L&DForMe

A month ago I was feeling exactly the same way. Im in the central valley, but all the jobs seemed to be in the bay area. Im completing my 3rd week at the county jail. A HUGE change from the hospital work Ive always done (as a CNA), and more specifically Labor & Delivery where I spent the last 5 years. While I have to agree somewhat to the "its not what you know, but who you know", dont let that discourage you! I moved here last fall from WA state and knew NO ONE! One of the things I did was apply for jobs regardless of that "one year experience" thing. I have a strong medical background, and I just held onto hope that that would push me above the rest. It worked! I got called for my current position, interviewed, and was hired all within 2 weeks. Theyve now got me almost all the way trained (go out on my own on Monday! ) and they are still interviewing other LVNs, some who DO have experience. Im honored and priviledged that they chose to put me at the front of the line. And I LOVE my work!! Just hang in there and keep trying. Unfortunately it takes time, and at times it makes all that hard work in nursing school seem like it was for nothing. But youll get something!

Central Valley, CA New grad, Per Diem, $26/hr plus shift differential of $1/$2 per hour. Once I get a full/part time position Ill be eligible for medical/dental/life and 8 hours holiday pay (for 11 holidays/year) and time and a half if I work the holiday also (making holidays 2.5 times regular pay).

Not helpful to you since Im in the Central Valley, but maybe more CV people will see this. I *highly* recommend Vic The PICC in Lodi, CA. Its $300 for 4 eight hour days...we did Tues-Fri. The instructor is very entertaining and makes some of the more boring material easier to get through. I did mine at the end of June. I havent even checked to see if mine is showing up on the site yet.

Exactly....when in doubt....ask questions! I just started my first LVN position 3 weeks ago at the County Jail. Far cry from Labor & Delivery...LOL! But Im loving it. Ive been in the medical field for 14 years though, so Im fairly comfortable in my surroundings. Just remember that everyone has their own personal way of staying organized. So while your preceptor is showing you the way that works for him/her, you may find that a different way works best for you. Dont be afraid to tailor your work process to meet the needs of your patients and yourself. Good luck!

Im just wondering how long it took before you knew the results? I took the test in Milpitas last Saturday (3/26) and have been stalking the BVNPT website waiting to see my name I know it's too soon, but wishful thinking after they took 4.5 months to process my paperwork Also, have you found a place accepting new LVN grads? I cant find ANY positions available to new grads (looking in Modesto and a 40 mile radius)! Ive been in the medical field for 14 years and have a strong background. Im hoping that would help, as my only real option is to apply for positions and ignore that "1 year of experience required" in the job descriptions.

You dont need to do anything, except pay for recertification every year. No CEU's, and you dont have to work as a CNA to keep it renewed. Im in the nursing program at Skagit Valley College, have had my CNA for 10 years (9 years in WA), and havent worked as a CNA in 2 years. I get my renewal notice, send in my money, and its all good!

Im getting ready to (hopefully) finish 1st quarter at Skagit today! I have had absolutely NO PROBLEMS with this quarter. Organization prior to starting the quarter was a little poor, but I lived through it. I dont feel like Im being shorted on education. Infact, of the 3 colleges I have attended (one in IL, one in CA, and Skagit), I think Skagit has by far the best instructors! They have all been very nice. Some of them tough, but only because they want the best out of you!!! I live in South Everett and commute to Mount Vernon because I REFUSE to have anything to do with EvCC!! My experience with them was horrible, and for awhile I gave up on continuing my education because of them. I also work for Providence. It would have been nice to be in school close to home, doing my clinicals with my employer, but I dont think I would have made it through the program with them. They are extremely picky and on some occasions, very racist!

Best part: bonding with patients, smiles and thank you's from patients and family, knowing you've helped make someone better (most of the time), forming a great team with co-workers (we call our groups that work well together the "A Team"). I work in labor and delivery, so its also seeing babies coming into the world, and watching new families being formed. Worst part: the back breaking grunt work, patients dying, drama with coworkers, not being appreciated for all the work you do.

If you really arent sure about going into this profession, I think it would be smart to do a job shadow for a day or two in an area of nursing that interests you. The money is usually pretty good, depending on where you are working, but that shouldnt be your primary reason for going into nursing. In my opinion, theres nothing worse than a nurse who hates her job! Ive worked with a handful like this, clearly in it for the money. The staff suffers, but more importantly, the patients suffer Try volunteering at your local hospital or nursing home and see if you are still drawn to nursing thru that sort of interaction. Still not sure? Talk to a career councilor that can help place you in a different profession.

