lucyloo1

This is what it boils down to...you're always going to be "encouraged" to get more education and more letters behind your name. It is the world we live in and everything is about competition. To this I say bologna! (Well, Id prob say something less appropriate!) But, To each his own...If your satisfied then so be it. You could have 20 or 30 years experience behind you, and some dang letters after your name mean everything. I agree, education is very important, I'm around 7 months away from completing my RN...but, the 16 years as an LPN, the experience, the hard work, and the countless times I heard "wow, you're just an LPN?" Will still never be looked at as a waste of time to me. Im older now so getting my RN is basically just for ME. My career and pay will not change once I graduate,but this accomplishment is MINE. Like with any other accomplishment in life..be proud no matter what society holds as standard. We live our life NOT for other people and their opinions. :-)

Congrats! The best advice I could give would be: if you're not already, learn to be an independent learner! For me, I love online schooling. Im not one who needs lectures or constant direction. I prefer to learn on my own and with little guidance, figure it out myself. Online learning is not for everyone, it may sound easy and convenient but there is a lot of work and determination involved. YOU are the one who determines your success, no one is there holding your hand. If you have a question, YOU have to seek the answer..call, email, hound, whatever you gotta do to get the answer! Thats sometimes how online learning is. Set a schedule and get organized..find resources like other classmates if in your area that can help you retain all your reading. Thats the biggest complaint I hear is "I wish we had lecture or someone giving us examples." Well, thats not online learning! You'll get the examples and personal attention in clinicals. So in summary, buckle down and determine yourself to succeed:)

Ive been a nurse 15 yrs and charting/paperwork will always be vital. Although annoying and time consuming, its what makes the medical field 'go round'. Now depending on where you work it can be more or less but guarantee it will always be a thorn in your side! (But always remember it will be there to protect you in the event you need it) There will be days where you experience more direct patient care, and others where you feel you and your pen have become one! Take the good days as they come and keep truckin along:)

Home health can be very unpredictable. I worked for an agency, but honestly it wasnt steady. As others have said, it depends on the case load and amount of nurses they have employed. It can be steady if you get a long term case (far and few between). The agency I worked for sent me consistently to one 8 hr case, and the parent wanted me to be their sole provider for her child, but the agency continued to send other nurses. This was probably done to ensure the continued employment of others nurses, however I feel patient/client satisfaction should take precedent (esp when the agency had plenty of other cases). But in an agency thats how it works..you do what they say! For that reason I went independent, although not an easy process and still no guarantee of work, I'm my own boss and I make my schedule (its also nice to get the full payment for the visit instead of the agency getting over 60% of it). Thankfully I found a full-time case that Ive been on for almost 6 yrs now. Either way around it, home health can be rewarding and financially beneficial...IF you have work. In this economy keep any full time job you possess, slowly work into home health and see what happens. That full time case could just appear...but you always need a backup.

I ordered two really good books off Amazon...when Im home later I can give you the name author and edition...some are better than others so I reseached what other nurses said were good and thats what I went with. You want to take as many practice questions as you can. Thats what gets your brain on the right track..you'll miss many ?? at first but you'll improve. Remember, just like nclex..hesi ?? Make you think. Theres usually always more than one right answer, its the one thats "more" right according to what the ? Is asking and correct nursing process! Tricky I know..thats why you practice.

You only take it once to get in...yes I passed the first time and had a high enough score to be accepted (thankfully). If your score is too low you only have two other shots to pass (thats typical for many nursing programs). Bad thing is if you do fail you have to wait until the next year for another chance (because Rio takes only one class/yr). Sometimes you cant even retake the HESI for several months at other schools. If your accepted into the program they have you take it again midway basically to see how your doing and if you need work on some areas. The test breaks down for you what your answering well and what your not. Its kind of like insight for the instructors (Many programs want to know their students are on the right track to eventually sit and pass boards. This gives the school/program a better rep) I have heard if you continue to do under par and the remediation isnt working they can ask you to leave the program and try to get back in the next year.

