Hkroeck

Hi all, I am an LPN soon to be graduating with my RN in May 2016. I am also moving states and getting married in May. I'm looking for advice regarding what everyone would recommend as far as my licensure goes. Both states are in the nursing compacture which will hopefully help. My dilemma is deciding if the process will be easier to just wait until I move and take the NCLEX there, or to take the NCLEX in my home state and then apply for permanent licensure in my new state. I also have to take into consideration my name will be changing and I'm not sure how long that whole process will take either. Any experienced advice would be welcome, thanks in advance!

Hello all, I am new to nursing, especially LTC. I've been licensed as an LPN for nearly two years but have just begun working in nursing 2 months ago. LTC just really wasnt what I wanted to do so I spent a year taking pre reqs for RN programs and a year searching for a nursing position because I needed a break from school. All I've gained from this job is a quarter life crisis and motivation to go back to school to get out of nursing. I was hired for full time evening shifts and told there would always be 2 nurses on my unit which has 60 residents. This place is constantly short staffed so I end up being the only nurse on the unit. I'm completely overwhelmed as a new nurse to begin with and now just completely burnt out. I'm having to stay 2 hrs late to finish charting & from what I hear will probably be getting in trouble for that since overtime is not allowed nor is late entry charting. I also have to carry a pager for emergency calls from the assisted living side so on a bad night I spend at least 30 or more min off the unit during treatment times if not more. Every day I go into work to find new rules and more paperwork. Last night I had to do 6 head to toe skin assessments, one full assessment, 4 sets of vs & nerurochecks (one of which was q15minx4 & then q hr), had to get vitals on everyone receiving abx, and on anyone who had abnormal lab results. New orders on 3 residents had to be charted, noted, entered into the MAR, meds ordered and labs scheduled, specimens collected, labs reported, more new orders received, calls to families, an apartment call for which an ambulance had to be called, AND treatments for 60 residents. I want to quit desperately but am afraid I can't find a job better than this with my license. Is this the normal load in nursing? Will I have the same problem if I work as an RN in acute care? I'm so frustrated, this is a horrible first impression of nursing and quite frankly dream crushing - which I realize is dramatic but nursing is all I've ever wanted to do since I was just a kid so at this point changing careers makes me feel lost, I don't know of anything else I would want to do. Advice please?!

I'm a new nurse, just started my first job in LTc but graduated from nursing school two years ago. Needless to say I'm quite overwhelmed and seem to have forgotten a lot since nursing school. One thing that concerns me most is how much pharmacology I've forgotten. I'm studying Meds I've given after my shifts to brush up, but when medications are delivered from pharmacy I need to recognize what I'm signing for right away. Because two nurses must sign for all narcotics and we are rarely both at the desk together to sign I'm afraid of not recognizing a narcotic and signing for it alone (for example I've received mixed answers on whether or not Tramadol is considered a narcotic). Is there anywhere on the label or anything at all that might give me a clue that the med is a narcotic if I don't recognize it by name?

I am on week number two of orientation at my first nursing position. I rarely have a moment when I feel like I know anything about what is going on around me - and even if I do think I know something my confidence is usually misplaced. My strategy at this point is to continue in survivor mode for the next few months until I'm more comfortable with everything. I'm definitely trying to make friends who I can rely on to help me out, but I'm not going to waste my energy right now trying to get on the good side of someone who doesn't care when I need all that energy to help get me through the day alive. I will kill the "experienced nurses" with kindness later on when I've got a handle on the job and have time to win them over. Some of the nurses are really nice and are constantly reassuring me that I will get the hang of this, or that they remember what it was like to be a new nurse. Obviously not everyone remembers this feeling, so I'm not taking anything they say too personally if its rude or insulting, afterall I am a newby and I realize that is irritating to some people. But I'm not going to be intimidated by someone just because they aren't interested in helping learn how to be better at this job, I'd rather just try to stay out of their way. Eventually we will get the hang of this nursing stuff!

Hello! I can't really give you any advice, but I thought you might feel better knowing that I too am in the same boat. I graduated in August of 2011 and JUST landed an offer after my first interview two weeks ago, and I have been in panic mode ever since! I'm starting my training on Monday and am scared to death. I feel like I would freeze up over something as simple as an assessment because its just been so long since I graduated. I too feel like I've forgotten everything and am too overwhelmed to study! Hopefully what they say about everything just coming back to you once you're back in a care giving environment is true. Good luck with your new job!!

