Switched to LVN from the Business World and am UNDERWHELMED!

[Guest1188630]

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.

[delrionurse]

10 hours ago, faithjohn said:

I don't think students have to beg for respect. I wouldn't subscribe to any of this. And if I get anything less, you'd better believe someone is going to hear about it. A higher up one way or another. 

You didn't get what I said, it will be on the low that I tell someone about it. I simply said I don't subscribe to that attitude of 'earn it or lose it'. If you're that hard up, then that's a problem with yourself. 

[heron, ASN, RN]

22 hours ago, faithjohn said:

You didn't get what I said, it will be on the low that I tell someone about it. I simply said I don't subscribe to that attitude of 'earn it or lose it'. If you're that hard up, then that's a problem with yourself. 

There’s the respect owed to every person by common decency and which works both ways: Common courtesy, truth-telling, benefit of the doubt … you get the idea.

Then there is the respect that has to be earned: skills, judgement, knowledge base, work ethic, etc. . How does one respect a student who has no skills or knowledge base, or who demonstrates poor judgement and a weak work ethic?

If you’re feeling disrespected as a student, that is indeed a problem with yourself.  

 

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

30 minutes ago, heron said:

There’s the respect owed to every person by common decency and which works both ways: Common courtesy, truth-telling, benefit of the doubt … you get the idea.

Then there is the respect that has to be earned: skills, judgement, knowledge base, work ethic, etc. . How does one respect a student who has no skills or knowledge base, or who demonstrates poor judgement and a weak work ethic?

If you’re feeling disrespected as a student, that is indeed a problem with yourself.  

 

Thanks, I couldn't have said it better myself!

[Ddestiny, BSN, RN]

No this is not normal. I did my LPN at a community college in KS in 2011. It was a 9 month program and cost $5,000 for everything, including books and the cost of taking the NCLEX. I didn’t deal with any of that stuff. Obviously Covid wasn’t a factor then but Im not convinced that has real impact on not having enough chairs. The for-profit programs in my area cost a lot more and would seemly do things to weed people out early without giving them a refund. For example one of my classmates had failed out of one of those programs in the first week because she flunked a medication math test so they kicked her out with no refund. The first week! And it was crazy expensive so it took her forever to get out from under the debt to even get into not-for-profit program. We spent one half day on vital signs and CNA tasks because we all had to be CNAs as a prerequisite to get into the program. If I were you I’d see what your options are to get out and find somewhere better. Spending weeks on basic tasks is really scary to me and makes me think the program probably doesn’t have a good NCLEX pass rate. Is it accredited? If not you might have difficulty bridging from LPN to RN if you do continue through with this program. What an unfortunate mess. :/ 

[greener22, BSN, MSN, RN]

Oh honey there are so many questions that you need to know the answers to. I wish it were as easy as a supply and demand. Schools are limited on the number of students they are allowed to admit every year. This is controlled by the state board of nursing. Unfortunately there’s just not enough clinical sites that are willing to take students to do their education so the schools can only except X number of students. . Her Director needs to know the situationAny hospital or care facility can say no that they don’t wanna take any students at all or they will only allow four at a time etc. It sounds like your school is not a very good one at all. You need to find another school. It’s quite possible that you have a grievance or a lawsuit against them. I don’t know who your clinical instructor is to go off on you for emailing her. Her Director needs to know the situation

[londonflo]

I don't think the original poster is on here anymore. She seems to have found a chair somewhere else.