balatro

I know LPNs from ECPI and while they're fine LPNs, my only real gripe is the cost of their diploma -- you're looking at over $35,000 for the program which generally runs about 1.5 years. Your local community college will probably cost 5% of that, if not less.

Waitlisted myself but not too surprising.

I can't say there's a better time than any other when applying for jobs. However, I will say that applying during May-July is probably the worst time, as the market becomes flooded with new RN graduates looking for jobs. There's a smaller surge in applicants around January-Feb as well. Raleigh has more opportunities than Charlotte, I'd believe - especially if you settle down somewhere in the middle of RTP you have access to Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham. Research Triangle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia is a list of hospitals and medical centers in the immediate area. I'm sure others with more familiarity with the area can suggest other close by centers as well.

Considering the accepted ranges of last semester being 158+, I don't forsee composite scores climbing 9 points in one semester but who knows. If it puts your mind at ease, retake - they take the highest of your TEAS scores.

Unfortunately where I work, the LPN attitude is pretty evenly split. There's some that won't assist with personal care, at all - no matter how simple it is. There's one in particular who I've watched walk into a room to give a resident their medicine, see that they're on the toilet (and bedpen as well; separate occasions), the resident says they're done and would like to be wiped and gotten off, this LPN will go "Yea, that's not my job." Gives the resident their medicine and walks out of the room, leaving them there and notifying no one. Others, will throw on a pair of gloves and clean a resident up after they've claimed the honors of the nastiest blowout of the day. Then again, there's also some older CNAs here too (hell, the LPNs and RNs too) (been doing it for 20+ years) that if the State Investigators saw what they did to the residents (and said to them), we'd be up **** creek in no time.

At the Information Session they said they had a massive spike in applications after Obama visited and mentioned them in his State of the Union address, I think he said something to the effect of Forsyth serving as the "national model" for what he wants community colleges to be. Before that speech, they had somewhere around 200 applications for the 72 ADN spots and the LPN programs were never able to fill the 24 spots each semester. After the speech, its been 400+ each semester for the ADN and a lengthy waitlist for the LPN program. It would be interesting to see if GTCC has had the opposite happen, the same, or what. I'm not sure why it takes GTCC so long to notify. As Tiffany Bryant said, she literally enters everyone into a database, sorts it by composite score, and contacts the lucky winners (and notifies the waitlist). Seems like it should only take a couple of days.

I'd like to get in at GTCC (I live in Greensboro but work in W-S), I assume Tiffany meant she'd begin notifying people the week of Sep. 17-21 but we'll see. I'm not sure how they'll handle letters, honestly. I know FTCC sends out denials and acceptances first, followed by waitlisted applicants. I was waitlisted for the LPN program at FTCC in the Fall (I only had half the pre-reqs completed) and then they notified me in July that someone had failed to complete their CNA course in time, so I was being accepted and then told me I had 3 days to get all of the paperwork in, shell out about $700 on various supplies and uniforms, etc...anyway, logistically and financially it just wasn't possible for me to do it, so I declined. It sucks because had it worked out for me, I'd be graduating this Summer and eligible to test and eventually work as a LPN making about twice what I do now. Though ironically, my worksite is a clinical placement for the LPN students at Forsyth so I'm training several of them and oh lord...most of them are about 19-20 years old, never worked a day as a CNA, and openly telling me they look forward to being an LPN this summer so that they won't have to change any more briefs and can just walk around handing out meds.

Honestly, I don't know the number GTCC gets. I asked Tiffany Bryant and all she'd say was "It changes from semester to semester," which is the same answer she gave me regarding the accepted points range. I was at the FTCC Information Session that had about 170 people there - most of them for the Spring as well. FTCC, unfortunately, does something that GTCC doesn't -- that is, essentially anyone can apply no matter what stage they're at regarding their pre-reqs. Some applicants are applying to the ADN program having not even started, some are still taking pre-reqs, etc - obviously those not started or still taking pre-reqs have little to no chance of acceptance but FTCC still lets them apply, whereas GTCC seems to do a better job of screening people and being forthcoming with telling them, "You can still apply but I'm telling you now, you have no chance of being accepted." From what I gathered at the FTCC Information Session - a lot of those attending thought you applied to the program, got accepted, and then started taking A&P I & II, English, Psychology, etc since those courses are included in the 5 semester outline on the website. However, when told that they essentially needed to have all of those basic courses completed to even be considered for acceptance - there was a rather large (and loud sigh), followed by probably 50+ people getting up and walking out. What Martha Orr (FTCC) told me was that while they receive 500'ish applications, really only about 200 are considered "serious" in that they've completed most pre-reqs.

