Switched to LVN from the Business World and am UNDERWHELMED!

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Have been attending an LVN Program in since August 2021-I keep thinking things are better but they do not improve- I came from the business world and had the opportunity to work from some nice places.  This place is really yucky.  The administration and operations of this school has been, well, awful. And they charge 36K for a 13 month program. They are always out of everything and all the equipment is broken down. The clinical site where they have us is awful as well and after 7 weeks we are still doing CNA stuff , not passing meds.  We have to bring our own washcloths and N-95's and face shields and have to wait outside in the cold until our teacher gets there. She is always 10 minutes late. They won't even let us have water or heat our lunch up anywhere. There are not even enough chairs for us all to sit in the room they give us, and they make us switch places all the time.     It is so unprofessional all across the board- are these normal standards for LVN- are we like the trash nurses because we are not RN's yet?  I am in California so I would love to hear if this is the norm.  When I ask questions they just explain this is how it is because of COVID-but the students in other clinical sites in our school are not experiencing this.  How do you even deal with this-I tried to email the Clinical Instructor Coordinator and she blew up at me- I don't feel like asking for water and a chair is out of line.  Is nursing like camping?  Do they even have break rooms like most companies do?  I just don't know what to expect.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Did you enroll in  a for-profit program???  Seems like settling for less than 'standard' is sadly occurring. Covid prob has made obtaining reputable clinical sites a night mare. And supply chains are still hung up all over.

I just think you signed up for a NOT GOOD program. There are better ones out there - RN & LVN.

Don't know if you could withdraw without too much of a financial loss (and your time).

Good luck to you and welcome to AN. 

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Thanks for the answer:)  I think I am stuck and In reading the student comments about the private nursing schools in CA-they all sound the same amount of awful-all the public colleges are backed up and not offering classes or pre-reqs due to COVID- only 1 person took the NCLEX from my local community college last year.  Another question-what's the deal with the limited numbers of people accepted into programs at school and limited offerings of classes?  Is that a traditional nursing thing- like being snobby?  I always thought it was a supply and demand thing with school-need more programmers for software so offer more classes and encourage people but nursing seems to have this weird code about getting "accepted" in the program and only offering it "once time a year"...it just seems like a weird POV when there is a nursing shortage making things rough for everyone-and then nursing programs are being snobby and limited....does the State only let you have a certain number of graduates per class in your school?  I just can't figure out how this system works....it seems like a lot of people are interested in nursing, but some people have shared problems with instructors etc. saying they "aren't good enough"  I hope the real working world isn't like school in this regard...

 

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
7 hours ago, Horsegirl said:

Another question-what's the deal with the limited numbers of people accepted into programs at school and limited offerings of classes?

Nursing schools can only take as many students as they have clinical sites for. CA, like many other states, requires clinicals occur concurrently with the didactic portion, so it's not like someone can front load all of the classroom portion and then do a massive clinical at the end. Another factor is availability of clinical instructors. There are some states that set the maximum ratio of instructor to students on a clinical site. Adjunct positions also pay very low, and sometimes so do full time positions that aren't tenured. Once you factor in all the time spent outside of the classroom grading and doing office hours and responding to emails, it can very easily end up being somewhere around minimum wage based on the hours put in. So between the competition for clinical sites with multiple schools all wanting them and a shortage of instructors, it's not as simple as "just add more classes".

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OK, I am understanding this now.  Thanks so much for taking your time to respond to me. It helps me understand what is happening.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

PP Rose Queen explained things very well.

Also, there seems to be some ginormous push for unemployed folk to 'go to nsg school'. Like nsg is the great be-all, end-all panacea for the country's problems.

We nurses know nsg isn't easy, but there seems to be some mega-disconnect between 'ideal' and 'real'. New nurse-hopefuls are RUDELY disappointed by reality.

For-profit schools are merely out there to offer an educational service. It is up the applicant/attendee to measure its worth, best before paying out any fees. And then they're in for a ride because success is up to the student.

Covid aside, this discrepancy has been around for a long time.

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Wow-I am stunned at your response.  I am not some "unemployed folk" I lost my job because of the pandemic.  I enrolled in nursing school because I wanted to help people and fill a need in the shortage of nurses in our state. I am not sure how I could've have researched if a school  had standards to provide enough chairs for students at a clinical or if they would put us in a place that was not welcoming and was under-supplied. I am doing very well academically-I already had a college degree and worked at a high level job-COVID changed that.

I was looking for support and understanding from fellow nurses so I can understand what is happening.  Your response feels really negative to me and sadly is not the first harsh response I have received when asking for help-are nurses nicer to patients than other nurses? 

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

I doubt amoLucia’s post was in any way directed at you but meant as an explanation as for why nursing programs are so impacted at this time. 

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OK- here's the thing tho- I am asking are these standards OK in the nursing school world for a 36K pricetag?  Lack of chairs, no supplies, late teachers?  Is this what I should expect at all places? Some places?  I get nursing is hard work-I am a hard worker.  I just want to know if places are all this rough.  I want to know if this is a systemic problem or just this school I guess.

Sorry if I wasn't clear in what I was looking for in terms of responses.

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Specializes in Dialysis.
49 minutes ago, Horsegirl said:

OK- here's the thing tho- I am asking are these standards OK in the nursing school world for a 36K pricetag?  Lack of chairs, no supplies, late teachers?  Is this what I should expect at all places? Some places?  I get nursing is hard work-I am a hard worker.  I just want to know if places are all this rough.  I want to know if this is a systemic problem or just this school I guess.

Sorry if I wasn't clear in what I was looking for in terms of responses.

Short answer, unfortunately, yes, it's a standard for some programs. It's some school dependent, some area dependent. A clinical site may have "x" availability for conferencing or planning. In that case, it's not the school, and not the facility--space may be limited due to staff/patient needs, which takes precedence over student needs. It stinks, but sometimes you have to take what you can get. Sometimes it's the school, and for profits are famous for (setting up) lack of amenities. Sometimes not for profits have an issue because of limitations of clinical sites. There's no easy answer

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OK- thanks so much for taking the time to respond-this makes sense.  So just take the ups and the downs in stride-not all places we do clinicals at are great and set up well- I can do that. 

One additional question- are some actual jobs in facilities like this?  Specifically, do they have a break areas with enough chairs and microwaves to heat your lunch and stuff ? Do you typically get to tour the facility you will work at for before accepting the job?  

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Specializes in Dialysis.
2 hours ago, Horsegirl said:

OK- thanks so much for taking the time to respond-this makes sense.  So just take the ups and the downs in stride-not all places we do clinicals at are great and set up well- I can do that. 

One additional question- are some actual jobs in facilities like this?  Specifically, do they have a break areas with enough chairs and microwaves to heat your lunch and stuff ? Do you typically get to tour the facility you will work at for before accepting the job?  

Typically, there's a break area that has microwave, etc. Sometimes you even get to go there ?

Honestly, some facilities/settings are better about breaks than others. That being said, you can always ask about that at interview, or request a job shadow and ask other employees then

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