Medical Training

Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts will be closed in observance of the Memorial Day to honor the memory of all those who did not return from the battle fields. And as an LVN school, we remember not only the men and women who gave up their lives fighting for a better and brighter tomorrow, but also the memory of all the military nurses, who just as selflessly fought in the same wars. Except, their battle was not on the fields of Germany or France, but these were the battles to preserve lives, to save the wounded, to alleviate the pain and the suffering of the dying soldiers in first aid tents and military hospitals. These “soldiers in nursing uniforms” fought with all their might for every human life they could save. Their efforts were just as heroic as of the ones fighting the enemy face to face.

Being an LVN college, we educate the future LVN nurses not only on the subjects of medical sciences, we also teach them the importance of preserving and treasuring the most important and valuable of the healthcare aspects: the human factor. Being there for the patients, not only to inject a medication, dress a surgical wound, or pass a glass of water, but giving a shoulder to cry on, being an empathetic listener, bringing up a patient’s spirit by an innocent joke or a quick prayer, is what our LVN program is teaching our future LVN nurses. This Memorial Day we pay tribute to of all the “soldiers in nursing uniforms” of the past, present, and future.

Mary is an lvn student and a single mom. Just like so many other single moms, Mary is struggling to make ends meet. After an excruciatingly painful divorce, Mary had to take control over her life. She had to get back up on her feet to provide for her 6 year old daughter Amy, who is now in kindergarten and has no clue how hard her mom is trying to make ends meet. Amy is a happy little girl. Her mom loves her, making sure, Amy has everything she needs.

After her life was turned upside down, Mary had to figure out the next step in her path. She had to think fast. Being a realtor in the current economy was not the best way to go on. With the housing market plummeting down faster than sinking Titanic, Mary couldn’t make ends meet. She had to sell her house just to keep up with her bills. Something had to change. Fast!

In the midst of the financial despair following the divorce, after devastating crash of her social status, as well as her shaken self-confidence, Mary came to a brilliant thought: change life completely!

On this blank new page in her life, Mary decided to write a new story and make a very bold move: go back to school. Start from scratch, get a new career. This is when Mary became determined to become an lvn nurse.

Looking for the right lvn program was not easy and once found the right school, serious adjustments in Mary’s life had to be made. It is difficult to go back to studies after decades being out of school. Mary had to cut her hours at work to keep up with the lvn school classes and assignments. No one told her, how difficult this would be: juggling school, work, home, her daughter, and much more.

However, on the first day of the lvn program, Mary discovered that she was not alone. Almost everyone in her new class was there to change their lives. Almost everyone came to the lvn program to become somewhat renewed, stronger, better. Someone was there to switch from their high-tech career, because they got sick and tired of computers, and wanted some human contact. Someone came from the world of finance, because of the problems in the economy, and a need to change their life perspectives. Someone went to lvn school simply because they couldn’t find the fulfillment through their previous job, and craved the inner gratification of helping other people. But all the students in Mary’s class came to get the lvn training to change their lives.

Today Mary is on her way to her goal. Someone said, a goal is a dream with a date on it, and they were right: Mary’s dream of making life better for herself and her daughter Amy will soon come true. And even though Mary is struggling just like all other lvn students keeping up with school and her growing daughter, while trying to make ends meet, she is happy, because she is on her way to something fresh and exciting. And maybe the road to Mary’s dream is full of curves and obstacles, this story has a happy ending, or, perhaps, a happy beginning…

RN, BSN, HN-BC brings clarity about holistic nursing in her May 2010 article, “What is “Holistic Nursing”? at nursetogether.com. Even though a Board Certified Holistic Nurse is required to be a RN, the LVN or LPN can work as a nurse in several different positions including in an acute or long-term-care facility, home health, or Hospice.  These are just a few nursing examples, who without knowing it are probably practicing holism in their career.

The term “holistic” literally means pertaining to whole, entire or total.  For some nurses “holism” in healthcare is unfamiliar, but according to the American Holistic Nurses Association Holistic Nursing: Scope & Standards of Practice “…[This] is a philosophy that emanated directly from Florence Nightingale [founder of modern nursing in the 1800s,] who believed in care that focused on unity, wellness, and the interrelationship of human beings, events, and environment.Even Hippocrates (460 BC – 377BC), the father of western medicine, espoused holistic orientation when he taught doctors to observe their patients’ life circumstances and emotional states.

