tlackey

How do you all handle late patients? I work in a peds clinic where there are a fair amount of chronically late patients, not 5 minutes late, but more like 15-20 minutes late. They never apologize, or acknowledge that they are late at all. The MDs don't really care - they think of it as income no matter what time the patient arrives, so we have no official late policy. Additionally, it is difficult to make them reschedule because sometimes the patients are there for a sick visit and have to be seen, or they are well-baby checks and we typically schedule 4-6 weeks out, especially in the summer. Lateness is my #1 pet peeve, and I hate the fact that people are entitled enough to think that their time is more precious than anybody else's. If one person is 15 minutes late for their sick visit and we have to see them, the next scheduled patient who shows up on time will not be seen until 15 minutes later. I wish there was a good way to indicate to these parents that they are late, and it is just plain rude and will now make everyone else behind. Does anyone have a good zinger to lay on these patients?

I'm just looking for suggestions from those of you who work in peds or family practice clinic - does your practice have any prizes or stickers for the kids? We used to have a prize box for kids who got a lot of shots, but it was getting abused when every other sibling in the room decided they needed to pick 5 toys too. We got rid of the prizes and now have a sticker basket for the kids located on the way out of the offce, but that has started to become a problem since almost all are sick this time of year and are rifling through every sticker in the basket after they've wiped their snotty nose. We were wondering if one of those rolls mounted on the wall would be better, but one of the nurses is afraid the kids will pull the rolls and we'll have to keep winding it up, or if they'll want a certain sticker that is five back on the roll instead of just what is there in front. Just looking for suggestions - what does your clinic do? Thanks!

One of the girls in my class contacted CU about a year ago to see if they would take our credits, and they said that yes, they would. However, I don't know of anyone personally who has gone on to finish out there BSN there yet. As far as Children's goes, our instructors told us directly that they pretty much only take Bachelor's level nurses. Evidently the hospital won't admit this, but the BSNs are always preferred there from what I have heard...which is strange considering some of the ADN classes at DSON (mine included) had clinical rotations at Children's. Some people in my class were interested in getting jobs there, but were highly encouraged to save time and money and just wait to apply until after getting a BSN. But maybe things have changed by now with their move to Fitzsimmons.

Hi - I just graduated from the ADN program at DSON on June 22nd; took my boards this past Wednesday and passed (yea!). As far as I have heard, everyone in my class except one has passed, and most people stopped at 75 questions, which is the minimum. Everyone I graduated with had jobs lined up before we graduated, primarily at the places where we had our final capstone. I know several people who got jobs at Denver Health, and a few at Littleton Adventist, one at St. Anthony's Central. I don't know of anyone who had any difficulty finding a good position. The program was very intense, it seems now like it really ruled my life for two years. But I did get a good education there, and made some lifelong friends too. Good luck! -Tracy

I wouldn't worry too much about your GPA unless you are planning on applying to any of the BSN programs (Regis, CU, etc.). The community colleges and ADN programs are usually much less strict about GPAs; as long as you have a C or better in all your classes you should be fine. Regardless of where you apply, though, I would recommend that you beef up any volunteer or work experience. A lot of the schools don't care about your grades so much as they want to know that they are bringing in a student who has shown that they have desire and motivation to go into the career.

Hi! I'm in the last quarter of nursing school, and got my preceptorship/clinical capstone in an ER, which I really wanted and am totally psyched about. But now I'm getting nervous; I don't know if I'll be able to do everything that is expected of me. Are any of you preceptors and have any advice? What will I be expected to do? What did you consider to be a "good student" vs. a bad one? Thanks!

This is why I'm going there: http://www.nlnac.org/Forms/directorySearch.asp Colorado nursing programs accredited by the National League of Nursing: CSU-Pueblo, Metro State, Otero JC, Pueblo CC, and UCHSC. Not Front Range, not CCD, not Arapahoe, not Aims or any other well-known nursing program in Colorado. At least DSN is a candidate for NLN accreditation, and all nursing programs are APPROVED by the state of Colorado (accreditation and approval are not the same thing). Then again, all state of Colorado approved nursing programs are required to attain accreditation by 2010 anyway. Going to DSN is no different from going to any other non-accredited nursing program in colorado, of which there are many.