I havent read thru all pages, so this may have been suggested already.... You'll learn to pack your lunch with a meal you plan to eat, but also with several little baggies of snacks to munch on along the way. Some days youll get to eat your "real" lunch, and some days you just snack here and there. Ive worked in a hospital setting for 8 years. As a CNA on med/surg, then a CNA in L&D, and now I work as a HUC (secretary) in L&D while going thru nursing school. Not one time in any of those positions, and working both 8 and 12 hour shifts, do I remember a time that I wasnt allowed at least 3 minutes of time to go to the bathroom, or eat, or both. Nor do I remember clocking out at the end of my shift thinking I was hungry or had to go to the bathroom because I COULDNT do either during my shift. I stopped taking official breaks a loooong time ago! I work nights, and find if I stop for too long, its hard to get restarted If I get to stop for a couple of minutes every hour or two, I do better that way. So missing breaks/lunches isnt that big of a deal for me. We dont get paid for our lunch breaks (30 min), but do get 2 paid fifteen minute breaks in a 12 hour shift. Very few of us demand to get our breaks. RNs/CNAs/HUCs....we all work as a team to get breaks when needed. Some nights we only get enough time to pee. Other nights we sit around waiting for something to happen. Give it some time and you'll realize that it "all comes out in the wash". Acceptable? No. But you get used to it.

I work at a hospital north of Seattle, and ours is not run that way. Last year we switched to self scheduling so our rules are a little bit different. We only work the shifts we were hired to work, unless we volunteer to work extra on a different shift. Self scheduling rules require that we work at least two weekends in a 6 week period. Sat/Sun for day/evening shifters, and Fri/Sat for night shifters. They arent too picky about whether staff individually fulfill these requirements as long as the schedule works out. Should they need to move one person off one day/night involuntarily they look for those people who havent fulfilled the weekend requirements. I love self scheduling! Its cut down on the amount of sick calls we get, and decreased the amount of PTO being used because staff is able to schedule a vacation around their days off. Our nurses are getting a ton of low census right now though, thats eating up their PTO.

I used to work on med/surg as a CNA. I moved to L&D 4 years ago, so Im not sure what its like there anymore. I only get bits and pieces of info from nurses who transfer over to us. Penny Parks is the nurse manager on that floor and she's a very nice woman. She's generally very organized and very willing to help you with whatever you need help with. Right now, I would ask questions like.... *How long will orientation last? *How often are you low censusing? *How often are you floating to other floors? *How long after orientation before I can be floated? *What will your patient load look like? *How many patients would you take with & without a CNA? (When I left, the 33 bed unit was getting 2 CNA's to split the floor. Each nurse was getting 6-8 patients, depending on census, aquity, and staffing. Ive heard that theyve gone back to each nurse getting 6 patients with a CNA and the CNA works between 2 nurses. I dont know that I believe that though). Good luck with your interview! And welcome to Providence, should you accept the position :)

Thank you! I ended up buying this Littman Classic II. My aunt is a breast cancer survivor, so I went with the pink. They give a $5 donation when you buy that one :) I also bought a matching ID tag to have engraved with my name incase I misplace it. :)

What stethoscope would you recommend I buy for the nursing program? I know Littman is always recommended, but in searching online there are several styles and Im not sure which one to go for. Thank you! :bowingpur

I went to the intake meeting on Tuesday. They told us that 161 is more of like a CNA course....teaching and/or perfecting our bedside skills. Then 162 we act more as a nurse. We are given 1 patient to do total care for. That's also the quarter that we will learn to insert foleys, NG tubes, IV's, etc... From there on, each quarter just gets more demanding with adding 1 more patient into your load for each quarter you're in. Then your focus is on time management and delegation.

I think the people that are upset are those that were so close to getting into the program this time around and didnt make it. Now they'll have to wait till Fall quarter to be accepted. And by that time the acceptance conditions will be changed and it'll knock them back down the list again. I'm not the best student, but I'm not the worst either. I know I'd be pretty pi$$ed and disappointed in myself to get this far and then have to start over again. Many people are going to end up retaking some classes to pull up their GPA and get themselves back into position again. I am VERY thankful that I made it in for Spring quarter. If I hadnt, I probably would be stuck on the list forever and I would have just given up. My heart goes out to those that are thinking that same way. ETA: Im not sure if the amount of pre-reqs completed will change. I havent heard anything about that. I know their teaching styles are going to change though. They are totally revamping the way information is presented. Two co-workers are in the program right now and are struggling somewhat with the beginning of the change. For the first couple of quarters they were conditioned to learn a certain way and now that they have that down, it's being changed and they are just told to adjust to it. I've never met this director from EvCC, but I have strong feelings about EvCC and REFUSED to give them even $1 of my money to attend their school. And I used to work closely with many of the clinical instructors. I live minutes from EvCC, but will spend all the money in gas and time in travelling up to Skagit. It'll be sad if many of the same things happen to Skagit, that happen within EvCC. I love Skagit. Out of the handful of colleges I have attended (in different states), Skagit is the most friendly, and the instructors actually care about their students succeeding. I totally understand that current situations may be causing them to lose money and/or funding, but there has to be some balance there. And they are going to frighten off a lot of people if they make all these changes very quickly!

