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.

Specializes in retired LTC.

OP - I am soooo sorry you misinterpreted that post. It was NOT meant to be all encompassing. But right now, you know that school placement avail is so restricted. So many people have been negatively impacted by covid, employed or unemployed, many unintentionally. But historically, nsg school has long been an avenue for potential employment.

I responded to your post with the best of intentions. I really feel for you and all the other second-career persons seeking a decent lifestyle change. I believe HEALTH CARE in general to be unlike any other industry. You're seeing an underside of some rough situations. Between California and Florida, I don't know who has it worse. Honestly.

I realize what your options may have been. A prolonged uncertain competitive wait list for other schools. Sadly, you were very unlucky. Hopefully, your employment opp'ties will be better, altho many facilities are foregoing in-person tours, even short cutting/zooming interviews. One can only do their due-diligence by trying to select a good employer (or school).

Funny though, places used to try to 'put the best foot forward' in order to entice attendees to seek their employ. Things have changed, and only a few manage to filter thru all the glittering 'bells & whistles'.

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No worries-  I just took it the wrong way-easy to do in writing-thanks for your thoughts and time.  I think COVID has just cast a pall over everything and made things weird.  I will soldier through and just come prepared for every situation.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Hello,

I am a new nursing instructor for an LPN program.  I teach in the classroom and also at clinical.  We have to roll with the punches at my clinical site.  When they are short-staffed, we are asked to help with the workload, that means providing patient care.  Some of the nurses at the site are stressed or overwhelmed and won't let me take the med cart to do meds with students.  So far, only 1 nurse has let me take the med cart to do meds with students.  So passing meds has been very intermittent.  The site is frequently short-staffed and providing learning opportunities for my students is far from their priority.  So I must find a way to make each day a valuable learning experience for my students.  Yes, we provide patient-care.  As a nurse for 15 years, I don't believe in saying "CNA work".  It's patient care and it is the care that is most important to the patients themselves.  You are building a relationship with your patient, earning their trust, giving them attention, and also providing intimate care.  By helping the staff for the day, we learn the importance of teamwork.  I teach them how to communicate with other members of the healthcare team.  I show them how to incorporate head-to-toe exams into their patient care and how this separates a nurse's care from a CNA's care.

The clinical sites, the schools, your previous job, everywhere, was hit hard by covid!  The school I work for is a for-profit and costs roughly the same.  I am on the east coast.  We have been having a very hard time getting into clinical sites because of covid.  I have ten students at clinical, a very small room was provided.  There are not enough chairs so in our pre and post conference 2 of us sit on the large windowsill.  There is a vending machine, a staff break area with a microwave and fridge and a water-cooler.  I make it a high priority to arrive before my students otherwise they would be waiting in the cold.

My students and I are lucky, there are a handful of clinical groups without a site.  They go to the school on clinical days and do lab stuff.  There are also some students without a site OR instructor.  

There are only for-profit LPN schools in my state.  They fill a need.  Our program is an accelerated 12 months.  This works for someone who doesn't have time to wait on a waitlist, etc.  Becoming an LPN gives them immediate earning potential.  The healthcare system is in shambles.  The education system is in shambles.  Thank the people who show up...

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Specializes in retired LTC.

sleepRN - TY for your efforts.

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On 2/11/2022 at 5:32 AM, 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.

"OK in the nursing world"? 

That's not the nursing world...that's the capitalist world of profit focused "education" businesses.  

The "nursing world" is where you are paid the lowest wage the employer can manage while they guilt you into doing more for less and occasionally reminding you that you could be replaced.  The pandemic has killed that last tactic but the planned and chronic understaffing set the stage for this current crisis of caregivers. 

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Yes- I'm starting to see a pattern here.  I am sending you out good energy to survive- and perhaps thrive where you are at- and to let you know I plan to start organizing and pushing back on these "for profit hyenas"-  I do have some experience in this as I worked in the tech industry which is notoriously awful to women.  I know we have a good union as well. I will stick to my conscience of helping my patients and being the best nurse I can- but I will spend the rest of the time pushing back on this horrible model- nurses aren't a human sacrifice and the status quo must be updated.  

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And Sleep RN -thanks for all you do.  Again, my problem isn't necessarily with the people on the ground- although it irritates me when our teacher is always late.  I believe leaders need to lead by example. 

However, I am not getting a "COVID Discount" on my classes and the school seems to be making a nice profit at my expense.  By my count, we are a million dollar class- 30 students at 36K- so we get to have chairs.  The school could do more- they must be incentivized  to change- in fact, after a few of us asked for better standards- we ended up at a much nicer facility one day a week and were welcomed by staff and told we could use their lunch room etc.  Ask and ye shall receive I guess.  I'm sure everyone in the nursing world is so exhausted and everything is in disarray, but  I will use part of my new blood to try and raise things up for everyone- I refuse to let people profit from cutting corners with me-it doesn't have to be the Ritz, but is has to be decent. 