Thank you!!

Thank you!!

No wound care nurse, which makes me the wound care nurse lol. I do know they have a med tech who administers most medications which is nice! Thanks so much, I'll definitely brush up on all of those things! =)

Hello all! I just landed my first LPN position at a LTC facility. I graduated a year & a half ago and am afraid that I've lost a lot of the book knowledge from nursing school. I'm looking for advice about anything and everything! What should I have with me at all times, what should I keep in my pocket that will be a life saver, what types of information/skills do you reccomend will be most helpful to brush up on for this type of setting? I know that I can't know everything about everything - but I'd like to be prepared as possible. Thanks in advance! =)

If you are going to start out as an LPN you will more than likely have to work in long term care...this being said, Delmar Gardens starts out new nurses at $18 an hour and they don't cap raises. I know that Friendship Village also starts out new LPN's at $18-19 an hour. I'm a bit shocked to hear that Barnes doesn't start out their LPNs' at a higher pay.

Thank you for your suggestion, I didn't know refresher courses existed but I will definitely look into it!

Hello everyone! So today officially marks a year to the day since I graduated nursing school with my LPN. I've been licensed for nearly a year as well. Since I unexpectedly transferred schools and was unable to bridge into an RN program right away like I thought I would I've been taking general classes for the past year. I've been discouraged about not being able to get right back into a nursing school, and that along with some other unexpected turns in my life have kept me from looking for LPN positions until now. I'm finally ready to begin applying for nursing jobs but I'm afraid that I've lost all of the knowledge and skills that I need to actually do well on the job. I don't want to endanger the lives of my patients or my license! Its just been SO long since I've cared for a patient or even thought of opening a book, I'm worried that I'll be completely on my own and have no idea what I'm doing!!! Is it a bad idea to get a job after being out of school for so long? Can anyone give me some ideas of what specific information I should brush up on? Are there any long term care LPNs that could give me an idea of what a day on the job is like? Any resources or advice at all is welcomed!!!

Hello Everyone! I'm looking into Lutheran's LPN bridge program and was wondering what the acceptance process is? Can anyone tell me what the LPN proficiency exam and any other acceptance exams are like or have any recommendations on how to prepare? Is the bridge more difficult to get into and do you know how many students are accepted per year? I know some schools require LPNs to have work experience to enter their programs, is this the case with Lutheran? Sorry for all of the questions, I'm deciding between this school and St. Louis Community College's bridge so any and all information would be a help!

Nursing school isn't easy, period. Its a lot of work, no social life, a lot of sleepless nights and meals on the run - if you're not 110% dedicated and focused you probably won't make it. I was in a bi-level nursing program and if you didn't score 85% or better in each course for the LPN year then you were not allowed to continue to the RN classes. We took Med-Surg 1 and 2 in the same semester, I received an 84.4 in Med-Surg 1 and was not allowed to continue on to my RN year because this was considered a C. A lot of people didn't study as much as they should have, they slacked off and I didn't feel bad for them when they weren't allowed to continue. I was very dissapointed when I wasn't allowed to go on, I ran on no sleep most nights because of all of the tests and clinical paperwork, I did the best I could and was very upset at the results I received. We were listening to 8 hour lectures, would study all night, and the next morning take a test over the previous day's material before we started a new lecture and did it all over again - and this was EVERY DAY. Most of what I heard from people who were already working in health care as techs or as nurses who bridged was that it was more difficult to learn some of the material by the book when they are so used to doing things the "real world" way. Book answers never quite match up to how things are done in the real world and if you are already used to doing them the real world way then its easy to become confused when it comes taking tests on the book way of doing things.

I'm no longer a nursing student, nor am I male - but I can tell you that as a male in the field of nursing you definitely have an advantage. The school I attended would accept a male with a lower GPA and testing scores over a female who had much higher scores/GPA simply because male nurses are so rare. Not to mention it would probably be easier to get a job, especially in certain areas that are more male dominated (cardiac cath labs/OR, etc). My advice would be to at least shaddow a nurse at a local hospital so that you can get an idea of the type of situations you will be dealing with and work that you will be expected to do as a nurse (make sure you shaddow on the type of floor or area that you are interested in working in). If you like what you see then pursue nursing, afterall the last thing you want is to get into a career that you don't enjoy.