Well, living somewhere other than Modesto isnt really an option that I want to change. Im moving there to be closer to family, and that is where my family is. Modesto has both Memorial and Kaiser. If need be I can commute to Turlock, Tracy, Livermore, etc. It wouldnt be a fun commute, but I could do it. I have connections at Memorial though, so that is where I'm hoping to settle into, with a per diem position at Kaiser if available. Im just trying to get a feel for the area and the hiring of new grads. It'll be a little over 2 years before this would be happening anyway, and honestly I think the economic status will be on the upswing by then. :) As far as housing, I'll probably be living with family for a bit after I move there (their request) while I settle in, save some money, get some debt paid off, etc. ETA: This is part of the reason that I want to get out of my current employer ASAP. Because this is happening here now too. And my employer is not being very gracious about it. We're pretty sure they are trying to make things miserable for the nurses to get them to quit instead of being laid off and them having to pay unemployment. I also have my CNA in both states, so if push comes to shove, I could find a CNA position while getting into an RN position.

At our facility the CNA's assist the doctors. They set up and tear down/clean the equiptment. They also bring the baby to the circ room, and back to the parents after its done. Then the LPN/RN is responsible for doing the checks afterward.

Out of the 20 or so other students, NO ONE uses it. They came away with a few terms they remember, but none were confident enough to actually have a conversation with their spanish speaking patients. Maybe its not the same exact class, since we are in different states. This one was definately a continuing spanish class. It was about 10 weeks long I think. Im really not sure how a beginner spanish class with a focus on medical terminology would work out for you. I would think you'd need to be at least a little fluent in spanish before adding medical terminology into the mix. Otherwise, you'll be able to ask the questions to the patients, and unless they respond exactly like you're taught they'll respond, you wont know what they are saying.

It was offered through my employer a few years ago. I took it, and then dropped out of it. It has potential to be helpful, but my class was filled with a bunch of people who knew NO spanish at all. The time I spent in class was spent teaching them the basics. Totally a waste to me, after having 4 years of High School spanish. I would check with the instructor and see what type of class s/he tends to run. It is meant as a continuing education spanish class, not a beginner to fluent in medical terminology class. I start the nursing program in March, with plans of moving to CA after graduation, and further plans to take more spanish classes to become fluent. Id be interested in seeing what anyone else recommends.

I currently live in WA but plan on moving to the Modesto area ASAP after graduating the nursing program. I was wondering if anyone could give me their opinion on moving there as a new grad with no RN experience? Am I likely to be hired fresh out of school (and out of state)? I have been in the nursing field for 12 years, been a CNA for nearly 9, have tons of experience (peds, med/surg, L&D/PP) and great recommendations, but is that enough? I want to go into L&D (obviously), preferably right out of the gate, but understand that might not be possible. I can stay in WA to gain some experience and then move, but given current conditions with my employer, I prefer to get out of there ASAP. I wont graduate the nursing program until March 2011. Im trying to figure out if I can finish school, move to CA, and then take my NCLEX and get my CA license. Any info on doing that is greatly appreciated too!

I moved here from the NW suburbs of Chicago about 8 1/2 years ago. Its not unreasonable to live on Whidbey and commute to Everett (I live in Everett). However, it'll add a lot of travel time onto his day. There are two ways off the island. By ferry that goes into Mukilteo (and then its about a 20 min drive down to the naval base) or a drive up the island, thru Anacortes and then down I-5 which would be about a 60-90 min drive. I live in South Everett which tends to get a bad rap. I guess many years ago this was a bad place to live, crime wise. I have had NO problems in the 8 1/2 years I've lived here. I've watched them clean up the area and I have no problem living here. Housing is expensive though because of Boeing, and the Naval Base. The new "place to be" is in the Smokey Point/Stanwood/Arlington area. Far enough out that its more country, but close enough in that you still have everything you need available with a short drive. The biggest shock for you will be the weather. Our summer is late to start. Cold weather (our cold is around 30*-40* in the winter) lasts until about mid April. But our summer, warm, open your doors and windows weather usually doesnt start until mid June. Then its gone in August....lol We dont get bitter cold or extreme heat usually. Here in the Everett area we only get snow 1 or 2 times a winter. If it snows, it generally doesnt stick around for more than a day. During the summer we have nice, sunny days. The winter is generally grey, with or without rain. BUT, you wont find more beautiful terrain! Nothing beats looking west and seeing the ocean, and looking east and seeing the mountains. And its fun to learn the little quirks of living in the PNW. Like juding a "beautiful day" by whether you can see Mount Rainier from I-5 south while in Everett Welcome to the state! And if you have more specific questions, please ask!

I was just accepted to Skagit for Spring quarter (March). I've been a CNA for almost 9 years, and I believe that requiring prospective nursing students to obtain their CNA is a GOOD thing, and will weed out those people not serious about nursing. I think we'll see a big cut in the wait time for the programs now. I was put on the waitlist at Skagit in Oct 2007. So I was on the waitlist for 14 months. I recently heard that Skagit is changing their program admittance to that of Everett CC's. I guess because the Nursing Director from Everett went to Skagit. I dont know how true that is, but its from someone that I trust. I havent looked into it all because Im just happy to be accepted!