juliannc99

Oh my gosh, I forgot all about looking into this and your information is very informative. Thank you so much!

I have learned that there are reasons for everything. You dodged a bullet, I'll bet you get a fabulous offer from somewhere else in the near future. Good luck and GREAT job on your professionalism.

"Ask and you shall receive".... I asked for my life once and he blessed me by letting me keep it. I figure I've used up my requests so now all I do is thank him A LOT for His patience with me.

In-service director, wound care specialist, or if you really like organizational / management type things go to the (usually) three day training session and take the state board to be a Skilled Nursing Facility Administrator (usually about $80,000 per year starting salary for 102 bed facility) or an Assisted Living Facility Administrator (less acuity for residents but pay is also less). Difficult part is that you are on call 24/7 as head of the building but they usually call only if it is an emergency.

I have a friend who took the LPN program twice. He passed and has since gone on to be a wonderful nurse. Anything worth having is worth working for.

Also, as a former DON I used to have my own special question. If someone said they worked at XYZ Hospital I would reply, "Oh, did you happen to know Dr. ABC?" If they replied yes their resume went into the trash when they left my office ~ Dr. ABC did not exist and if they would lie to me in the interview they would lie to me once they had the position.

Henry Ford in Detroit only hires RNs unless things have changed since I was there (fabulous place to work ~ physicians actually respect nurses). Also there are about seven hospitals in that immediate area. Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital and North Oakland County Hospital are also places you could try. Beaumont Hospital has several hospitals and is a great place to work. Try the VA facility in Detroit (huge and very beautiful). If you like the four seasons and college towns try Marquette Regional Medical Center in the Upper Peninsula, there is also a VA Center in Marquette and Iron Mountain. Home Health is always an option as well as LTC. You'd be amazed at the skills you actually do use in LTC and you learn one of the most important ones very quickly ~ organization. Trach's, catheters, g-tubes, IVs, vents (in some specialty homes), rehab, dialysis patients, quads, psych, the list goes on and on. I have worked LTC from midnight supervisor as a new grad to being the administrator of my own building and it is more of an opportunity than people think. I have also ran hospital wings and can honestly tell you that the transition from LTC to hospital is MUCH easier than it is going the other way. People also make the mistake of thinking hospital nursing is better because you don't use your "skills" in LTC ~ dead wrong! Also remember that hospital nursing usually has "only" a 6:1 ratio. Many times six hospital patients can equal 20 LTC patients. Turn over is like crazy (insurance issue), paperwork is overwhelming (usually on computers though ~ many LTC places are also on computer) and the "six" patients keep you at a constant run between hanging blood, giving prn meds, regular meds, shipping them off or prepping them for one test or another, dealing with "transport" (always fun) or pharmacy (yup, they have the same problem in LTC), physicians (many have egos so big it's a miracle they get through the door) and family. Then there is telemetry, IVs etc. as well. So either choice is a brave one (yes, we are brave to take on all that we do and with very little thanks). However, the one great thing about LTC is that the residents become family and you are usually their family. You actually get to know your patient, intuitively realize when something is "off" for them, and watch the rehabs get better and go home. Someone mentioned Manor Care ~ this is an HCA facility. I worked there once.....we'll leave it at that (though, as in many cases, each place is different). If you're into relocating, the southwest coast of FL is great ~ Morton Plant Hospital (BayCare if you wish to look it up on the internet) is good and Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa has a wonderful mentor program. Good luck!

Yes, I agree with all of you. I know of a former acquaintance who proudly boasted that she was going to the University of Michigan for her MASTERS degree in nursing. In truth she was an LPN who was going to school elsewhere working on her EVENTUAL BSN and then was going to apply there, hoping to be accepted, to work on her Masters! Some people just think if you say it enough it's true I guess.....others have such low self-esteem that they aren't proud of what they have already accomplished and need to inflate their own ego.

