nurselala33

# 1. i came here because i told my sister give great advice..not trying to be he said..she said.. #2. it was the wrong vaccine. #3 what hippa violations are being broken? #4 you are understanding it correctly. #5 ma are not legally allowed to give the vaccine in our state, none of the other doctors allow it, its only the one and my sister is going to look for a new job in the fall after she has her 1 yr in. she is just worried it will follow her to her next job.

Hi, I am actually posting this for my sister who is also an LPN..She needs some solid advice about an incident that happened in her first weeks of working as an LPN. She was asked to give a vaccine to an infant. All the vaccines are kept in the same Refrigerator. They are not separated in any way. She had only been working there a little while and was a new nurse. She took out what she believed to be the infants vaccine but was still unsure. She did what she was taught in school. When in doubt ask. She took the vaccine to the doctor on call and asked him if it was correct. He said Yes. She was the only nurse on duty and expected to give 4 shots to the infant so the medical assistant gave 2 of the shots which is not allowed in our state but the doctor had knowledge of it and allowed it. After she went to the computer to add the information she noticed the lot numbers were not matching up. She brought it immediately to the doctors attention. A report was filed and the parents of the infant alerted. It was written in the report that "inexperienced nurse made med error"...No mention that she had brought it to the doctor on duty was made. No mention of the medical assistant giving 2 of the shots.. It gets worse now... Here it is 6 months later and today the family of the infant comes in. They refuse to let my sister near the baby and it turns out that someone in her office told their biller of the family practice what had happened, leaving out the part of the doctors role and the part about the medical assistant give 2 of the shots and in turn she told the grandmother of the infant who she worked with that my sister was the one that gave the shot. She gives her my sisters name and tells her she was the one that gave the shot even though it could have been the medical assistant. Now my sisters name and reputation are being dragged through the mud. The family was never told that my sister asked the doctor first. My sister wanted to call the family and explain what had happened but she knows she would lose her job. My sister does not know what to do. The doctors told her its no big deal, its over and to let it go. But my sister wonders if its going to follow her now. Will it go on her record as a nurse? Why is she taking the whole fall for this...What should she do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Jean

THANK-YOU SOR MUCH FOR THE CHECK LIST!!!! This is what I am looking for. The hospital I do my clinical at does not have a OB/GYN unit....they had to close the wing down due to funds. So peole have to drive 45 minutes or more now to deliver. So I am really searching out any check list any of you might have and how you would do a discharge. LJ

Thanks....for the help. It does have to be in a check list form using a mock Mom and a doll. Since I have never seen discharge instructions done, I was hoping for a video to watch or a list of something I could use or just some advice on how a nurse here does it here on this forum. Not sure how helpful the hospital around here would be. But its worth a try.

Hi, My Mom has used this forum to help me out and it really has been a blessing. I have a project coming up. Its not hard but I want it to be great so wondered if any of you might help. I have to present to a mock Mom discharge instructions for her newborn. I know this is all in the text book but was wondering if you knew of any sites that might have a check list( I don't want to forget anything). Also any ideas to make it less boring. There are like 40 of us that have present it, so its going to be pretty boring after awhile. We only have 5 to 7 minutes to present. Any ideas???? LJ

thanks I love that...they were thinking along the lines of giving their arm squeeze like when your mom does when you cross the road. I love the hug idea. They are in clinicals now and are really learning so much. I try to come up with new ideas and I love coming here, everyone here is so helpful.

Hi, I want to help my daughters better communicate with children. Both are student nurses. Looking for some unique ways to explain the sensation of blood pressure to a child to make them feel more at ease. Any neat ideas???? Thanks, homeschool mom

What are the best NYCLEX prep courses to buy? There are many online to choose from and I am very confused. I want to buy this as a gift for my daughter. She is doing very well in school but seems to struggle on her ATI tests. What about the Kaplan? I am looking for LPN NYCLEX PREP courses. Thank-you.