The reforms began in the 80s, yes but there are still LTCs out there that don't follow it to the T. Slowly they're being handled but they're still out there - quite a few in fact. The 80's, in my mind, wasn't that long ago -- a good number of my colleagues have been working in LTCs since the 60's and still do things that are questionable. But it's cool, because our DON is buddy buddy with the state investigation team that gives her a heads up when they'll be rolling into town (and by heads up, I mean "We'll be there on this date, at this time - days in advance). My fiancee's mother works on an investigation team in the Western part of the state - I shared that story with her and she said it happens ALL the time. The DON gets a week or two heads up - they change schedules around, everyone gets re-oriented on exactly what violations the team will be looking for, rooms get super cleaned up, ALL residents are given showers a day or two before they come, CNA staffing goes from 4 to 6, etc.

Erin, I've taken some official practice TEAS this past week and gotten a 78 and 81. I will go in and at least retake it, officially - it can't hurt. I have an app in at GTCC as well, their due date was the 11th and Tiffany Bryant said she should have everyone notified by the next week - so I might be okay there, but we'll see. Unfortunately if I don't get in at GTCC or Forsyth, I'm going to apply to the LPN program and go the slower route to becoming an RN (slower by 1 semester, so not a big deal). The way Forsyth's schedule works I wouldn't be able to redo Psych (and possibly A&PII) in the Spring and make the deadline for the Fall since grades and acceptances are based on completed courses - not courses you're currently attempting. Getting burnt out on being a CNA really - I've come to greatly appreciate the work they do and I love my residents dearly but it's not something I can see myself doing 1-2 years from now.

LTCs have long had a bad reputation, primarily because before national and state reforms things were, well...nasty (generally). You know the saying, "It takes one sour apple to spoil the bunch?" It works for nursing homes. They had a reputation of poor care - residents going unshowered for weeks, sitting in their waste for hours at a time, staff that were more concerned about their paychecks and socializing with friends rather than putting themselves in the resident's shoes and wondering what their life might be like, etc. Fortunately reforms have begun changing this, drastically. My mother worked in a LTC that was eventually shut down by the state for many (and more!) of the complaints I listed above. A lot of the nurses/CNAs I work with have horrible stories of facilities they worked in 15-30 years ago but have noted that, for the most part, these days are fading away and that by the next generation LTCs will have a better reputation. I work at a LTC facility myself (CNA - current nursing student) - most of my residents are total dependence care (quite a few with severe emotional/psychological issues but our Memory Care unit is booked so we have to care for them and honestly, we're not able to do it but we try). A resident's son not too long ago asked how I was able to work in a LTC being so young and I must have looked confused b/c he followed it up with "People go to hospitals to get better. People come here to die." Which is true, and perhaps part of the bad reputation...we're a place of death; that unless someone moves, they'll be with us til their last day. Anyway, my facility has CNAs caring for 8 residents on 1st, 10 on 2nd, and 10 or 15 on 3rd (depends on the unit). Which is very good but as I do work in one of the Skilled Nursing Units and most of my residents I have to be eyes-on the full 8 hour shift. 2 LPNs a shift, per unit, caring for 15 residents each. During the weekday there's 1 RN per unit (so 30 residents), on the weekend it's 2 RNs for 90 residents in Skilled Nursing and then available as needed in Assisted-Living (LPNs usually cover it fine over in AL - they call the RN for count or if a resident falls). I love geriatric patients as well, but I don't see myself still being here a year from now but we'll see. I'm an A-Personality kind of guy that has often been told I thrive on adrenaline rushes and chaos, but remaining calm and unnerved, and honestly - I feel very un-stimulated working in a LTC. I'm also becoming rather cynical about the LTC environemnt here, I'm seeing a lot of CNAs and nurses that cut corners on resident care (nothing illegal, but still enough to raise an eyebrow) and being a higherend LTC (residents start out at the basic level of 3000/month - some are closer to 7; they're also divided by private pay and government assistance, and sadly the quality of care between the two is noticeable). /rant off

