lllchillylll

There are transitional programs out there that offer a "LPN to RN" bridge program. Instead of doing the traditional curriculum you bypass a few things so it allows you to get your RN license quicker. However, if you take into account the time you also had to do for the LPN school, its a bit longer. I have my LPN license and I am currently going for my BSN . I can honestly say that if it wasnt for my LPN license, there is no way I could be able to pay for school for the RN program with out dying from exhaustion. Its a good way to make a good amount of money to help pay for school.

I have never heard of that before. I know that they syringe is supposed to be separated from the plunger but as far as the syringe becoming "contaminated" after checking for residual is ridiculous! After you check and put the contents back in, you then use the same syringe to put the meds in. I cant understand how it can become contaminated considering that the exact same syringe is going in the same place and its not like its come into contact with other things. I was followed by state during this pass and they never said anything about my technique. Maybe your coworker accidentally contaminated they syringe by brushing it against clothing, sheets, or skin?

My test stopped at 85. I thought I either did really good or really bad. 85 isnt always that magic number. I know people whos test stopped at 90 or 120 and they still passed. You should be able to find out if you passed or not in a week or so. You can even find out before you results are mailed to you. if you go to you states online doh and do a medical license search for you name, if you passed it will show your licence number. I wish you the best of luck. :)

Writing out all my frustrations really helped me when I did my LPN and now I'm doing it again for my BSN. One of the main reasons why I'm doing this is because I know its hard to be a student in nursing school and I'm looking for other people who are going through the same thing as me to give me feedback on all of this. :typing Maybe we can all be a form of support for each other. You talk about your current experiences, your annoying/difficult classes, let off some steam and vice versa. If any of you guys are interested in joining me let me know.

I pretty much do the same thing as smartin. Studying nursing is incredibly difficult. Your life becomes centered around nursing. Your nursing classmates become your closest friends because you end up spending the majority of your time with them studying and whatnot. Together you eat, sleep, and breath it. How I study: Listen to lectures. I find that I learn best when I hear the information rather than just reading it on my own. Whenever i get the time (usually at night) I go through the text and highlight important information. Reading the chapters gives you a good understanding of the material. After that I view the power points for those chapters. From that I base my review off that power point because all those really are, are bullets of what it is exactly that you need to know. I eventually type out notes from my review and use that to study off of. Its quick and to the point by the time you use it to study off of because then you've condensed all the material from 45 pages a chapter to practically 15 pages in nice little notes.

Working in LTC really stinks. I hate the fact that you don't really get to do any real nursing besides passing pills. When you have the opportunity to do other patient care like wounds or colostomies, you barely have any time to do it. Its very frustrating. I was very fortunate to find work on rehab floors which doesn't have as much patients, has a higher acutity in comparison and it breaks the monotony of crushing pills and rushing from one med pass to the other. I've been burned out in the nursing homes after I worked in it for a year and a half and took a good 4 months off to regroup myself. I'm going back for my BSN and am really looking foward to working in the hospitals. When I did my clinicals there (We never trained in LTC) I felt so satisfied with my work and it was rewarding. At least with hospital nursing you do other things and you really get to know your patients.

You refuse to watch ER because it's too much like the real thing and triggers "flash backs." lol. when I used to work I'd avoid that show at all costs. But its the summer now and I'm living back home and jobless for the time being. I only watch it to "refresh" my memory.

for clinicals most students have to option to wear a dress.... but most pick the top and pants. But yeah, if youre in school usually the uniform policy for 95% of schools are white scrubs. I wore a dress 2 years ago when I was doing my LPN clinicals.... NEVER AGAIN! (It got in the way.)

I was 18 when I started working, and I look like I belong in the 9th grade. Even to this day I could blend in with the high school crowd. I did get a LOT of **it thrown at me because most people (usally the patients) were like "I didnt know candy stipers could hand out medications" or "You're too young to be my nurse, I want someone older". They're not scared, but they're also not very comfortable. Some think its amazing that youre so young and think, "wow if this nurse is so young, she must of studied hard in school". While others aren't the nicest of patients. With co-workers, they basically saw me as their child and had a hard time taking orders from me. But I learned that if you are confident and don't seem timid, people will see you as older than you really are despite your appearance. I also think it really helped that I started clinicals really young too. A 16 year old who just got her drivers license practicing on people way older than me make me grow up REAL quick. If I may ask, where did you go to school... state wise

I agree with virgo. Buy them separately. You can get a steth that you like and that works really good and a bp cuff that is okay. For the price theyre selling it for, I dont imagine the stethescope is the best thing out there.

Congrats on passing boards. I still remember two years ago when I passed mine too. I don't think I've ever studied for something so hard until before my test. Yes, the first thing to do is get a job ASAP. Get your resume and start job hunting. If youre lucky you will be able to find a job but the way its looking, its very tough to find a job as a new grad (unless you start of in LTC, and in that case its a bit easier to find work). The sooner you place your applications, the less time you'll spend being jobless. Being a real nurse is 100% different than being a student. You wont always have the guidance of your teacher and students. You have to start relying on yourself (and your co-wrker). You're license is the most important thing to you. Its on the front lines. In addition, school and working are not the same. You start to take shortcuts and quickly learn things arent always the way theyre supposed to be. Just make sure if you take shortcuts, your shortcuts are safe and don't pose a threat. Things arent always going to be the ideal situations, and sometimes you find yourself in some "interesting" situations. I think the hardest thing about the transition from nursing school to the real world of nursing is the adjustment from just having one or two patients to a full load (and if youre in LTC, you may have as much as 30 patients!) I started in a LTC/rehab fresh out of school. And let me tell you, I almost wanted to give up right there on the spot. When i graduated I thought 3 patients was a lot. Think of my surprise when I found out that I would be responsible for a crazy amount of patients. FYI, try passing meds to those many patients, safely, in the alloted time frame is impossible until you get into the swing of things. My first few weeks I litterally cried my way out of the place..... and usally I never let that kind of stress get to me.... but everything was so new and somehow i had to lead all these people like the CNAs and assert my authority and convince people i was fully capable of taking care of them (some people even tried stepping all over me and undermining me because I was new, and young....at least 20 years younger than some of them.) Anyway I wish you the best of luck and things will get easy after the first few months. Don't let it overwhelm you and I'm sure you'll do just fine. The butterflys should go away after you get your groove going. Just relaxed and stay possitive. Don't doubt yourself, because if you passed the test, you already know the essentials. If youre nervous, they know. It makes them doubt your capabilities and that should be the least of their worries. There will be a lot of things you'll also pick up that you didn't learn in nsg school too. Well I'm sorry this was a bit long but I really hope it was informative and it helps. :)

Thanks everyone! Well, I'm happy to say my official last day of work is this Monday! YEY! I'm so happy. I took the advice given by many of you and politely gave a nice letter pretty much stating that I wanted to concentrate on school and they took it quite well.

OH MY GOSH!!!! This has to be the most amazing thing I've seen ALL day. Im literally smiling ear to ear. Mucho kudos :yeah::yeah:

Aww that stinks. My school never used them, but for graduation purposes we received them. I really looked forward to getting my cap and pin too!

your program doesnt reguate what type of cap is required? I was always under the impression that every school had a different design...