ElizaW

It depends. Do you have your heart set on working in a hospital? If you do, you don't want to bother becoming an LPN. If you think you could be happy working just about anywhere except a hospital setting, go for it. You'll learn a lot, and if you do decide to go for your RN degree later, you'll have a leg up on the other students in your program. Becoming an LPN is a fine choice if you are 20 and have many more years to work. If you're older and don't have all the time in the world, consider putting off your entrance in the profession for an additional year or so and go straight to RN.

Don't bother with the CNA course. It will teach how to provide personal care, which is pretty far away from what you'll be required to know to get your RN license. Take a review course; pass the boars and get your license. Don't waste your time.

That's why I'm part time. I can work a full time schedule if I want to, but they can't make me work the extra shifts. My facility doesn't need to force people to work crazy hours. Many of us are eager to sign up for extra work. Maybe you're in the wrong facility? Why stay for so many years if you're not treated well?

Thank you for being willing to see the issue through other eyes. It may seem obvious to you that what you are doing is putting forward the love of Christ. Never forget that there will be students in your class with deeply held religious convictions that differ from your own. Nurses really need to embrace multiculturalism. As a Jewish nurse in a very fundamentalist Christian part of the country, I have learned that over and over again. I am there to care for the patient and the family. I am there to validate them, and to provide for their needs. I am not there to pull them out of their world view and into mine. When they say, "You know Jesus" I just smile. I know Jesus as an iconoclastic rabbi and a child of G-d in the same way that I am. That is not what they are saying, but if it gives them comfort; let them believe whatever they want. It's not about me. It's about them. Your willingness to see through other eyes is wonderful. You'll be a great instructor.

I got my LPN diploma last August. In September I started the pre-reqs for the local community college's advanced standing, LPN - RN program. I finished the pre-reqs with a 4.0, and applied to the program in June. The application period closed on June 30. I am going out of my mind and will continue to do so until I hear something. Transition class starts in 64 days. If accepted I will have to get all my security checks, health exam, blood and urine tests, and any other requirements completed before the start of class. I will have to get books and uniforms. I will have to let my job know that I won't be able to work the same schedule anymore. I have so many ducks to get in a row, and every day that passes gives me one less day to do all of it. How do I keep my mind off of all of this? How do I keep myself from hanging in the window, waiting for the mail carrier, and flying down to the box every day, praying for a thick envelope? No, Ativan is not an option. I might have a drug test to pass before September. Drinking myself into a coma is not an option; as I am pretty much a teatotaller. Spending the next month at the beach is not an option; as I have to work. I just want to stop thinking about this. I want to know what the next 6 months will look like. Argh!

If you really are a brilliant student, please understand that brilliance is a liability for nurses. It may be valued in other professions, but nurses just need to get things done. MDs are expected to be brilliant. Nurses are expected to gather pertinent information for the MD and then do what the MD tells them to do. Your instructors aren't looking for enthusiastic students who want to take on more responsibility. You are working under their license. Mistakes you make can bite them in the rear. They expect you to zip it and follow instructions. When you get out in the working world your employers will want you to make no waves and follow protocol. Nursing school is about keeping your head down, drawing as little attention to yourself as possible, and following instructions. It's not about proving how smart you are. It's also about becoming aculturated as a nurse. This means you must get along with all sorts of difficult people, show up on time even when your street is a raging river or a snow covered slope, follow all instructions, and keep your opinions to yourself. You may have a hard time doing those things. (I know I did.) You have to learn how to do them though, because you won't be able to keep a job if you don't. Or skip nursing school and go to med school. The choice is yours.

That answer might have cost you the job, but don't beat yourself up about it. Do you WANT to handle 49 patients by yourself? I don't. I think that's a ridiculous patient load even if there are no diabetics and very few meds. Personally, if someone is dying on my unit, I want to have the time to sit with him and hold his hand. If someone needs a shoulder to cry on, I want to be able to offer it. If someone falls I want to be able to assess them, get them up off the floor, see that they are safe, get them transported to the hospital if warranted, fill out the incident report AND take care of everyone else on the unit. With 49 patients, I just don't see that happening. I think you did yourself a favor by answerring honestly. Now you don't have to work in an abusive environment providing insufficient care to the people under your charge. Breathe a sigh of relief, do a little dance, and send out some more resumes. PS - If she calls to offer you the job - run away.