According to the MAR review I went to, accepted students for the Fall 2012 program had composite scores of 158-183'ish. On FTCC's system, I'm at 147 currently. I have a C in Gen Psych and a C in A&PII from nearly 8 years ago, both dragging my scores down. I doubt, honestly, that I could bring the A&PII up to an A but the Gen Psych I know I could - I've gotten As in Developmental and Abnormal, so I feel confident there. My TEAS was a 74 with absolutely no studying and no idea as to what the test even covered - so with some work I could boost this some. I guess the question is, could I boost it enough to "matter" -- I'd say a 160 composite would be "safe" but a 13 point improvement on the TEAS would be interesting, to say the least.

I doubt most applicants are aware of allnurses.com, but it's possible that most applicants are more interested in day programs and would prefer not to spend their evenings and weekends in a classroom/hospital. We'll see. Either way, I think with 60 points you'll be guaranteed a spot.

As someone already pointed out - you shouldn't worry about nursing program losing students, but rather look at their first time NCLEX pass rate. It's common practice that if a student stands a rather high probability of failing the NCLEX, the school WON'T graduate them. Why? If enough students fail the NCLEX, it could hurt the school's accreditation/the number of applications they receive for the next classes. In some states (I'm currently in NC), it's quite common for them to take in 72 students (an example) and only permit 58 to graduate so that they may take the NCLEX. Some of the state schools are even rougher on their students -- taking in 200+ into the pre-nursing program (the first 2 years of a BSN program) and only having 100'ish or so permitted entry into clinical years, naturally some swap majors on their own as well.

Minnesota is one of the select few that doesn't require background checks when getting your license - that said, they have been known to do them randomly and odds are high that your potential place of employment WILL do a background check. It's just that the BON tends to not do them and take applicants on the honor system. There's currently a push in the State Congress to change this - I believe they have set aside money to investigate this issue and to decide if the BON needs to do background checks on all applicants. But as it stands now, they do almost 0 checks. There have been cases where an employer caught someone who lied on their BoN application and reported them to the state, but the BoN tends to do little more than fine the person (presumably if it was something serious enough they'd revoke your license). However, I don't know where your DUI or juvenile record would sit with the BoN. Edit: A friend who works as a DON at a LTC facility in MN says that under Statue 148.261: Subsections (6) and (11) (amongst some others), could be grounds to deny you a license. That really it would depend on how long ago these events happened and what steps you've taken to show that they won't happen again.

Yea, I tried to get a feel from Tiffany Bryant regarding the average/median composite score of accepted students and she said they stopped keeping track of it because it would change so dramatically from semester to semester. I've heard getting into GTCC is easier than Forsyth Tech, simply because of the sheer number of applications that Forsyth Tech receives, which the new director at Forsyth Tech says the applications for Spring are expected to break 500 for the 72 available slots. Anyway, we'll see - the deadline was today so we should all receive notification of our status within a week, according to Ms. Bryant.