Yeah, thats the only downer is its harder to get in and they only take one class a year. But dont get discouraged, I felt the same way last year and I just told myself Im gonna study as much as I can...thats really all you have to do. They accept the 70 based on there HESI scores...the benchmark is 900 but thats not what you have to get to be accepted.(Thats just what most schools would like you to get) Now once you do get accepted you have to take the HESI like 2 more times and at that point its more scrutinized..if your low in one or more areas you have to remediate those areas till your up to par. I believe on the exit HESI you have to get 900 or better or you wont graduate. REFRESH AND PRACTICE TESTS! Thats the best prep. I went online and found random sites that offered free test questions (theres not many most want $..you just have to stumble upon the free ones) And the prep books help a lot.

Wow your pretty close to me. We probably have seen each other shopping on Wilmington Pike somewhere:) I went to my doctors office and they did hep B and mmr titres, it showed I was still immune so I didn't have to get any boosters. I called Rio and asked if the lab copies were sufficient to prove that and they said yes. I had to get my old shot record from my mom to verify my mmr's, and you'll also need to verify your last tetorifice. You'll also need to update your Mantoux. If you haven't gotten a background check before it's typically at your local sherrifs dept or police dept. Cost runs between 25-35$. Since your close, I went to the Labcorp off of Clyo for the drug screen, she would remember the process. (seriously, it was ridiculous the amount of labs that wouldn't do a 12 panel, none of the hospitals even MVH and MV south. Compunet couldn't either. At orientation ask for a copy of the panel, I had to call ------------ and she gladly faxed one to the lab while I was there). I work in home health care so praise the Lord I have a lot of ample time to study and work! I have taken care of a little girl since she was 2, she's turning 8 next month! (she had a brain injury(med malpractice:( and is trach/vent dependent.) I used to travel all over with her being my primary client, but the last couple years I solely devote my hours to her. I'm married with a 10 yo and 6 yo so I have to split my time up somehow! As far as the HESI...it was pretty in depth. Maybe it's just because I've been out of school for so long, the last time I took the NCLEX was in 1998! I think it was pretty comparable to NCLEX..I scored over the benchmark but it wasn't easy. I have a couple of HESI prep books I purchased from Amazon that are really good study guides with practice questions. I advise to study! Some people say just wing it, brush up...I recommend complete review (I reviewed randomly for about 3 months so I wasn't cramming). They hold only a couple HESI testing dates usually end of July first of Aug. and when I went it was packed. I think they said they had 2-300 people test (remember they only take 70 or so). Well, I have to get my son to school...talk to you later!

I just finished the eight week A&P course which is NUR13606...some do not need to take that if they have previous credits that are recent. I graduated from LPN school in 1998, and didn't have any recent credits. I'm glad to have taken it though, most of it you know, just a good refresher. The next eight weeks is NUR14606 which is nursing theory. I haven't heard much about this, but I'm sure it's just what it says is...what we already know and have learned thus far with more thought process! After that I will start clinicals. From what I understand, the first semester usually starting mid Jan is 16 weeks straight of the courses I mentioned above, then your clinicals start early summer. Yes, they do place you as close to your residence, but they don't go past 60 miles from the University so it's limited. Chilicothe will probably be where I go as well, I'm in Centerville so it's about 50 min South for me (not too hateful!) They have Adena Medical Center and I think a VA as well. Initially I was told clinicals are 6-8hr days once a week, or 12hr days every other week. It's solely the choice of the instructor, you have to ask the first day you can and see what the preference of the clinical group and instructor is. Becky the secretary told me to ask immediately! Basically though, you get what you get. I'm hoping to get the 12h days...long, but easier in the long-run. Once clinicals start, they will continue until graduation. Online learning is great in my opinion. I did all my prereqs online and so far I love the nursing online. I'm ready for clinicals though. The online schedule is not hateful at all in my opinion, the instructors so far have been extremely nice and helpful. They tell you to email anytime for anything and get back to you pretty fast. The instructor we have for NUR 13606 is great, she starts each week with a positive email message and gives positive feedback. I emailed once and she responded on her iphone in like 2 hours. The testing process has been easy as well. For the Dayton area, they have a proctor site just minutes off Indian Ripple rd. at the Learning center. At this point they only schedule the nurse exams on Tues. and Thurs. and it is 25$ a pop. If you're closer to Cincy I'm not sure where you'll go. At orientation, they give you everything you need, it answers many questions. Make sure you get all your health documents and vaccines up to date, and the drug screen. They're picky, they want a 12 panel not 10, and the only place I found to do it that knew what they were doing was Labcorp. Everyone else was like, huh?!:) They will give you a list of the books you need at orientation, I got all of mine through Amazon pretty cheap. When you go to orientation, you'll go to the bookstore and get your badge and picture taken, I recommend checking out the ugly red polo we have to buy, the sizes are weird! Sorry, I guess I've been rambling, (I do that:) but I wish I had more info this time last year, so I would be glad to help ya out! It would be nice to have a fellow student in my area to confide in and help each other out. Looking forward to further chats...