Allopathic medicine, which is also referred to as conventional or western medicine, is much more commonly taught in LVN and LPN schools.  Even though LVN and LPN programs tend to be based more upon the allopathic approach of treating symptoms, the student nurses are trained to attend to the “whole” patient.

The LVN & LPN are known more for their expertise as the “bedside nurse,” which is a very high complement, considering that Nightingale is known for her astute care for at the bedside.Ressler brings out the point that “…unlike other specialties, holistic nursing calls upon nurses to integrate self-care, reflection, and the healing process in their own lives as they care for patients.” At Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts we value self-care for the student nurse in order to prevent nursing burn-out and to foster the health & well-being of both nurse and patient.
For more information about holistic nursing, The American Holistic Nurses Association website is located at www.ahna.org



Striving for higher heights, reaching for excellence, we at Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts are dedicated to the ever-increasing quality in education in ca lvn nursing. This is why our lvn nursing students have established a student body government, who meet on the regular bases to discuss the latest updates in our lvn nursing students’ school life.

The student body government was formed to address our lvn students’ concerns, suggestions for improvement, to bring faculty and students closer together, and to bring school administration up to date on our students’ experiences at our lvn school. Regular meetings of the student body government have been oriented to improve and maintain a fulfilling relationship between the students and the school, as well as to ensure high quality of education, and student satisfaction.

Since this organization was formed, we have seen many positive changes in the relationship between our lvn students and instructors, counselors, and staff. There is more synergy in our work.  The students feel that they are being heard, and their concerns and questions are being answered. Faculty and staff feel that there is a better communication within our lvn school, and positive energy is in the air.  We are proud of this achievement, because continuous quality improvement in the way we keep our school is what drives Gurnick Academy forward!

Living and working in California’s fast lane, we have to keep up with the pace in CA nursing education. But we are committed to excellence, devoted to constant advancing in lvn education, because we are bound to be the best!

Nursing jobs relate to patient care in many ways, including care for people who are disabled, convalescent, sick or injured.LPN’s, like all nurses, work with patients who may be anxious, so an effective nurse usually has an empathetic , caring attitude.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an LPN needs to have an even temperament so that he or she can stay calm in stressful situations.  In addition, LPN’s must be observant and have strong communication and decision making skills.If you are considering a career in nursing, but you wish you could be working right now?  Training to be a licensed practical nurse is the closest you can get and still be a nurse.  Most LPN training programs take 1 to 2 years to complete.   After that, you take a national licensing exam and get a license in your state.  You are then ready to get a job as a real nurse.

LPN’s are the most hands on nurses.  They work closely with patients, implementing plans the doctors and registered nurses have made.  LPN’s carry out orders, but will also watch their patients closely, and write down and report everything about their patients condition.  It is the is the licensed practical nurse who bathes the patient, changes their surgical dressings, help thme to the bathroom, and help feed them if needed, as well as making sure oxygen therapy is working and intravenous lines are running.  They have been called “angels in confortable shoes.”

Most of my students will ask me if there are demands for them when they graduate from Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts. I would positively answer yes and would even encourage my students to look at different nursing website and job site.

As my former instructors and teachers told me when I start my nursing career nobody can replace nursing even how technically advance we are or develop a robot that can perform nursing task.

Patients will always need physical touch and human interaction especially when we are sick. No computer program will be developed to give especially human care and support that each person need to recuperate or get better. It will be hard to program a computer to show emotion of empathy and care with facial expression. Thus, a computer with verbal skill to do therapeutic communications with different accents that could relay the human message that a nurse would be able to tell her/his patient that she/he really care for him to get better or to have the best care she/he needs or deserve.

No computer would able to mimic the simple, warm touch that nurses give to their ailing patients. Therefore, nurses are still irreplaceable and much needed by patients to help them recuperate, recover or make them feel better from their illness.

Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts
Concord Campus

-by Leora Bar-Din

Vocational nursing programs prepare students to work as LVN’s (Licensed Vocational Nurses.)  An LPN school (LPN training or LPN program) is the same as LVN school (LVN training or LVN program).  The only difference is the state in which you practice.  In California and Texas, these nurses are called licensed vocational nurses or LVN’s.   In all other states they are called licensed practical nurses or LPN’s.