Efficiency is wonderful, but are you sure you can't find something else to do? Is there a patient with anxiety that you could sit with and listen to? Does anyone need their hand held? Does anyone need a sounding board or a shoulder to cry on? Do your aides need help getting their work done? (After all, it is ALL your work, just the non-licensed part of it is delegated to them.) Does one of your co-workers need a hand? Is there anything that needs to be ordered or re-stocked? As a former manager from another field I know that nobody is paid to browse the Internet. You are paid to work, so find some work to do. I can't believe that there is none. If you think everything is done it's just because you aren't looking hard enough. I don't mean to sound critical, but nursing is a different kind of field. Your focus should not be on getting a list of tasks completed. It should be on helping to maintain the health, safety, and diginity of the people in your charge. So if the tasks are complete, do some comfort rounding. You might find a place where you can do some good. Maybe someone wants a ginger ale. Maybe one of the aides is drowning and needs help.

There ARE jobs out there in some parts of the country. I had a job offer two weeks after I started my search. It wasn't exactly my dream job, but it pays well and I'm learning every day. What more can you ask for? The newly licensed nurse might not be able to waltz directly into the maternity ward. He or she might even have to consider re-locating. But if someone really wants to be a nurse, there's a way to make it happen. The days of huge sign on bonuses and 24 for 40 might be over, but there are jobs to be had. PS to hey_suz: I paid for my education out of my own pocket - every penny of it. They don't give grants to people who already have a degree.

Oh yes, I commit "abuse" every shift. The poor resident has to wait longer than she wants to get her snacks because I have to take care of the guy down the hall who is having trouble breathing and turning blue. One man's abuse is another man's prioritization based on acuity. I'm a nurse, not a waitress. I can only do one thing at a time. If momma wants an extra cookie she's going to have to wait until everyone has their prescribed medications and treatments. Oh, and Miss Thing? If you don't like it that your mother is not getting valet service, why don't you visit more often and give back the TLC she once gave to you? I would love to do it, if I had more time. Sheesh.

I'm a new LPN. I've been working in LTC for the past few months. Some of my residents are elderly people with illnesses or physcal limitations who require care. Some of them are dementia patiens who can't care for themselves. Some of them are elderly people with mental illnesses which may include some kind of psychosis as well as dementia. The third type of patient doesn't mix well with the first two. The patients with no cognitive symptoms and the pleasantly demented are usually a joy to be around. We have a few disturbed individuals on our unit, however, who scream, curse, act out, and disrupt the environment for the other patients. I'm bothered by this for two reasons. The first is that I think sick, elderly, disabled or dying people deserve the dignity of a calm, peaceful environment. The psych patients in the mix make my unit a very unpleasant place to be. I feel awful for everyone, especially the cancer patients who have come there to spend their final days. No one should have to listen to shrieking and swearing as they are dying. The second reason is the psych patients themselves. Their agitation looks like sufferring to me. We try to reduce their medications because the meds are seen as chemical restraints. But don't psych meds take the patient's pain away to an extent? I watch these people through my shift and they are clearly sufferring. What happens in my area is this: A geriatric person is found disheveld bt family members. They go into the hospital on a 72 hour psych hold. In the hospital they are stabilized, cleaned up, and medicated. Then they are shipped out to a nursing home, and the meds are D/Ced. As soon as the meds are gone they become aggittated and/or violent. I can't blame them for that. I would do the same if removed from my home against my will. I think this is a lousy model, and doesn't really address the needs of the patients. They are not being treated for mental illness. They are not encouraged to thrive to the extent that they are able. They are just being warehoused. Do other parts of the country do things differently?

Tomorrow has turned into today and I'm getting ready to go spend the 3 - 11 shift with my LTC family. Merry Christmas everyone. Now here's your insulin. I can't imagine a better way to spend a holiday.

I am married, no kids, and I love, love, love working 3 - 11. You can keep the early mornings. I will spend my days in the park with my dogs and roll into work at 2:30 as long as they let me.

This is wise. I'm going to remember it. I think you should pop over to the LPN Student forum and post it as advice that they ALL should follow.

I'm an LPN getting ready to apply to a bridge program that starts this summer. I have the option of applying to enter the 2nd semester of a 4 semester program, or, I can apply to the 3rd semester of the program if I pass Excelsior's test for Nurx 220 - Maternal and Child Nursing. This is a 6 credit exam that doesn't count towards a degree at Excelsior. Has anyone had to do this? Do you have any pointers to help me study? I have already taken one Excelsior exam so I know how they work. I'm more interested in how heavily I should rely on Excelsior's recommended textbooks, and whether there are other good sources for this exam. Part of me is tempted to just review my LPN OB/Peds test and cross my fingers. I need a C on this exam, not an A. The exam does not have a practice exam available, or I would sign up for it. The practice exams are good for giving you an idea of whether you can expect to pass.