The homework really was not too bad. The first quarter it kind of sucked, only because we had weekly quizzes in pharm. calculations, and we had to practice our skills and get checked off for assessment and Foundations class. Overall, because we spend a lot of time in lecture, the instructors don't assign any "busy-work." A few brief papers, a couple of presentations, but mostly tests every couple of weeks. The school doesn't work on a midterm-final test system; pretty much every class has a test every two or three weeks. There were 21 people in my class, almost everyone had families and jobs, but it was rare that anyone was really overwhelmed with the workload. It is definitely doable, just a lot of studying your notes and texts. We all kind of learned to manage our school time with all the other stuff going on in our lives. -Tracy

I graduated from an LPN program in this past June, took and passed my PN boards. Started an LPN-RN program four weeks later. I am totally discouraged and feel like I have been beaten by the system. I loved my LPN program; it was challenging and busy but I did well, got A's and B's the whole way through. Really liked my teachers and my classmates, and I was totally motivated. Finished with a 3.8 GPA, went to school 2 days a week, then 1 or 2 days of clinical per week usually, but I always got home to see my husband and daughter after days at school. Now I'm in the RN program, they only offer evenings, so I hang out all day, go to school from 5-9 pm four evenings a week. Every Sunday, when I put my daughter to bed, I have to tell her I won't see her again until Friday because she is in school all day when I'm home, and she comes home after I leave for school. I spend all weekend crying because I know that in a few days I will be missing her again. I don't see my husband much either but at least I see him when I come home before I crash into bed. The RN program sucks, none of us are doing well at all. We were getting A's and B's in the LPN program, now we will be happy to pass this quarter at all. On the last pharmacology test, the average class grade was a 67%. We have one teacher for all our classes, and she is truly awful. Just an awful teacher, and no one understands her. So after two tests in each class, my grades have gone from bad to worse, I'm really worried about passing these classes. And I know that no employer really cares what grades you get in nursing school, but I care, and I don't want to go out there knowing I almost failed pharmacology or med/surg or whatever. I just want to stop for awhile until I get my head on straight, but I know that if I stop, I might not go back for my RN. I'm tired of trying, and I"m tired of trying to try. I feel very defeated, and I miss my family, and I'm wondering if I should just give in to my gut, even though I do really want to finish school and get my RN. I know no one can tell me what to do, but I need some encouragement or advice, or maybe someone has felt like this too. Mainly I just needed to vent. Thanks, Tracy

No, DSN's schedule is not that crazy...no one would go if it was. I just finished the LPN program this past June, now I'm in the LPN-RN program. The first quarter was a little rough, but looking back through the program it was definitely the worst of the year. After 1st quarter it gets much better. My first quarter, we had Wednesday 1-4, Thursday 8-3 and Friday 8-4. But the 2nd quarter it was just Thursday 8-4 and Friday 8-4, and quarters 3 and 4 it was just MOnday 9-4 and Tuesday 9-4. The first quarter you have to do Pharmacology calculations, Assessment with lab, and Fundamentals with lab. So there is a lot of lab time, and you have to do all your skills in this quarter. And you do clinicals one evening a week (8 hours) in the first quarter. Personally, I liked the LPN program. It was challenging, but so is any other good school. I liked the instructors. I would recommend it for those who really don't want to wait on any more waitlists. We got the education we needed, almost everyone in my class is working as an LPN and everyone I know who took the NCLEX-PN passed with 85 questions (the minimum). Good luck!