Unfortunately, nursing instructors are more inclined to bully some students while they leave the others alone. The common denominator is personality type. If your daughter tears up, appears shaky, or doesn't stand up for herself when being bullied by the instructor, she will continue to be targeted for the bullying and verbal abuse. Nursing instructors pick on students that are deemed 'easy targets' because they won't resist the abuse. Your daughter needs to stand up to this person in a tactful manner right now, or it will continue during her nursing career when she deals with older nurses who have biases against young nurses. Well said..Well said.....you hit the nail on the head. My younger daughter is not assertive, is very sweet tempered, and wouldn't know how to be mean to another person if she tried. She def needs to work on those assertive skills. But that may come with age. My older daughter...WATCH OUT..lol....noone pushes her around..my goodness sometimes she scares me. My older daughter will also eventually have this instructor and my money is on my older daughter..lol. On another note my daughter came home with her clinical scores today and they were great! I don't get it ??? She tears her up. Her grade for yesterday was the highest they give. I don't know, maybe she is trying to help her. Maybe she is trying to prepare her. Funny thing is, I am beginning to think this nursing instructor might be a great life lesson for her. And it was even mentioned today that my daughter always gets there 30 minutes before she has too just to look over her patients chart and go through procedures. So I guess will see. But her grades are very good. You all have been such a blessing. THANK-YOU!

I know there are awesome nurses and its sad that a few bad nurses give good nurses a bad name. My daughter wants to work in a hospital and it maybe very different. The particular hospital she is in fired all of their LPN'S so there is an attitude on that. My daughter would love to do the night shift. I just hope that one day a blanket of protection could be put up to protect future nurses. I was reading this TERRIBLE ARTICLE about a male nursing student was treated very badly by his instrcutors, I believe he was asian and he had a breakdown and went back and shot 3 of the instructors...my goodness that is HORRIBLE!!! Did any of you hear about this ?

Thanks for your support. Last night right after my daughter went to bed I went in her room and showed her this forum. We read all of your comments. You helped her so much! Shortly she will move onto the next instructor. Not soon enough!!! LOL....It is sad though. I know nursing students take so much abuse but not only that, I have heard that nurses get abused by doctors or charge nurses. You think a blanket of protection could be put into place to keep this from happening. No wonder there is a nursing shortage. My daughter hopes to go all the way(the Lord willing)...I told her last night she might want to consider private duty. It seems like hospitals are fillled with people just like her instructor. There are also RN's that work on her floor and they have stated, we hate LPN students and they do nothing but get in our way. How Awful! There are some kind nurses though that want to see the students learn.

thanks for the kind words!

Hi, I am going out on a limb here as I am not a nurse but I have 2 daughters in LPN school. Their grades are good and they are on their third clinical rotation. One daughter is 24 and the other is 17. My 17 year old was given very high grades for her first two rotations. But then while in a patients room one day the patient asked my daughter how old she was. She told him 17. The nursing instructor who is notorious for making fun of girls, degrading them, insulting them and making them cry asked my daughter how she got in an adult program at 17. She explained she graduated a year early, passed the entrance test and would be 18 by the time she graduated. She just shook her head. My daughter(the 17 yr old) got the same instructor for the 3rd rotation and this time it was a different ball game. She verbally tears her up, told her she should have worked a year before she entered the program. She said she is never prepared enough. This is the same instructor that gave her very high grades on her last rotation. My daughter is not the only one she targets, there is an 18 year old she tears up verbally too. I feel bad as my daughter is getting discouraged. She works hard. My older daughter will get this same instructor next hospital rotation. This instructor seems to target the younger girls. She told one girl that she had no business trying to be a nurse. I checked all of the education credentials of all the instructors and they all have extensive education. But I noticed this particular instructor has her R.N. but not her Bachelors. She is an older instrcuctor. One of the other nursing instructors that has the highest degree in nursing told my 17 yr old that she was going to make a fantastic nurse and she could see her going all the way. But yet you have another instructor that says she should not be there ???? I am really confused by all of this. Its hard for me to give my daughter advice when I have no nursing knowledge. What could I say to her ? She is half way through the program and since this instructor she has come home crying twice. I feel so bad. She did say she makes lots of girls cry. Is this the norm of some kind of teaching method ? I would think it would violate a persons rights to insult them. It really ticks me off that we are paying A LOT of money for her education to have just one instructor tear her to bits. She has her two more weeks and then moves on. The rest of the instructors are decent. She has even worked with the head instructor and been told what a great job she did. Any Help ?????