Trying to get a feel for how competitive the program is and what others composite scores are. TEAS: 74 Points: 46

As luck would have it, our last night of clinicals DHHS made a surprise visit after they received some complaints from residents and others, I'll share some of them: - A resident being forced to have a BM in a wash basin - the CNA (employed, not a student) when questioned about their logic for this had no answer. - A resident fresh from hip surgery (literally, had been back about 4 hours - anaesthesia still hadn't worn off) was given his dinner and told if he wanted it, he'd have to feed himself, said resident was in NO means capable of this - Same resident a couple days later was denied dinner until 11pm for being "unruly" - Deceased resident had passed away, the CNA in charge of their post mortem care was notified it needed to be done but afterwards could not be found. It surfaced later that the CNA decided to go out to eat, when questioned by DHHS for this decision the CNA said "They're dead!! Why the *** does it matter?" Resident was also in a double, the roommate is bedridden but fully aware - was left in the room with the deceased for two hours, despite their call light being activated and asked to be taken out of the room (normal facility procedure anyway, just wasn't done by the CNA) - Hip surgery resident made frequent oral (and written requests by family members) for a fracture pan (coincidentally, doctor's orders also ordered a fracture pan) but was never given one. During the DHHS reeming, 2/3rds of the CNAs could not identify the fracture pan from the pans they laid out. - While DHHS was there, one of them "secretly" (they slipped into the shower room behind a CNA and resident but didn't make themselves known, stayed behind the curtain) overheard a CNA tell a resident "If you touch me again you're going to make me lose my job!" Anyway, the list goes on. A lot of stupid stuff, most of it abuse, incompetent CNAs, etc. DHHS has since taken over the facility indefinitely while they work out what they want to do with it and the residents. I think out of the 15 CNAs on staff that shift, 12 or so were fired by DHHS and will probably be blacklisted. DHHS let us finish our clinicals under their supervision -- it was surreal but an eye opening experience of what can happen when you start viewing your work as a burden/paycheck.

http://www.gtcc.edu/media/72806/nursing%202012.pdf Has a table on how to compute your points, if you scroll down to page 4, there's a list of extra points you can receive for certain classes, certifications, higher scores on your TEAS, etc. It's how people are getting 80+'s

I know how you feel, it's likely that the vast majority of the 437 applicants were ineligble through some means - low/failing TEAS, didn't attend a nursing information session (required at FTCC for prospective, if you apply without attending one you're denied), extremely low points, etc - FTCC probably still includes all of these applicants in that 437 amount. It's partially because they may not want to go through the work to sort out qualified/likely applicants and perhaps they want to give the image of FTCC being very prestigious. I know FTCC had an amazing reputation back in the early to mid 90's for their ADN when my mother was going through the program (she ultimately transferred to WSSU to get her BSN) but I don't really know what it's like now. I was one of those who applied in Fall of 2011, I knew my chances were low when I applied as I only had some of the points but I decided to try anyway (hell, it's free). Surprise surprise, didn't make it. A year later and I have every point completed besides A&PII - I've gotten As in all of the pre-reqs and my TEAS composite was 97% so I'm optimistic about getting in this Fall but of course if there are 72 people with higher points, could be a no go if everyone accepts their slots so we'll see.

Wow, the admission chances at GTCC is remarkably easier than FTCC. Fall 2011 at FTCC had 437 applicants for 72 slots. Now, the admissions didn't break down the point cutoff, TEAS ranges, etc but it was enough to throw me for a loop when I saw the applicants vs. slots available. Good luck to everyone.

Heads up for anyone who stumbles upon this and is looking for CNA courses in Greensboro, Monolia's has had their approval to teach state approved CNA courses revoked. Essentially, they had a larger than acceptable amount of people failing the written and skill exams. It also didn't sit well with the state that the owner of the academy is married to a CNA examiner who "judges" at the same facility and they were/are peddling a DVD designed to show you what you need to do in order to pass the skill exam with the minimal amount of effort. The last bit is minor, sure, but it didn't sit well with DHHS, plus the fact that they made an agreement with GTCC to make the purchase of the DVD mandatory for students, in exchange, GTCC gets a % of the sales.

Generally speaking from what I've seen in the Charlotte area, LPNs make about $10/hour less than a RN. Keep in mind that you also have experience which should drive that up some. I'd probably try for a $15/hour raise and go from there, most of the new grad RN positions I've seen in Charlotte are somewhere around high 20's to mid 30's (29-34$ hour).

