suzisweet

Nursing school doesn't teach you the fine art of dealing with people...jack a** doctors, hard to deal with family members, patients that just can't be satisfied, co-workers that don't pull their weight on the floor...I could go on and on.

My program was $600.00 in 1987.

This is not one of mine, but someone elses excuse, "There's a raccoon in my house."

I became a nurse by accident. In 1978, my neighbor was working as a nurses aid and told me there was an opening at the local nursing home where she worked. This was before you had to be certified, just be willing and able to do the job. The clincher for the job was that we could carpool and save money. I worked as a nurses aid for 8 years(becoming certified along the way), started having back problems and realised I couldn't continue at this very physical job for the rest of my life. There was a local tech school with affordable tuition for LPN classes, and the rest is history.

I received a pay raise, now making $14.35 an hour at a family practice office giving allergy shots.

There were factors in my choosing to become a LPN vs a RN 25 years ago: money(600 dollars for the course), the school was 10 miles from my home, preclinicals were half day and I could continue to work full time, small class(20 students in clinical). I had small children at the time and couldn't spend the time or money for college. I did go back and start my LPN to Rn bridge, but had to drop out for family reasons. I haven't given up the dream of finishing though, even if it's to say I did it. It will happen.

In north central West Virginia, working in a doctors office, $ 12.50 an hour.

I always wanted my first name to be Suzi, and I want people to think I'm sweet

I worked in an office where one of the mds would fart in front of everybody. He also would fondle himself while talking to people.

When I first became a nursing assistant back in the 70's you didn't need any certification, only a strong back, strong stomach, and the endurance for the work. So needless to say, there wasn't any medical terminology or anything of the sort taught, you did personal care for the patient and that was it. The LTC facility I worked in was small, and required everyone to hear report at shift change. I worked dayshift, and during report the night nurse would say, "Mrs. So-and-So was SOB again last night, but was better toward morning." This became a common statement during the next several days during report, patient was "SOB". After about a week of this I mentioned to my charge nurse during a break that I couldn't believe what the night nurse was saying about Mrs. So-and_So, she was such a sweet and polite lady. The charge nurse got a big smile on her face and explained that the patient had breathing distress, the nurse wasn't calling her a bad name. Boy, was my face RED!!!