Hi, My daughter is in a LPN program and I would like to purchase a gift for her. I want to purcase a online progran to help her prepare for the NYCLEX. What is the best prep course online ? Wheb is it best to purcchase it because she graduates in July. I have heard of Kaplan. What do you suggest ? Thank-you. Mom

I can answer this one because I studied the JW's belief system. I am not a nurse. But they believe in buiral just like most. They are against Blood transfusions, organ donations, bone marrow transplants ect...anything to do with the blood... Other than that there is nothing really different. You can google and get all the info you want.

Well you have given me a lot to think about. I will tell you my daughter wants to go as far as able. She has no intention of stopping at LPN. She just turned 17 and will turn 18 just as she graduates. She wants to attend college after this school and keep going. But she does want to work as an LPN to gain experince. I did find out that the school she is in is ranked #1 as far as LPN schools go. Its the mos difficult to make it through. She said that many of the women were crying yesterday due to just being overwhelmed. Also...... I can tell you one poster scared me to death. I got a private message asking me why I would want my daughter to be a nurse. She said she would be kicked, hit and spit on and most nurses end up in agony by the age of 50. I do know a few nurses and never had I heard such negative stuff. Is it really that awful for a nurse? I don't want to give this posters identity but she told me this and it scared me: This is what the poster stated to me: ". I don't know why you would encourage your daughter to go into nursing. She will risk being kicked, spit on, cussed at, treated like a flunkee, and generally abused." She will be exposed to many diseases and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, hepatitis, TB, HIV and the verbal abuse is VERY real. The reason is that no one sets limits with the doctors. I'm sure I won't discourage you but I posted a couple of links so that you can listen to the stores of other nurses at http://www.*********.com. Your daughter will need a very thick skin, be on her feet for 12 hours at a time without eating or going to the bathroom, and have a huge responsibility that she will not have the accompanying authority to deal with. I am speaking from 20 years of experience and am not a novice. I like some things about my job but in general would not advise anyone to enter the profession. With an LPN license she will still have to upgrade to an RN license to get away from bedside nursing. The average career length for a bedside nurse is SEVEN years - and I have known many nurses who have had to go on disability due to injuries and believe it or not many nurses (younger than 50) who have died from various causes including pulmonary embolism, heart disease, and cancer. One this year had to go out on disability for chemo. It may be the environment of the hospital (stress), handling drugs, or radiation. It could be unrelated but with that many deaths I don't think so. To be informed is to be prepared but some people feel that nothing really prepares you for hospital nursing. I hope you consider this in the best possible light and not as a total discouragement. But, it is the truth and that is why there is such a shortage in the face of what may seem like a relatively high salary. " THIS SCARED ME!!!

Guilty as charged. I am what you might call a helicopter Mom because I like to hover. My daughter always says to me, "I got it Mom".....She wants me to back off and when she needs help she will ask. I also know if it is Gods call on her life to be a nurse than she will. Today she came home from school with a huge smile. There was a very difficult MC test on the heart today. 75 % of the class did not pass the test. She passed with one of the higher scores. She took the advice of someone about covering the mc answers and then answer the question then look at the choices. She also did a great presentation today in front of the class in diet for a cancer patient. Why is it so hard to let go???? I guess I just want this so bad for her because she has geared for this for years. As far as books go are funds are a little low but I have a bid on e-bay of what I was told was a great book. Its called Saunders Comprehensive Reviews for NCLEX-PN. It comes with a CD also. Anyone heard of it? Thank-You for all your help. I have much to learn about letting go. Thank-you for all your kind responses and your honestly. I needed to hear it!

Do you think I should schedule a meeting with her instructor ?

She is taking the LPN course through a Learning Center now. Before she enrolled and I paid I explained to them that she had some MC test taking problems. They told me No Worries, they had seen this before and were equppied to help. But so far no real help as come. I really want to schedule an appt with her instructor but my daughter fears because she is the youngest in the class the teacher may take it that my daughter can not handle her own problems. I talked to the instrcutor in the beginning on the phone and she said she was reluntact to talk to me because of privacy laws. I am really confused on that one. My daughter took the Microbiology section and scored all A's on her tests and quizzes. Fill in the blank but she got the 73 on the final. She is bright. I thought about pulling her and re-enrolling her i the other school in December but I don't know if thats the best course of action. If you met my daughter you would know she is just so meant for nursing. She has volunteered at a local hospital and gone on 4 missions trip. She loves to help people. Should I go ahead and schedule a meeting with the instructor or will this make my daughter look bad?

