Kevin57

I went with LPN because I wanted to make sure I was comfortable with the work before making a huge commitment that I may regret. The program I went through was ten months at a public technical school. No waiting and only a $5k investment. Also considered the top program in the state, I'm so glad I went this route. I'll have work and life experience when I do the RN bridge program. Bonus - the local public college reserves two slots per semester for graduates of my program, so no waiting. If I do the RN bridge I'll have spent $16k total. My buddy is going through a private program and he'll have spent upwards of $45k (not including interest on the loans he had to take out).

Nope. I was at clinicals observing the med pass. Clients who self-administer don't get meds from the drug cart. I was observing the entire mess directly as it happened, that's why I was repeatedly told "you didn't see that." They knew they were effing up and didn't even care.

I'm also an LPN student and spent a clinical day in an ALF this past week. Here's my journal entry from that day: "At (name of ALF redacted). Today was a real eye opener. Wow. What a hot mess that place is. Probably saw a dozen med errors today (possibly more, I quite counting after four) including dropped meds that were picked up and given (several times), meds left with residents to take at their leisure (again, several times), meds signed off as given before they were administered (all the time), meds signed off as given that weren't administered (a couple), no pain assessment/follow up assessment on pain meds, and the pièce de résistance - a cup o' meds left over from yesterday found in the top drawer of the med cart. I lost track of how many times I heard "you didn't see that." It was a great experience for "this is how it shouldn't be done" learning. I'm flabbergasted that this place is even doing business (and wonder how many more are out there doing the same thing or worse). Yikes.