marktheawesome

After taxes, insurance, retirement, etc . . . I'm netting $16-17/hr. I just started at the VA here and my pay is the bottom of the totem pole.

I'm *guessing* you mean LPN as clinical nurse and RN as hospital nurse? RNs can start IV's, write care plans, etc . . .The LPNs have a few clinical limitations. Anyone certified can draw blood, even techs can do it so that is not LPN/RN specific. Around here the majority of your nurses in the Doctor's offices are LPN EXCEPT for ped/obgyn/cardiac clinics, they hire mainly RNs. The nurse in your general practitioner's office is probably an LPN. I'm reading into your question (which, as a nurse we should never do--shame on me) so this might not be applicable.

Not all schools have an LPN option. They just push you through and in two or three years you have an RN and possibly BSN. For example my program is an RN (non BSN) program. After the first year you are a GPN and I have a diploma for it. I can sit for the LPN boards if I come up with the money but I don't have to. From there you continue on for the RN which is one more year. After that I can transfer to a school which has an RN to BSN program. Typically that is another 9 months. There ARE schools out there who ONLY accept if you have a CNA. There is one college in town that accepts on that basis and they do NOT have the GPN option. They just push you through a three year program for your RN BSN.

Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, IA. I will go to the University of Iowa to get my BSN which will only take me a semester post ADN graduation.

those are all great suggestions but I know the two-ring binder and the large rings won't fit in my little pockets (my scrub pockets SUCK). I'll look into a pony-tail scrunchy (?) with a cloth case. Thanks!

it's not hard to get in but VERY discouraging... took me 4 years of gen ed and waiting to get in. I spent 2 years on my gen ed classes and another 2 years waiting... To give you a timeline, I graduated high school in 2004 and I'm in my first semester right now.

I am making some drug cards for clinicals. My instructor gave us a big list as well as a list of drugs my PT. is taking. I had planned on just writing them down on note cards but I was thinking about trying to keep them all together. I know a rubber band around a stack of notecards won't fare well since I can almost guarantee I'll break the band or drop cards. So I think I'll get one of those spiral bound notecard sets. What are you using for drug cards? Any other ideas on what would be good to use? Keep in mind it has to fit into a male scrub uniform (I'm wearing Landau which has two smaller pockets; the girls uniform has 8 pockets)

electrolyte imbalance? I am not sure what your teacher wants with the lack of information given. I know Hyperkalemia and Hypocalcemia can cause tachycardia but I have no idea if the pulse would be weak or strong. Do you have a nursing diagnosis handbook? Those typically do a wonderful job on something like this.

Licensed Practical NURSE vs Certified Nursing Assistant. One is a nurse, the other is simply an assistant to a nurse.

Thanks! I appreciate it. I am absolutely stoked. I cannot WAIT for January to come... I have seriously been waiting on this for 4 years.

I DON'T have my CNA which is why I could not get any jobs with a hospital or anything like that. The certification I do have is with the board of pharmacists to legally be a technician in a pharmacy.

TEAS is a Test of Essential Academic Skills

after 2 years on the waitlist I finally made it. I start the nursing program at Kirkwood in January. It's been a really frustrating journey for me. I started off at the University of Missouri and spent 2 years goofing off and really screwing myself over. I did not live in a dorm and one of my roomates was an alcoholic who, soon after I left, was kicked out of school. After coming to Kirkwood my grades flourished and I excelled. I had a few transfer credits from Mizzou but I did most of my stuff here at Kirkwood (A&P, developmental psych, etc . . .). I started here in the fall of '06, had most of my classes done by the following year and I sat on the waitlist, well, waiting. I took all the classes I could to pass the time and keep loans from hitting me. I took some really fun classes like Audio Recording (my brother owns and operates his own recording studio at Indiana University) so I had fun while waiting. I finally ran out of stuff to take so I laid out this semester and I got a nice job working as a tech at a pharmacy. I didn't have the certifications to get a job at a hospital which is what I really wanted. So anyway, here I am! I start the program in January and I could not be happier to FINALLY see a light at the end of the tunnel. Any other kirkwood students either in the program now or going into it? If you are in the program and don't mind sparing the time, I wouldn't mind knowing what to expect from the teachers, classes, etc . . . -Mark Stewart

I just barely scooted past this. I got a letter in the mail telling me I HAD to take this test. So I called and talk to someone in the health sciences department and found out I did NOT have to take it. I was grandfathered in. I was accepted in August and I start the program in January. I did most of my gen. ed. there at Kirkwood but I honestly did not get to know many people. So we may or may not have met. I honestly have no idea. Sorry I don't have the answers you were seeking.