luckymichelle

Hmmm... let's see... I spent: 8 weeks in LTC 4 weeks in OB 4 weeks in Med-Surg 8 weeks in a OB practice Nope - didn't prepare me AT ALL for what the job really is. BUT - don't panic... you can find jobs that will let you go slowly at first and learn what you need to. You just don't learn it all in school. Michelle

Oh - and to answer your questions... I work on a Med/Surg floor, but cover ER and OB if necessary. I make $19.51 an hour (I chose to skip benefits), and the RN starting scale at my hospital is $21.50 / hour with benefits or $26.50 without benefits.

My school offers a program in which you basically get your LPN after two years, and then if you continue on for another year, you get your ADN. I'm an LPN now, working on my ADN and I can't tell you how incredibly valuable my experiences as an LPN have been in ADN classes. I also work for a hospital that will train me to do anything (within limits!) I'd be interested in doing. Basically, they are teaching me additional skills because they know I'm in school and plan on working with them when I'm an RN. It's a great situation for me. I've started IV's, pulled staples, assisted in labor and delivery, etc. I've learned more in 6 months on the job then I think I learned in school. For me, becoming an LPN first has been very helpful. Just my two cents! Michelle :)

I'm wondering the typical pt to LPN ratio. Does your RN have her own patients to perform cares on besides yours, and do you have CNA coverage? I work on a Med-Surg floor of a small hospital. Little to no CNA coverage, so I do all of the vitals, cares, toileting, etc, the basic stuff. I usually have 4-5 patients that I am responsible for with the RN there to cover me if I need an IV push, a call to the MD, etc. My RN then will typically cover my 4-5 and have 1 or 2 of her own. What's it like for everyone else? Michelle

The hospital that I'm at ONLY works 12 hour shifts, which is one of the reasons I'm excited to go into a LTC facility where they work 8's. 12's are NOT for me... My day starts at 6:30 and usually isn't done until 8:00. By the time I get home, there's no time to even read the mail before I eat, shower, get in bed and get ready to do it all the next day. Although I commute too, I don't want to do 12's again.

They certainly look different out of bed with their own clothes and dentures in. :rotfl: :rotfl: Ain't that the truth! I almost don't recognize my patients sometimes! If you only ever see someone with their dentures out and in a hospital gown, it sure is different when they've got teeth, hair combed and clothes on!

Fabulous advice!

I'm a new nurse too, and just started on a rural Med Surg floor. I've had a great orientation program, and lots of support. That being said, I agree with you, it's not what I had hoped for for myself. I love the girls I work with and give them all the credit and respect in the world, but I hear call lights in my sleep! I also hate the weekends and the 14 hour days. I just picked up a job at an LTC and it's sooooooooooo incredibly different. The pay is a lot different too! I swore that I would never work LTC as it brought up too many painful memories of losing family members and seeing poor elder care, but now that I'm in a position to change the way elders are cared for, and I like the work, it's a whole new game. There is a lot of care planning, treatment planning, etc, and minimal toileting, which is something I just can't seem to learn to like. I agree with the others, give LTC a shot! Michelle

I'm a new nurse too, and although I went to school in the US, I think ALL new nurses feel a lot like you do. It's crazy somedays! I think the key is to take your time, and seek out an employer who understands that there is a learning curve. I was lucky enough to start at a facility where the orientation program was as long as I needed it to be so that I felt absolutely comfortable my first day on my own. Look for that! Good luck! :)

I work in a small hospital in Wisconsin... I make 13 / hr. I also do pool work at a LTC where I make $16 / hr on weekdays and $19.75 on weekends. But, I think that's a rarity around my area.

My family lives in Tennessee! I love it there! Anyway, I think that working while going to school full-time is always hard, but I also have to say that the experience you can gain as a CNA is really REALLY valuable. I didn't work while in LPN school, however, I am now working as a LPN going to RN school, and the on-the-job learning is an excellent companion to what I am learning in school. Michelle

I'm a new nurse working on a small hospital's med surg "general everything" floor. I'm also an LPN in school for my RN. Anyway, I team with an RN each day, and although she's covering my work, our typical days are about the same. Start at 0700, get pt's up and dressed, bathed, toileted, make their beds, clean their rooms, pass breakfast trays, pass meds, chart, do dressing changes, answer bathroom lights, etc. The rest of the day is about the same. I think it depends on where you work, although I'm sure you've already heard that. I hate to say this, but I really dislike all of the toileting, bathing, changing briefs (yesterday I changed 21 on an eldery woman during an 8 hour shift and I couldn't do anything to help ease her diarrhea). I have gotten used to it since I first started though, and I do love working with the patients. I'm starting another job next month at a long-term care facility where I'll get to have a bit more responsibility and have CNA's to help with answering of lights, etc. Although, unless you are one of those nurses who can ignore a patient's dirty brief until the Aide is available, you'll always do some cleaning of poo. :uhoh21: I know that some of the bigger hopsitals in my area have CNA's to answer all lights and toilet, while the LPN's an RN's handle their stuff. And, when I work on the OB floor, there isn't anything really messy except the birth itself, which is so cool that I don't care about the bodily fluids going everywhere. So, it really depends. If you think you may want to pursue nursing, I say go for it. You get used to most of the dirty stuff, and you don't have to work in an area that requires to do non-stop brief changes. :imbar Hope that helps! Michelle :)

This is a semi-related topic... I understand that many facilities are requiring all-white in order to acheive a more professional & put-together look, but I think that you can look just as professional in all navy, all blue, what have you. In the facilities I've been in, what looked awful were the whites that had been worn a gabillion times and stained. Not to mention that they were see thru and some even had yellow armpit stains! Ew! Then, there were the pants legs dragging on the floor, the no-longer white shoes, and the faded beyond recognition prints. So, just because a facility orders all whites in order to look more professional, it can back fire.