OK, just a few comments for you: First of all, you are NOT taking A & P for the 3rd time...you are taking it for the FIRST time. High school A & P and A & P for LPNs are two different classes ~ nice to have the background but you are not repeating the same class for the third time. Also, with A & P, are you memorizing it? If so, that does not work ~ you must understand what "parts" do and how they relate to each other (if you have to, make up a song about it ~ whatever works). If you take each "part" and understand what it does it is much easier than "memorizing". Also remember that different teachers have different styles of teaching ~ I never understood higher math until I got to college and had a teacher who just "clicked" with my learning style and I took off from there ~ was I ever shocked! Speaking of math, is there a specific reason you must take clinical math and A & P at the same time? If not, perhaps you are putting yourself on overload and need to take only one at a time. If you can, drop one and it will give you more time to study the other. Test taking hints: Never walk into a room full of people and sit down before the instructor is coming in and ready to close the door. Why? Because you hear what everyone is chattering about and the comments stick in your mind. Right when you thought you understood something, Patty may say something about it or ask a classmate about it and that answer is what stays with you, be it correct or not, and you will then question yourself. Also, do not sit in the path of where people enter or leave the room. If you sit in front you do not see other people leaving when they are done. If you DO see them going you begin to think you don't know very much because everyone is done before you. In reality, perhaps they don't know anything and have just given up and filled in the blanks and left OR perhaps they are a genius and finished quickly. Either way, it pulls you off track. Go through the test and answer the questions you know the answer to first and then go back to the others. Why? Because it gives you a (hopefully) sense of confidence related to what you know and you don't spend time on questions you're not sure about yet. When you do go back rule out answers that have "always" and "never" in them and if one answer expands on another one that is very similar it more than likely is the one to choose. Last hint: DO NOT go back and change answers because you are second guessing yourself ~ it's a sure way to change the right answer to the wrong one. Last comment: What do they call an RN with a "C" average? Answer: "RN" ~ no one asks what your average was, nor how long it took you to finish. If one class at a time gets the job done that is what your goal is ~ GET 'ER DONE!!! Good luck to you!!! (p.s. I also have a degree in career training and development).

I had one little old lady who had VERY long sharp nails dig them into my wrist as hard as she could. I knew her MO so as badly as it hurt I stared at her right back and told her she wasn't hurting me so she could quit whenever she wanted. It ticked her off as she wasn't achieving her goal so she quit. I still have a scar to this day ~ 15 years later.

My son is studying for the TEAs test in St. Pete. If you go to myPTEC.com it will bring you to the St. Pete College site. Click on nursing and follow it through ~ it will give you information on how and where to buy a study guide for it. Also check out your local Boarders, etc. for information and then try on-line for some sample testing. I believe there is a science part to it which is driving him nuts as he's never taken science or chemistry. He's going crazy because he has to take it for entrance but nothing ventured nothing gained and he already has a BS in Education with a 4.0 as well as one class short of a Masters in Special Education. Very caring young man who should make an awesome nurse ~ unfortunately $80,000 later we realized this ~ once you have a degree you cannot get any further grants or aid, only loans. There are no positions in the area he lives in for teaching (doesn't want to leave his kids). Good luck with the exam and study, study, study ~ I know that my license will still be in effect when I pass away as I'll NEVER take the state boards again!! You can do it though, if I did you can....have fun!

Well, let's put it this way. When I returned to school I was 38 with two children and newly divorced. No car and the place I went had an average of 300 inches of snow a year. I walked everywhere, worked in a bar until two a.m. and had to be in class or on the clinical floor by 7 am. I made it and so can you ~ and I was one of the better case scenerios. There was another lady a little older than I was with NINE kids who drove 1 1/2 hr each way every day and ging through a divorce at the time and she made it and a younger classmate who gave birth to twins during our med/surg semester. You become like family to each other and help each other through (god knows most of our instructors don't ~ the old saying is nurses eat their young and in our schools case it was very true). There are hundred of pages to read, get yourself either a Mosby review or NCLEX review book an it will pretty much tell you the same thing in 10 pages just the strict outline of what is necessary and important (say you are studying a certain disease ~ it gives you the signs, symptoms, care plan for it, etc. as well as practise testing in the back and is much easier to understand than reading 237 pages of the same thing said twelve different ways). This works for most but not all things and then of course your lecture notes. A lot of the testing is made up of these two thigns and your clinical experience. Can you do it? Absolutely ~ IF YOU WANT TO. Everyone from our class made it through and all of us passed the boards on the first try. Remember that you cannot memorize things, you need to understand how they work together so that it is logical to you on the floor. Good luck and remember ~ reach for the stars. Everything having is worth working for and you're setting a GREAT example for your kids to follow!

Your LPN license is valid from the date that is on it and will expire by the date that is on it. LPN / RN licenses expire at different times in different states. You will have to take so many continuing credits per year to renew it. For example: In FL I need to take 24 continuing credit hours in a 2 year period to renew my license ~ this must be done by the date of exiration. They will send you an additional notification as the date draws near. You also have to pay a fee of renewal. Get any additional certifications that you can at any time ~ they always help put you above others ~ especially wound care, IV, and of course you need to be CPR certified. Good luck.

ManorCare is an HCR facility which is a nursing home. There are many of them in the North Carolina area depending on where you are going to live. Nursing Homes (or Skilled Nursing Facilities) are always hiring LPNs, especially for midnight shift. If you can't get into one right away offer to work as a "fill-in" for them whenever someone calls off or is on vacation and that way you can get your foot in the door and some experience. I'm a former DON of several and also was a SNF Administrator. You really shouldn't have that much trouble. Same goes for all of you new grads out there who can't find work (RN and LPN). Offer to fill in for a LTC when people are off or on vacation. I once worked two full - time jobs just doing that. Also, if you are an LPN take an IV Certification Class so that you can hang IVs (under direction of an RN).