I generally lack respect for nurses who didn't climb their way up the totem pole by starting out as a CNA (or something similiar). It's not because Susy Q. fresh out of college with her BSN, having never worked a day in a hospital, LTC, etc in her life (or even a job to begin with) can't be a good nurse -- a decent number of them are. However from my experience working in hospitals and LTCs (before I began the process of becoming a CNA - I've worked in transporting, PCA, and as a "spotter"), there's a large number of nurses who don't truly understand what it is that a CNA does/is responsible for and all too often the RN finds certain work beneath them. I've seen far too many nurses who will be in a resident's room doing their thing, the resident says he needs to go the restroom or has had a BM and the nurse, despite being available, walks out to find a CNA instead only to do this: RN: I need you to give bed baths to 56, 54, 53, and 51. CNA: Yes ma'am RN: I also need manual vitals on 48, 47, 44, and 32. CNA: Okay RN: And 57 and 58 have either had a BM or need to. Moments later, said nurse is spotted checking FB on the computer at the nurse's station, texting someone, and/or watching TV in the resident lounge. Yes, I understand the above delegations are CNA duties, however there's still an issue of being a team and helping each other out -- especially when you pile tasks onto a CNA who's probably looking at managing the care of 15+ residents while said RN is watching Pretty Little Liars. Anyway, /rantoff -- just my experience from when my grandparents were in a LTC, my father in a hospital, and my own experience working in hospitals and LTCs -- CNAs who become RNs are almost always (98%ish) the better RNs because they're not afraid to get their gloves dirty.

So, I've been doing my CNA clinicals at an adult care facility in their skilled nursing unit. My first day there, as usual, I was nervous but ten minutes into being there a resident passes away. She'd been there for the better part of 20 years, her CNA is hysterical (she'd been caring for her for over 15 years) -- sitting on the floor crying, hyper-ventilating, etc, she was completely unable to provide post-mortem care. I jumped in and offered to help and she begged me to, saying she couldn't do it, so I did it. Her, my instructors, the other CNAs all said I handled it like a professional. So, being the only male in my class and the only male at all (other than residents) in the facility, some of the residents have begun asking for me by name "Go get that new male CNA I saw, I want him to take me to the bathroom/change my clothes/give me a shower/etc." Which I'm all more than eager to help and I do. I've really hit it off with a lot of the residents and several of the CNAs/RNs. Quite a few of the residents hate the lifts or have such fragile skin that we can't use lifts on them (they have to be lifted by hand), and what might take 2-3 of them to do, I can on my own very easily. Because of what I bring to the table for the staff (a strong back, eagerness to learn, proverbially get **** done -- I like geriatic patients, a lot) and to the residents (I'm the only male in the facility, I can talk about sports, women, cars, hunting, etc with the male residents and some of the female ones have told me they'd wish they hire some males). So anyway -- residents and staff have made comments about me working for the facility and that they'd like me to be there, I'd love to work there. Great staff, even better residents. So, I'm speaking with one of the RNs and ask: Me: "I haven't seen a single male here outside of a dining hall cook and a janitor. Are there no male CNAs or RNs for the residents?" RN: "Umm...nope, we don't have any on staff." Me: "Why? You and the other staff have talked about how great it'd be to have a male or two around, and the residents say the same." RN: "Oh I do feel that way but I don't make the hiring calls. HR has made it their official policy that no male CNAs or RNs are to be hired." Me: "How? That has to be illegal." RN: "Oh I'm sure it is. A while back we had a male on staff, I think he was a CNA, pretty sure anyway. Well, without going into too much detail but I'm sure you can figure out...he got SUPER friendly, and not in a good way, with some of the residents. So, ever since then HR has decided that males are prohibited from working here as a CNA or RN." Me: "So because of one guy's decision to molest some patients, people like me are now screwed?" RN: "Seems that way. But don't take it personal, we love you here. You're eager, quick, and we don't need to hold your hand and coach like most of the students who come through. I'd hire you but I can't." So...what do I do? Can I do anything? I'm still in clinicals so I don't want to do anything while here that might get me thrown out and jeopardize me finishing this so I can sit for my certification. But I also want to march into HR and go "This is what I heard from your staff , is this true?" Sorry for backstory but I wanted to put it all into perspective.