What was the hardest part of your LVN or LPN education?

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Specializes in Hospice and LTC.

Hello nurses!

I am going to be starting an LVN program next week and was wondering what you all thought was the hardest part of your experience in school??

Thanks for your input in advance

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I didn't enjoy my LVN program due to the politics, favoritism being bestowed upon other students, double standards, and blatant immaturity of some of my classmates. School wasn't academically difficult for me. However, school was socially difficult for me, because I have never particularly enjoyed the company of gossipy females. Many of my nursing instructors were gossips, too.

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Specializes in LPN.

I second what TheCommuter said. I was shocked at how cliquish both students and nurses were in my program. It had been since high school that I had so strongly encountered these attitudes, so I percieved it as immaturity. I found nursing school something of a "survival of the fittest" atmosphere, rather than a place we could come together and work with each other toward a common goal.

Academically, I had the hardest time with fluids and electrolytes. Chemistry was always my weak point and I have trouble memorizing things I don't immediately see a practical purpose to knowing. Everyone's strengths and weaknesses are different, and I'm relating mine from the perspective of someone who passed the program on the first try. My program had a high drop-out rate and for many the main problem was time management and being able to put everything together between lecture, lab, clinicals, and personal and family life.

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For me it was because of a teacher. He was the only B i received. He was good but Idk I just didn't get him.

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Specializes in ER, Pulmonary.

I agree with alot of the posts. I had problems because I was older and didn't hold my tongue and that got me into alot of trouble. The intimidation crap didn't fly with me at all. I wish there were more male instructors. I had all women and they had their favorites, not to mention how ****** they were. They did a great job preparing us for the NCLEX I will give them that. They made some of us feel that it was a priviledge for us to be in that program. I had a 3.0 all through the LPN program, but I just wasn't a favorite.

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I didn't enjoy my LVN program due to the politics, favoritism being bestowed upon other students, double standards, and blatant immaturity of some of my classmates. School wasn't academically difficult for me. However, school was socially difficult for me, because I have never particularly enjoyed the company of gossipy females. Many of my nursing instructors were gossips, too.

:yeahthat:

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For me it was sitting in class from 9 until 4:30p every day. I gained 10lbs during that time.....mostly near the end. I still ate right...like I did..but...it was caused by my change of life style...SITTING...as for the class work etc....I enjoyed it...I was the oldest female in the class....47......I had worked for a company for 11 1/2 years when it was closed down by UPS!!...so I went to school....I work part time at an assisted living facility...its nice ..but I would like to work in a dr office.....still looking.

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My LPN program lasted nine and a half months. Twelve students failed after the first quarter, and a few more also failed during the second quarter. That trend continued until shortly before graduatiion day.

For me, Med/Surg was the toughest because the structure of the exams were changed suddenly once that portion of the program began. The difficulty of it was like a sudden punch to the face! The instructors deliberately strengthened the format of the exams to continue on the weeding-out process and also to remind us that we were preparing for the NCLEX. The Med-Surg clinical rotations were difficult because graduation was right around the corner (Senioritis!) and the instructors took the time to verbally badger each student constantly. There was some obvious favoritism, so I kept to myself and tried not to stand out in any way. In the end, it was worth it. I graduated with honors and passed the NCLEX a couple of weeks ago. The agony of it all was worth it, despite the biases of the instructors, the childishness of some of my peers, and the constant comparisons of grades.

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Specializes in psych. rehab nursing, float pool.

The hardest part,hmmmmmm. The first month the hardest, alot of memorizing. I had not worked as a cna so terminology was new to me. That was pure rote memorization. Pharmacology, again alot of memorization, that and I have a degree of math phobia although I always did well.

The very hardest was the 4 weeks at a state mental health hospital having to stay in the dorms away from my husband and young daughter at the time. That to me was the very hardest. Thankfully we could go home on weekends. I did sneak my husband in as I had a private room one night as I so missed seeing him. Did not even consider sneaking my daughter for an overnight, I would never have been able to hide that........lol

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Specializes in LTC.
I agree with alot of the posts. I had problems because I was older and didn't hold my tongue and that got me into alot of trouble. The intimidation crap didn't fly with me at all. I wish there were more male instructors. I had all women and they had their favorites, not to mention how ****** they were. They did a great job preparing us for the NCLEX I will give them that. They made some of us feel that it was a priviledge for us to be in that program. I had a 3.0 all through the LPN program, but I just wasn't a favorite.

Amen to that, Sis! I was put on clinical probation, ostensibly for errors I made during early clinicals, by an instructor whom I had the nerve to stand up to when she inappropriately confronted me about my personal life. I found out later that there was always at least one student in her rotations she would single out. I am talkative and opinionated (kind of like a female Robin Williams in Patch Adams, an ADHD class clown with a heart of gold LOL) and that does not always fly with everybody. Maybe she saw me as competition; who knows?

The biggest problem a lot of us had was the time management of labwork by the instructors. In the beginning of the program, we spent 2 weeks learning how to make beds. Near the end of the program, we were expected to pass injection lab after 3 hours of lecture (including mixing insulins, mixing demerol/atarax in a carpuject, drawing from an ampoule, and heparin). At least two students were kicked out of the program because they failed to check off their injections; the decision was overturned when enough students made a stink about it. What's wrong with this picture? :rolleyes:

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Specializes in LTC.
I didn't enjoy my LVN program due to the politics, favoritism being bestowed upon other students, double standards, and blatant immaturity of some of my classmates. School wasn't academically difficult for me. However, school was socially difficult for me, because I have never particularly enjoyed the company of gossipy females. Many of my nursing instructors were gossips, too.

Hee...so you basically jumped from the frying pan (nursing school) into the fire (actual nursing practice) after you became a nurse...:p

My ex BF was an OR tech and he said he got out of the field because he was tired of working for and with shrewish women. :chuckle

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