in the door, then who knows how long the wait was until a position opened. One classmate works in a dialysis center, the others are all in LTC (pay scale seems to be between $13 - $17 an hour). I'm not working in healthcare, due to personal choices that happened during and after school (nothing negative). Another classmate has a state job, but she is not in Virginia. Hope some of that helps. :)

I graduated from their LPN Program in January '09. If you did that well in pre-req's for RN and have a good history with school, you shouldn't really have any problem. It of course takes a lot of extra hours to catch up, i.e. doing homework and studying nightly, but as long as you can devote the time needed to know you have a grasp on the material you should do great. I only had trouble in Endocrine towards the end of the schooling, I hate HORMONES! Good Luck :)

I did the day program for LPN and the schedule was 8 - 430 for normal classes, and 630 - 3 for clinicals during weekdays. The night program goes 530 - 10 during the weeknights, and clinicals sat/sun 630 - 3 I believe. Then of course you get random days off depending on what mod you're in. Towards the end of the program I only had school 4 days a week. Hope this helps.

I know for the day classes it was pretty much always up to the time limit, getting out early was 30 min before the end of the day. Classes throughout the program are generally fast paced and packed with a lot of homework and information to learn. It flies by, and you think you aren't learning it but you will be amazed when you first speak "nurse". lol

I was in the 12-month days program, the first week we had at least one test. Be prepared to be given an abundance of information, and have loads of homework. It may have changed with the curriculum you are in now, but the new students from before I graduated still said their was a heavy workload. If I am still thinking right, yours is the 14-month? The classes are broken up in a different arrangement to try and make it a bit less demanding, but it is still an accelerated course. Just be prepared to learn tons of things, and have fun. Make friends, You will get lectured about sticking together and helping each other out. My class thankfully did, after a few mods. People will naturally look for others to bond with in the course, so just be yourself and work hard!

I've heard it depends on your specialty and what you enjoy. My clinicals so far have been spent mostly in nursing homes that were quite easy. The psych ward was insanely fun, while others hated it. If you are finding one section difficult, perhaps there is another area that will suit you better.

Hi Krolik, I'm 27 and decided to finally go after my dream of becoming a nurse. I have a Bachelor's degree from my prior career, and as a result chose an LPN program that is a year long. With no medical experience at all, I felt that starting with this would be more beneficial to myself and my patients. The school I attend has no pre-req's, but you also don't receive a degree. You get to sit for your boards after completing all the hours, and they have a high pass rate. If you do a bit of research for where you wish to settle down there are tons of these technical schools, but it is a personal choice you need to make. Do you want the BSN, RN, LPN? All of the above? Hope this helps, Im new