mynhii

Hello, everyone. I have been accepted in the Fall 2012 LVN program at Los Medanos College I have a question which may sound ridiculous to you. Is it possible for an LVN to find a job without IV & blood drawing skills? I don't know if I'm going to learn those skills in the program. If these are the skills an LVN must master to be considered a nurse, I'll do my best to get over it. Otherwise, poking a patient is not my favourite. I'm not scared of blood; I don't blink with a needle punching through my skin. However, using needles on people is another story. I couldn't even get a splinter out of my cousin's skin with a needle when he asked me do it. I ended up bleeding him. I hope I can get some advice here. Thank you. Minh

Am I going to learn how to delegate in nursing school? Or will I only learn about law and skills? I check CSU East Bay course description, and I don't see any course that teaches leadership role. Is it something I have to learn on my own?

Well, unless my understanding of delegate (authorize) is wrong, my CNA doesn't really delegate. She simply does her job although she explains a bit. My classmate and I only need to observe and practice what she's doing.

Oh no, my mom is not adding fuel to the fire. My family is Vietnamese. Unlike Americans, Vietnamese people are not used to giving positive comments all the time. Especially my mom is a direct, straight-to-the-point person. She doesn't like giving fake compliments. She speaks what she sees. I was a math tutor 3 years ago. Although students usually liked me, it always took me longer time to get through them compared to my peers. My peer tutors were able to help students understand certain concepts faster than I did. I thought it was because of my English, but it was actually the same even when I spoke my birth language. I tend to confuse my parents first before I can make them understand some English words or grammar structures. My cousin is often able to get them understand instantly. In my CNA class, when I tried to explain to my classmates how to weigh a person, measure his/her height, do conversion for I&O, I ended up confusing them more. I guess it was because they didn't have math skill to understand measurement lines. They eventually understood, but it wasn't easy. I know that a clinical nurse specialist has to delegates tasks, so I'm considering physician assistant route. Physician assistants don't have to supervise any health care personnel, do they? Correct me if I'm wrong

I really appreciate everyone's advice. I always know that I'm not a natural leader. I have a cousin who studies cognitive science although he wants to be a doctor. He's like my mom, a good role model in leadership. Unfortunately, I don't have that gene in me. My mom said that herself. She told me that my leadership skill is not as good as my cousin, and she couldn't be more right. I'm not a naturally assertive person. I'm very interested in oncology, and I hope to become a clinical nurse specialist in that field. However, perhaps it will be better for me to be a physician assistant because I know that I can only look for guidance if I don't have a solution.

I'm doing clinical practice for my CNA program, and I realize that it is easier to follow guidance than actually guide someone. I have finished my prerequisites for nursing and am ready to apply for Fall 2012. What concerns me is supervision task. To be an RN, I have to be able to delegate tasks to LVNs and CNAs, don't I? Can I still be a nurse without supervising anyone? I'm always better at following orders than teaching people. It's stressful enough to follow the charge nurse's orders properly. I really don't want added stress of monitoring other people's work.

If you choose to work every weekend, how many more hours do you need on weekdays to be considered full time?

When you applied for your job, did your employer tell you which schedule needed to be filled? I assume that when a nursing home hires us, they expect new employees to work around certain shifts they want.

Certainly when you work in a facility or hospital for a long time, you can switch different shifts as you wish, can't you? For me, if I do that, perhaps no employer even wants to hire me.

Thank you very much for your answer. If I'm lucky to get a CNA job after finishing the program, I will take it seriously. This seems to be the only way that I can gain healthcare experience. Certainly my long term goal is to become a surgical technician, sterile processor, or medical coder. I will definitely need my weekdays off at least in the morning to study and do clinical training. If the situtation is like what you tell me, I hope I will be forced to work on all weekends, so I don't have to worry about the time for studying my classes.

Are you saying that the problem with brand new CNA is that they tend to quit afer a period of training and the one that stays is reluctant to work? Then all the money is wasted. If that is the case, I'm sure that the facility that hires won't have to worry about me. I'm not too slow, but it may takes a while for me to process the information. I'm not born American; I'm an immigrant, so I can't be picky nor do I want to be picky. The question is will that facility or nursing home is willing to take risk to invest in me before they can have what I can offer them?

I can't believe this is happening. I don't want to belittle our profession, but we are at the bottom of the nursing ladder. Our job is physically demanding, but it's not as highly critical thinking as RN's. It's not like we are too dump to understand basic training. I don't understand why no facility wants to hire us.

Is there any advantage of working weekends instead of only weekdays?

If I choose to work every weekend, how many hours on weekdays do I need to be a full time employee?

I really appreciate with all of your encourgement. I'm happy that I don't have to change to be an extrovert. I understand what you say. It seems like American women talk more than men, but men tend to use more jokes. Unfortunately, I'm neither one. I'm a male, but I don't joke around people. I speak softly, but I'm serious. But like you say, it's lucky for me to have patients who prefer quiet CNAs.