Hi, I looked into Phoenix just a few months ago. The program is 30 months and costs about 24,000 for the program. You have to go one night per week for the 30 months, and the class changes about every 5 weeks. The majority of the classes are at the Lone Tree campus in S. Denver, but some of the classes can be taken at other Phoenix campuses if available. Not sure exactly which credits will transfer in, but she said that if you have already taken a class that is in their schedule and it will transfer, you don't have to take it again, so when that class comes up for the 5-week session, you just won't be in class at all during that time. Does that make sense? It took me about three months to get a reply from someone, but I have her information (her name is Michelle) if you want it. Just PM me or email me: [email protected] and I can give you her number at the school. It sounded like an interesting program, but it is a lot of money and 30 months is a little longer than I wanted.

I'm taking my boards next week, and am a little overwhelmed with all the study materials available. When I review books like Saunders or Mosby's, I feel like I'm redoing all the stuff I already studied in Med/Surg or Pharmacology. So I've been doing questions in the books and on the CD-ROMs, and I've been doing okay, but I've heard from other people who've taken the test that a lot of it is pure critical thinking and common sense more than memorized information. Did you study for weeks on end? Do you think it helped or it wouldn't have mattered? Or did you not study much at all, and felt you should have studied more or were glad you didn't study too much?

I just finished the LPN program at DSN, and I'm now in the RN program, graduating June '07. Becky Lynch (one of the deans) told our class they expected to attain accreditation by late spring of 2007. They are still working on going through the accreditation process, but now that DSN has had a few classes graduate (the first BSN class just graduated June 30th) it may make things a little easier. I really like DSN, primarily for the instructors, and I have heard good things about the BSN programs. As far as I have seen and heard, most area hospitals like our students and have no problem hiring anyone from our school. I think at first, there was some hesitation since we aren't accredited yet, but I think we have proved ourselves out there as worthy nurses. I have had clinicals at Children's and St. Anthony's North. Good Luck! I'm sure you'll like it.

Hi! Regarding winnie's post from yesterday, I haven't heard anything about instructors not showing up at clinicals. I'm in my fourth clinical site and all my teachers have been there. I think the person you heard who had this happen six times may have been exaggerating, or was an isolated incident. Maybe in the RN program it has happened, but not that I know about. Plus, there is a new RN program director who came last quarter, I believe around the first of the year in January, and I did hear that the old director had some "issues" (don't know exactly what that means) but the new one is really proactive. One thing you may hear is that the LPN program is having trouble getting clinical sites, but that will soon be a null issue because I am the last LPN class; they are going to strictly a 2-year RN program soon. Regardless of any trouble getting sites, I and my classmates have all had placements by the beginning of the quarter. More importantly, all the clinical instructors I have had are very experienced. Most of them have been in nursing (a lot of travel nurses) for a long time, and have been teaching and like teaching students. Good luck , let us know what you decide! Tracy

Hi! I currently attend DSON, I started the LPN program in July 2005, I'm just about to start the last quarter of the LPN portion, then I'll go right into the RN program (1+1) in July of this year, finishing up totally in March 2007. I really like it there..yes, they have their issues but so does any other nursing school. DSON is really trying to get accredited, so it's not like they're going to do anything to screw it up. Most of the teachers are really great, so I feel like I'm being challenged in my classes. I really like that the school is small, it's kind of an everybody knows everybody else thing, and when you run into a teacher from three quarters ago they still remember your name and ask how you're doing. It feels very personal. We just got some new administrators a few months ago, and they are really working hard to make the school a frontrunner. Of course, the first LPN class just started taking their boards a few months ago, but everyone who has reported back to the school passed and are getting jobs. The really good thing is that we have good clinical sites: Children's hospital, St. Anthony's, etc. And the hospitals and LTC centers that we go to really like our students, so they are happy to hire and ask the school to post jobs. I have made great, great friends. There is no one in my 21-person class who I couldn't call for help. We always have a great time in class and hanging out outside of class (we go to lunch, go for a drink after school, etc.) We just went to 11-week quarters and two week breaks in between, so the quarters go really fast. Yes, it is expensive. And they aren't accredited yet. But I never regret my decision to go to DSON, and I don't think anyone else in my class does either. I have found that the students who complain about the school are the ones who don't have good grades. The first quarter is the hardest, but don't give up! Good luck! Tracy