Thanks for your time everyone-the information means a lot to me.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Telemetry.

I went to LVN school in Southern California about 10 years ago and my first clinical site was pretty much the same as your experience. We had lunch at a nearby sushi place who didn't mind if some of us brought our own food and kept our belongings in our cars. As I progressed in the program, the sites improved, especially so with a high GPA.

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Specializes in Hospice.
On 2/11/2022 at 7:32 AM, 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.

Hello and welcome to Nursing!! Part of the issue is also that schools have a hard time finding nurses to teach in nursing programs; the pay is low, and the hours are sporadic. It is an ideal position for a nurse who doesn't work full time, and is quite possibly transitioning into retirement.  As for getting out of the program, you probably signed a contract which included a promise to pay the amount in full unless you wanted to leave after a few weeks or months...and usually, that would be at a lower rate of reimbursement.  I'm so sorry that you are experiencing such a sad/bad/ situation with your program.  How much longer do you have left to complete it, and are any of your fellow students feeling the same way?  Would you feel comfortable reaching out to others to discuss and outline your issues with the school/program...so that then you could meet as a group with management/owners of the operation with your grievances?  What you describe does sound serious, especially if others are feeling the same way and not feeling they are getting value out of this program.  Are any of your credits transferable (to another school)?  Please update us and let us know how it's going; just as with any other group of professionals, some people can be warm and inviting...others, not so much.  

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Specializes in Perioperative / RN Circulator.

Responding to the original post, before reading any of the follow-up comments.  1. It's perfectly fine to consider becoming an LVN as a stepping stone to RN.  It was the path I thought I was going to take when my first choice RN program rejected me, but then I got into an RN program - an hour away and more than 2x as expensive - and decided the commute and extra cost was worth it.  However, don't treat being an LVN as just a stepping stone.  2.  Finding adequate clinical sites was already a problem for nursing (RN and LPN) programs before Covid-19, and the pandemic has just made it worse. 3. I was just thinking about how we have a nursing shortage (I'm not going to debate that in this thread) yet still do things to discourage good people from becoming nurses, and your clinical coordinator blowing up at you for complaining about the crappy conditions at your clinical site is an example of that 

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Specializes in Addictions, psych, corrections, transfers.

Unfortunately, a lot of this is typical of nursing school either with LPN or RN. I've done both and unless you're lucky it doesn't really change when you become a nurse. That is why so many people are quitting. We are asked to work in these conditions then called a "trouble maker or not a team player," if we complain. COVID has definitely made the problem worse but those conditions are not unheard of. Some places are better than others. 

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On 2/12/2022 at 3:54 PM, sleepRN said:

Hello,

I am a new nursing instructor for an LPN program.  I teach in the classroom and also at clinical.  We have to roll with the punches at my clinical site.  When they are short-staffed, we are asked to help with the workload, that means providing patient care.  Some of the nurses at the site are stressed or overwhelmed and won't let me take the med cart to do meds with students.  So far, only 1 nurse has let me take the med cart to do meds with students.  So passing meds has been very intermittent.  The site is frequently short-staffed and providing learning opportunities for my students is far from their priority.  So I must find a way to make each day a valuable learning experience for my students.  Yes, we provide patient-care.  As a nurse for 15 years, I don't believe in saying "CNA work".  It's patient care and it is the care that is most important to the patients themselves.  You are building a relationship with your patient, earning their trust, giving them attention, and also providing intimate care.  By helping the staff for the day, we learn the importance of teamwork.  I teach them how to communicate with other members of the healthcare team.  I show them how to incorporate head-to-toe exams into their patient care and how this separates a nurse's care from a CNA's care.

The clinical sites, the schools, your previous job, everywhere, was hit hard by covid!  The school I work for is a for-profit and costs roughly the same.  I am on the east coast.  We have been having a very hard time getting into clinical sites because of covid.  I have ten students at clinical, a very small room was provided.  There are not enough chairs so in our pre and post conference 2 of us sit on the large windowsill.  There is a vending machine, a staff break area with a microwave and fridge and a water-cooler.  I make it a high priority to arrive before my students otherwise they would be waiting in the cold.

My students and I are lucky, there are a handful of clinical groups without a site.  They go to the school on clinical days and do lab stuff.  There are also some students without a site OR instructor.  

There are only for-profit LPN schools in my state.  They fill a need.  Our program is an accelerated 12 months.  This works for someone who doesn't have time to wait on a waitlist, etc.  Becoming an LPN gives them immediate earning potential.  The healthcare system is in shambles.  The education system is in shambles.  Thank the people who show up...

This is why I don't complain when I have to do CNA work at clinicals. Because I'm still fulfilling the time required by the board of nursing and if we don't that then we can't get a license. 

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