We can not afford tutors. And she has asked for help and they told her to buy a book. I do have a book ordered for her. It just baffels me as to how schools can vary so much. The school that she is in now bases all their weight on finals and I found out has about 50 % grad rate but the other school takes all tests into consideration and has a 99 % grad rate. I wish I had dug deeper. I know she has to take a State Exam but there are plenty of online prep courses and books for that and she can retake it. I had just heard that it took a women 5 times to pass. Why do programs vary so much?

Hello, Any advice would be helpful. My daughter is 17 years old and was homeschooled. She went ahead and took her GED and did well. She has wanted to be a nurse for many many years. She was unable at this age to enter an RN program and to be honest as her parent did I feel she was ready. We instead allowed her to enter a LPN program. There were 3 in our area to choose from. We decided to choose the smaller program feeling she would be better off. I wish I had done my homework on the programs but I had no idea each had its own rules. My husband and I are paying cash for her program. This has been hard but we do whatever it takes to help our children. The first payment was 2500.00 dollars. We have another payment due in December and the last one in June. I felt the need to explain all of this before I explained the problem. Our daughter Laura performs well on fill in the blank tests but struggles with Multiple Choice. She said something happens to her and she just goes blank. She knows the material believe me. She has pulled all A's on the fill in the blank but pulled low 70's on the Multiple Choice. Passing is 75. What we found out after we had enrolled and paid was that this particular program will expel you after the fail of the 6th exam. It does not matter if you got all A's in the unit these are not averaged in its only the final exam that counts and these are multiple choice. I found out after the fact that another program in the area does not kick you out but works with you. They also average ALL your grades in the unit so even if you score below on a final your quizzes and tests can pull your average right back up. My daughter asked for help in her present school and was told to buy a book. I am so discouraged for her. She would be a wonderful nurse. My husband and I will be out the 2500.00 if we take her out of the program but the next payment is due in December. She could get to a month before graduation and fail the final and be gone. We don't know what to do??? She has been in school for 6 weeks and right now carries and average of 86. But the MC tests pull her down. She has failed one exam with a 73(only missed it by 2 pts) and so she has one strike. If she fails 5 more she is gone. What do you suggest?

Hi, It was my daughters idea to be homeschooled. She asked us to remove her from school and be homeschool for many reasons. We had removed her from public school because of many reasons and put her into private but she wanted to work at an accelerated rate, she felt that school had a lot of wasted time, to many distractions and it seemed to take the joy out of learning for her. My daughter can go back to school it has always been her choice but she does not want too. She loves homeschooling, has many new friends and enjoys more activities now that she has more free time. She is learning more and has an interest in her own education. Next year for her language she wants to learn sign language and this would not be an option if she were in public school. I live in New York and if she wanted to go back to school she would have to go to a private or Christian school the public schools would not take her. The rule is start in 9th grade or don't bother. New York is tough on homeschoolers. Thanks again for all your replies.

Wow, I thank all of you for your answers. I never meant to start a debate on homeschooling. My daughter has been in the public school and we removed her, especially when she came home and told us she got to watch MTV during class. My daughter is well adjusted, has more friends than you can imagine and has many outside activities. Next week she is traveling to Texas to compete nationnally in Bible quizzing. In July she is traveling to Ecuador to reach out to the Quiche people. She has a big heart. Last summer she volunteered in the hospital. I know the Lord will work this out if she is meant to be a nurse. I thank all of you for your answers... Karen

Hello All, No I am not a nurse but am a Mom homeschooling her 14 year old 9th grade daughter soon to be 15 who wants to be a nurse. New York is tough on homeschool students and frowns on them. So my question: What can I do to prepare my daughter for a nursing career. She has wanted to be a nurse since she was very little. Now because my daughter is homeschooled she will not obtain a high school diploma. But as many of you know homeschooled children do very well. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks, Latisha