Hi hippydippy....I would be glad to answer any questions I can for you..fire away. I'll answer what I can, I just finished the first eight weeks of the first semester (before that, the initial 12 week "workshop" that starts in Aug are basically showing that you can work online, and exactly how the instructors want you to answer topic questions, they're very particular). You learn a lot from the mandatory orientation they have you come in for, lots of paperwork handed out. It may seem like an intimidating process, but the staff are quite helpful. But they're often busy, so be persistent with what you need (this can take a couple attempts:) We're in week 8 now and I have an A so far..yeah! Next is nursing theory, which I'm excited and nervous for. When I began this whole process back in March 2012, I had NO clue what to expect and more questions than I knew what to do with! It's still a learning experience but I think I'm on board with the flow now. Hope I can help you, and even continue to connect in the future as we will likely be going through the course at the same time..Talk to you soon!

Ive noticed that too. Where are you from? When I was in school ( many yrs ago) it was nothing to have 30-35 residents in LTC and in the hospital we usually had 2 maybe 3 but we were told that would drastically increase once we were actually nurses out in the field. (as students they wont load you up because thats just it..your a student! Liability!) I guess it depends on your instructors...ours were very up front and gave us the info we needed to mentally prepare ourselves once we were on our own. Maybe new grads were prepared but once out here in the real world of nursing is just initially overwhelming! Who knows.

Be confident in yourself...whether its 2, 3, or 6 patients things could go relatively smooth or fall apart! Thats the good thing about nurses, they help each other. I would imagine even if they give you a large pt load for being a new grad, dont think they still wont be keeping an eye on you! Theyre hope is you can handle it but they dont expect you to be question free. Do what you can and be safe....ALWAYS ask when in doubt. You'll be ok..learn from the experience and soon you'll look back and wonder why you were nervous:)

Hang in there...it will get better. Unfortunately, in nursing (as in many other professions) proving yourself is focused on. Even though you feel you already proved yourself by graduating and getting your license! Well, that IS an accomplishment, so dont let a few experienced nurses attitudes get to ya! Believe me, you will ALWAYS be around another nurse who feels they know more or have better experience...its almost like a pride thing. Ive been a nurse 15 years and I still feel it around other nurses...now I just shrug it off and laugh, thinking whatever its not a competition.. Do your best and learn all you can. Time is just gonna have to be your friend for now:) Good luck

Congratulations! I think whatever job you do as a new grad may be scary, overwhelming, and even difficult...but remember, you ARE a nurse now! That license in your corner says you accomplished what many wish for. Stay confident and calm! Letting nerves overtake you can cloud your already overwhelmed brain! And then you'll doubt yourself...DONT! Be a sponge, pace yourself, that confidence will show. Youre going to learn a lot...Best of luck:)

I graduated with my LPN 15 years ago and it was not difficult at all then to find a job. I was hired before I even got my results back from boards. Like someone else said, it all depends on where you live and where you want to work. Most doctor offices hire LPNs ( in my experience, Ive noticed its because they can get away with paying an LPN a few $ less for doing the same duties). LTC facilities staff more LPNs than RNs, the RNs are usually charge nurses who handle any IV infusion orders or wound treatment, or are in administration..again it depends on the place and a nurses experience. Some LPNs have more responsibility based on that. Hospitals are constantly changing. Many want 'magnet status' so LPNs are not in demand, and even RNs are urged to proceed to a BSN if even hired. My problem is pride...Ive worked to long and hard to work in a hospital that wants to call me a ' PCT' ( patient care tech)! I do home care, which a lot of LPNs do...however usually you need at least a year or two experience first. Ive seen many changes and worked a variety of places as an LPN, even managed an obgyn office for 7 years, and I dont feel the LPNS role will be phased out. Limited....maybe. Im getting my RN now, just for me! It wont change my job role, I make what an RN makes doing home care in the state of Ohio...but Im keeping my future options open. Good luck with your career, you'll find an area of nusing you love!