I've got a ton of great experience, but none in the healthcare field. I'm trying to put together a resume so that I hopefully will have a job upon graduation, and I'm clueless about how to address the fact that I have no experience. Can anyone offer any tips? Ideas? What did you put on your resume when you first graduated? THANK YOU in advance for any tips! Michelle :)

Hi all! I hope that this topic hasn't been beaten to death... I did a search and couldn't find anything, so I'm throwing my questions out there. What area of nursing do you do now, and what did you start out doing? Was it difficult for you to find work? I'm a bit more than half-way through school, and have been watching the papers for LPN jobs and I'm getting pretty discouraged that there aren't many jobs out there at all. Perhaps my area is different than most? I'm in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Also, I'm wondering kind of on a side note, if any of you are in charge of hiring, what you look for in a new nurse, and what is your facilities policy on hiring newly graduated nurses? Okay, this got long. Sorry! Thanks for your responses! Michelle (who's nervous about finding a job to pay back her hefty student loans!)

Hi all - I could've written this post myself. I start my clinicals in October, and I'm a bit nervous. I left corporate America to become a nurse because I'm fascinated by medicine and pathology. And because I truly want to help people. That being said - I have to say, I've a horribly weak stomach. I can't watch some of the violent war movies because I think of all of the horrific suffering and can't stand it. I can pick up after my dogs with no problem, and clean my horses, well, umm, "sheath", with no problem, but I'm freaked out a bit by the dirty part of nursing. Let's face it though - when has the average Joe been exposed to seeing other people naked, cleaning other people's peri areas, sticking needles in people, seeing people opened up, seeing blood, vomit, stool, urine, sputum, etc.? Most people never see those kind of things on a daily basis... soooo, I think that just because we're sensitive to those things, doesn't mean we can't be excellent nurses. I look at it this way - I'm compassionate, I can't stand to see people suffer uneccessarily, so isn't that exactly what the profession needs? I want to become desensitized to the "dirtiness" of the job to be efficient and professional, but not so desensitized that I ever become cold or uncaring or just look at it as "dirt". Does that make sense? Sorry for the long ramble.... Michelle :)

Yep, I start my clinicals in mid-October, and I'll be going from 600-1200 twice a week. I live an hour away from where I'll be taking clinicals, so I'll be getting up at 4 am also. We can do it!

Hi all - I am working on my LPN degree, and will be done in May. My husband is looking at a job in Eugene OR, and I'm wondering how the job market is out there. Also, I'd like to continue on for my ADN/RN, and am wondering if there are any schools with an LPN-to-RN program? THANK YOU FOR ANY INFO! Michelle

Thanks guys - it sounds like I'm certainly not alone! I'm hopeful that once the fall semester gets going and I'm in with all new people I'll be able to meet some friends. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and happily going to avoid the drama! Michelle

For any reason? I've been out of school for 10 years, and going back has been a shell shock for me. (Another post on LPN corner just got me thinking of this...) I'm having a VERY hard time relating to the girls in my classes, and I'm trying so hard!!! I've never had a hard time making friends, but they seem to all turn their noses up at me. I don't smoke or drink, and I don't have kids, and it just seems that I'm having a hard time finding common ground. (To give you some idea of typical break conversation, last classes conversation was "Who's your boyfriends parole officer?") I can't relate. Any suggestions? Am I just an odd duck? Michelle

I always think those dresses look really cute... but I could never pull it off. Especially the girls who wear the white shorter dresses! I think I'd be dirty, stained, and have runs in my pantyhose after 15 minutes! I do have to say - I think scrubs can really look nice... if they are put together nice. I think that when scrub tops get so faded that you can't distinguish the print any longer, it's time to get new ones. Or when you see scrub pants that have been washed so many times you can see right through them.... ewww... not professional IMO. :imbar

You can get some really good salary info at http://www.salary.com ... it's free, and you can get an idea of what RN's/LPN's/CNA's, etc make according to your area code. It seems to be pretty accurate from what I understand!

I thought I was the only person going into nursing who didn't want to work "wards"... *phew* See, this is why y'all are so valuable to me!!! LOL at asking her if "She loves everything about her spouse..." *snort* Too funny! :chuckle Okay, but here's a question - What's PACU? :uhoh21:

I need to proof read before posting! Argh! That should be "all of you experienced nurses..."

I'm a first year RN student, and I'm admittedly pretty green. However, so many areas aren't what I expected. I'm getting the impression from my instructors that "If you don't love ALL of nursing, that you are in the wrong profession..." Obviously, no one has said that directly, and I have a positive attitude, so I doubt that these comments are directed at me. I'm just curious at what you all experienced nurses have to say about this... As always, I love lurking and reading your posts... you guys really do educate this poor girl! Michelle :)