newcalvn

Hi, I am a new LVN. I have been working on-call at this facility for about 2 months now. I am going to be orienting to the NOC shift soon and just wondered what its like? I know there is more paperwork involved and other duties. I have also heard that more patients die at night ...so, I am a bit hesisitant because I have not dealt with this yet. Other nurses have said you are pretty much on your own and there are not many nurses to come and assist you if you have emergencies. I know that this maybe true but the main reason why I am choosing the night shift is because of my kids and their school schedules, plus you get a noc differential. What is your experience working NOC shift and are you a new LVN?

Thanks you all for your support, its great to know that I have somewhere to go to for questions and concerns. I will follow all of your recommendations. Unfortunately, my husband hates to see me this way...he is seeing how hard I work and mentioned to me today to maybe I should find something else that I would like, perhaps a different environment. I wouldn't be happy either if my hubby worked all day and then went back to work for another few hours (on top of it, for free).

Thats so true...I will not do the charting on my own time anymore. There are nurses that do everything and clock out on time and leave. So it makes me feel like its my fault, so I should do it on my own time. But, I understand what you say about the labor laws. I have to chart, right? Say if I don't chart, then what happens?

Thank you so much! I agree, its too many patients!! I was just thinking that if they had 2 nurses with 15 patients, that would be more manageable and the patients would have more quality care and more 1 on 1 time. But, their budget is already down the tube with medicare cuts and stuff, they even reduced the amount of hours for CNA's and LVN's. We only are allowed to work 7.5 hrs right now.

Hi Everybody, I am in CA. I started a job as an LVN at a skilled nursing facility. I knew going in that this was not the type of environment I wanted to work in, but I was offered this opportunity to learn skills and not have to hunt for a job. I was told by my preceptors that they do not allow for overtime either, which I was not so happy with, but never saw the nurses stay more than 1 hr over there time. So I decided to at least give it a try, besides, its so hard to land a job as a new grad nowadays. Guess what? I have landed in a a hell hole! I trained for about 12 days and now I am on my own. I have worked for 6 days and I am exhausted During the days I worked I had 26 patients, 6 are GTs with bolus meds and 1 bolus feeding. These patients are mostly psychotic, yelling throught the day . During these days, I never received my 1 hour lunch, no break, and never even went to the bathroom. I ate my food for 5-8 minutes and came back on the floor. I passed meds from 7am to 3pm on all days. When I had to endorse to the next shift, they had to take on a lot of the things I did not do the rest of the day. During the med passes, I was called many times to answer phone calls, there were labs coming in, doctors coming in, change of conditions happening throughout the days. Sometimes, I wasted so much time just trying to find something such as a medication for a patient or a blood pressure cuff. After I endorsed, I tried to complete paperwork, I lost my mind pretty much everyday. I had to pick up my kids by 5pm, I was barely getting thru the paperwork for 1 change of condition for 1 patient (throughout the day, there were apprx. 2-3). Everyday this week, I came in after I took care of my family (I have 4 kids and a husband), and I spent 3 hours of my own time charting and trying to complete other paperwork. So, I told the DON that I would like to try the treatment nurse role instead. I hope that this will work out better for me, I see the tx nurses sometimes just trying to look busy, or they help out with paperwork, they even go home on time!! I have learned that its just this facility thats really crazy. I dont know if I should waste anymore time here...I have tried to find other places, but I have not had any luck. I would like to work in a clinic, but most of the time, they require 6 months to 1 year experience. I just wanted to know if anybody has had an experience like this? What did you do? Any advise on what I should do? The easiest thing would be to just resign, but I don't want to just do that. I tell myself that it will be better as I learn everything, or at least try to be the treatment nurse and see what happens??

The "trick" works!!!!!!!! I passed my NCLEX EXAM. I tried it as soon as I did my exam which was on 6/24 and it never let me reschedule for an exam. I just got my result today in the mail.

Hi All, I just took my NCLEX today in Oakland, CA. My test stopped at 95....and I am just worried like crazy!! I just don't know about my test... , I HOPE that I passed! The brochure at the test center said that where you stop does not indicate whether you passed or failed. I had a classmate that passed at 205 and another that failed at 205, then one that passed at 85. Just wondering if anybody would share their result with me and what number your test stopped at. Thanks.

Something a bit different but close: 1. 12 months 1 saturday every week in CA (may take upto 18 months if you have not completed prereqs for Bachelors degree) 2. Clinical is 1 month, 3 weeks in the hospital and the last week is graduation 3. was told that we need to work as an LVN in a patient care setting and they will look at your job description to verify. Those hours will count as clinical hours. Minimum of 24 hrs each week. 4. Then you receive your degrees from the school and afterward submit your paperwork to the BRN to get approval. So what do you think? 3.

Hi, THis sounds good, did you do your prereqs there also? The only issue is I have a family of 6, my hubby works here and I do Real Estate right now while I am in school. Any ideas? can you take some of the nursing classes online?

Hi Kathy, Yes this is the one! I have just an email address for the person in the us, her name is Dr. Olay and her email is [email protected]. Deposit is 5K and total price is 28K for a BSN in Nursing, takes about 12-18 months depending on how many prereqs completed. Let me know what you think, One of the previous students that just graduated just received her approval to take the Nclex.

This school is called PLT college and it is located in the Phillipines. I went to a Q&A session today and the letter on the BRN was addressed. They stated that they are not trying to obtain any type of accreditation from them, but they are letting them know that they are offering this type of program. There were people there just paying their deposit to ensure their seats into the program. Why would they just pay it? It must work, right?

Hi There, I will be graduating in 1 more month from my LVN program. I plan to take my Nclex soon after I graduate and hopefully pass. Meanwhile, my goal to is start an LVN to RN program immediately. I just don't know how to deal with all the prereqs for the community college bridge programs, not to mention the huge waitlist for these programs. So, my friend told me about this foreign nursing program from a college in the phillipines. You do all your class work here, your job experience as an LVN counts as clinical hours, and for the last month of the program, you go to the Phillipines and finish your maternity clinicals and graduate there. THe program is 18 months long and you receive your BS in Nursing, but it is a foreign program, so what I was told is that you need to submit all your coursework to the Board of registered nursing in CA and it needs to be reviewed, which can take about 4 months. You would be considered a foreign grad. Anybody here about this? If it is will work, then I don't mind being a foreign nurse, I know it will look a bit strange since I am Indian and I was born in CA. I used to work for staffing at Kaiser and they were recruiting foreign nurses from the Phillipines because their courses were equivelant to the courses here in CA and the clinical hours were just as much as what is required for CA. Also, I checked into the Indiana State University and the rep on the phone told me that it would take approx. 4 years to finish their program!! I didn't even ask about the money part. But this is the only on-line approved program in CA, I went on the CA BRN to find out. Any thoughts about what I should do, I would like to get all this done ASAP, but not really sure which route to go. I have 4 kids and I am very busy, but my goal is to be an RN and take care of people, but I need to get this done by the end of 2009. Any advise would greatly help, Thanks. :wink2: