mary761

Daytona Beach Community College has an evening program for RN and LPN. You might check with other community colleges too. They don't always list the evening option in their catalogs.

Dixielee--I also saved your wise post so I can refer to it over and over. Thank you so much.

Unfortunately, in my state school nurses are considered a luxury, so there are very few positions. The few that are available are staffed by LPN's and CNA's. In outpatient nursing, cost is also a consideration. MD's hire primarily CMA's and LPN's. The few that hire RN's are specialists that want nurses with several years of hospital experience in that specialty. Of course, the specialty areas in the hospital usually want nurses with at least a year of med-surg experience. New grads CAN get hired in a specialty area, but only if they agree to work for that facility 18-24 months after completing training. (Understandable, I guess, given the costs of training a new nurse.)

Count me in. I was a teacher, then went thru CNA training so I could scope out nursing before I took the plunge. I was a CNA for a few months and LOVED it. I STILL love being a CNA. When the local nursing program expanded, I got in a year before I expected to. So Karen, you and I are alike--rushed thru before really getting a chance to look around! I wish I had listened to those little doubts I've had since first semester, but everyone kept telling me things would get better. They haven't, and I'm not going to spend the rest of my life dreading work every day. My first GN position was so awful I didn't even take my boards. So I'm back to being a CNA until I renew my teaching certificate. Some say I really didn't give nursing a chance, but really--how long do you have to poke yourself in the eye with a stick to figure out you don't like it?!

I wanted to let you know I followed your advice and set 1-hr. limits. It has helped a lot. Thanks so much for your replies.

Thanks for your replies. Forgive me for not making myself clear. I should have been more specific. Her bladder was not distended, her urine was clear and yellow, no obvious odor, and she had a C&S done 2 weeks ago (negative). She is on the same bowel protocol as all residents. On the night she passed stool, she was not passing hard nuggets--the stool was very soft--barely formed. Forgive me for being blunt, but when she was "digging herself out", she had to really SEARCH to find a little bit of stool to "prove" to me that she was right. It is my understanding from talking to the other CNA's that this behavior has been going on for months. If it is not bowel or bladder issues, it is repeatedly requesting blankets to be replaced or removed, or demanding that dentures be placed in or taken out of her mouth repeatedly. I see your point and I apologize if I sounded as if I care more about my convenience than her care. I don't feel that is the case, because it appears that the physical causes of her demands have already been addressed. In my opinion, this is more of a psychological issue, and I was looking for guidance as to what I can do within the limits of my role as a CNA, as the person primarily responsible for providing her physical care, when the nurse won't get involved?

I am new to the LTC environment and am working nites as a CNA in a subacute center until I pass my boards. I need some suggestions about dealing with a resident. My first 2 nights at work, Ms. X rang her call bell every 10-15 minutes the entire shift, requesting help to the BSC so she could move her bowels. Most attempts resulted in nothing; a few times she moved a pea-sized or quarter-sized nugget of soft stool. After about 20 times of answering her call bell (I'm a S-L-O-W learner) I told her she was not moving her bowels and she needed to rest and give her bowels a chance to "move things along" to the point where she could have an actual bowel movement. Her response was to (WARNING: Put your snack down now) dig chunks of stool out of her rectum with her sharp fingernails, ring her call bell every 10-15 minutes, and "show" me that she did indeed need to use to BSC. After these actions, she passed pea-sized and quarter-sized nuggets of stool with frank blood. Needless to say, by the end of the shift I was exhausted. Last nite, I heard in report that she had been to the hospital for a surgical procedure and was therefore on bedrest for the night. Further, they had cleaned her bowels for the procedure, so she no longer felt constipated. Hallelujah! 10 minutes into my shift, the calls started again. This time, she was calling for the bedpan so she could void. Each attempt resulted in approximately 20 cc of urine. If I did not IMMEDIATELY answer her call bell, she screamed "HELP ME!!! HELP ME!!! I HAVE TO GO SOOOO BAD!!!" at the top of her lungs, waking the other residents. After 4 visits with the bedpan, I put a brief on her and told her she was not voiding enough each time to feel a full bladder. I assured her that the brief would keep her from getting wet if she "accidentally" went, and that I would be back once every hour to check her and put her on the bedpan if she needed to go. This resulted in an even greater acceleration of her demands, claiming that she "couldn't let it go" into a brief, and screaming at me that I "don't know what it's like to be on medicine that makes you have to go so often". The nurses tell me she has "other things" going on (what, exactly, they won't say) and that there is nothing ordered to calm her down. One nurse helps me with her constant demands, but the others turn a deaf ear or pop their head in long enough to tell her I'll be there as soon as I can (which causes a new round of screaming). I'm running my @$$ off trying to keep up with her and my other 25 residents, and I'm already dreading work ON ONLY MY 4TH DAY!! Any suggestions?

I start my new position as a GN next week. I would like any tips you care to pass along for organizing your day and accommodating the constant changes and details that crop up. Thanks!

Great! Thanks for the info.

What are the requirements for teaching a CNA course in either a LTC center or a community college? Thanks for any info you can provide.

Thank you! Wish me luck--I will be applying at a few of the LTC centers in my area next week. Thanks again for your replies.

Thank you for your input. I am unfamiliar with the LTC environment other than my experiences during clinicals, so I greatly appreciate your responses. In your experience, do LTC facilities hire new grads? Do they provide a decent orientation for a newbie like me? Also, is there typically a preference for LPN's over RN's (or vice versa)?

WAHOO! WAHOO!

Thanks Sue and Caroline for your replies and the link. That will come in very handy. Hope your exam went well, Caroline.

Thank you so much for your replies. It sounds like you both enjoy the setting very much and feel a strong bond with your residents. Forgive my naivete, but please--what are hot racks and I&A's? Also, how much management of staff is involved? Who is responsible for that--the RN or the LPN? Thanks again for your replies.

Thanks very much for your replies.

I'm graduating in May and have realized that hospital nursing really isn't my thing. Just when I get to know someone, they're discharged! It's starting to feel a little empty already! I've also noticed that the patients I remember most fondly have often been geriatric patients. So I'd like to know what a typical day or night is like for the RN and LPN in the LTC setting. Do you have the chance and the time to develop relationships with your patients? What is the care-to-paperwork ratio? How are the stresses you face different from the stresses faced by the hospital nurse? Thanks for any advice you can provide.

First semester, first IM injection. Standing at the med cart with my instructor, who was watching me draw back the medication. I had trouble getting the cap off the syringe, but she told me, "just pull it straight off". Finally got it off, drew up the medication from the bottle. Instructor, cool as kool-aid, says "What's that on the front of your uniform?" It was blood--my blood! Not only on my uniform, but also dripping on my shoe. I was SO intent on doing that shot right that I didn't notice I split my palm wide open with the needle. GAWD.

I'm graduating this semester, preparing for the NCLEX. I live in FL and I know we can get our results online within 2 days, with mail confirmation about a week later. What I want to know is--Do the results include any information other than "PASS" or "FAIL", like an item-by-item analysis or a breakdown of scores in each subject area? I'm trying to think positive, BUT...If I don't pass the first time, it sure would be nice to know what to stress (AND STRESS OVER) before I retake. Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Thanks for all of your replies!

Thanks Molly. GOOD LUCK on your NCLEX. St. Patrick's Day has to be lucky, right?

Just curious--How long can I wait after I graduate to take the NCLEX-RN? Is there a limit?

I'm new and have been browsing thru the posts in different areas. I'm just curious--is there an area or specialization that you would say is a less stressful area of nursing (comparatively speaking, that is--say compared to hospital-based med-surg bedside care)?

Thanks everyone for your responses. I appreciate it. ORRNLori, I'm drawn to ONCO partly because it is an exciting field with constant new developments in treatment, but mostly because it gives the nurse a lot of opportunities to address some of the psychosocial issues that come up when a patient is facing serious illness. I see the point some of you are making regarding the change in roles, and I can see that could certainly be a problem. You've all given me a lot to think about. Thanks!

I had just finished grad school when I was diagnosed with Stage C colon CA. I went thru weekly chemo and 10 or so hospital stays for complications over the next year. Being sick made me think about the way I've spent my life--always living in my head and keeping people from getting too close. I didn't want to be that way anymore--I wanted something more authentic. I thought about people I knew that seemed "plugged in", and some of the nurses I met during treatment kept coming to mind. Sometimes they didn't have more than 30 seconds to spend with me, but they spent those seconds intensely focused on my needs. I found that if I had "plugged in" nurses, I only stayed in the hospital for a few days because I felt safe and confident. If I had resentful or preoccupied nurses, I ended up staying 10 days for the same complication. So I trained to be a CNA and went to apply for a job at the hospital I'd stayed at so many times--and the nurse who impressed me the most is now my manager! :) I'll have my ADN in a few months, and I have to admit that sometimes I kick myself for choosing something so "real"--but then again, the worry lines on the nurses I admire are part of the reason I was drawn to the profession!