Current Module 1 students—LVN students in Group 13 (AM class) and Group 14 (PM class) are on a steep learning curve.  They have made the transition from the two-day per week LVN prerequisite class to a five-day per week LVN program.  Students have begun to successfully readjust their lives to make room for this program and the time, study and focus it requires.  LVN students in Module 1 are studying Anatomy and Physiology, Clinical Nutrition, Clinical Lab and Fundamentals of Nursing.  All classes are one day per week except Fundamentals of Nursing, which is two days per week.  Anatomy and Physiology is straight-ahead science, and memorization works well as a method of study.  Fundamentals of Nursing and Clinical Nutrition expose LVN students to the way nurses problem-solve: critical thinking.   Recognizing and practicing critical thinking is an intellectually stimulating endeavor!

Current Module 3 students—LVN students in Groups 11 (AM class) and Group 12 (PM class) study Medical Surgical Nursing two-days per week, Pharmacology one-day per week and spend two-days per week at their clinical internship site.  They are studying in depth about each client on the clinical floor, as well as practicing and demonstrating their proficiency in nursing skills and procedures.   Critical thinking is a part of everything these LVN students do, and they are demonstrating increased proficiency in creative problem solving.

There we were, sitting in the emergency room of Eden Medical Center. My husband hunched over in agonizing pain that was so bad, he could not even open his eyes. Bright lights everywhere, doctors, nurses, lab technicians hurrying by to tend to other patients. ER room number six, medical equipment, charts, carts, containers, white walls, cold air, pagers ringing, and overhead voice calling doctors…

Suddenly, from this chaos and pain, and angel appears. She takes my husband’s hand, closes her eyes, and begins saying a prayer. Her face serene and compassionate, her hand clasping my husband’s hand, eyes closed in a prayer, and then something miraculous happens. His pain becomes bearable, his facial expression changes, and he feels more peaceful, as his spirit starts filling with hope. That’s when my gaze falls on her badge: “Nancy, LVN, Eden Medical Center.”

With her motherly touch, this LVN nurse changed the energy in that ER room number six for both my husband and myself. All it took was a bit of empathy and nurture.

This was two years ago.

On this Mother’s Day I remembered her, Nancy, the LVN, who, like a mother came to hold the hand of a sick child in pain. There are so many of them, angels in scrubs, full of compassion and care. This Mother’s Day, let us acknowledge them. Because, no matter whether they are young or old, whether they have children of their own or not, each of those LVN nurses is a mother within.

Like a mother, an LVN nurse will spoon-feed you, when you have no strength to hold a spoon. Like a mother, an LVN nurse, will hold your hair back, when you throw up, and clean up the mess. Like a mother, an LVN nurse will hold your hand before an operation, and be by your bedside, when you wake up. She will be the arm to lean on, when taking first steps after being bedridden for weeks, and the shoulder to cry on, when depressed by illness and pain.

So, to all the LVN nurses: Happy Mother’s Day!

Roses are red,
Scrubs are blue,
Gurnick is here,
Waiting for you!

Are you smiling yet? I hope so, but what will really put a smile on your face is hearing about our fun school (not to be confused with a “party school.”) And yet, when it comes to parties, no other LVN school throws a party like Gurnick!

That’s right! How many college presidents you know will put on a chef’s apron and stand on the grill for his LVN students and faculty? How many company CEO’s will serve you a hot, juicy burger right on campus on a beautiful sunny weekend afternoon, welcoming all with open arms and a smile? Where else will you see the LVN program coordinator rolling up her sleeves to set up the party tables, get everything ready, and then caringly make sure, everyone is taken care of, and everybody is having a good time?

I am talking about the Gurnick BBQ happening on Saturday, May 1.
“Relax, have some fun, enjoy the sun!”  – that’s what the invite flyer said, welcoming everyone to come for a great time here at the Bay View Plaza in San Mateo. Preparations and arrangements took quite some time and effort, but it was all worth it!

Our LVN students, instructors, and staff all work so hard, they deserved this spring festivity. Everyone came to contribute to work together and get to know each other outside of the structured environment of an LVN classroom. All formalities are set aside.  Plenty of food, happy smiles, chat, jokes, and laughter… Because after all, food and laughter bring people together!

The answer to this question is that both LVN / LPN schools and the state of California require boundaries.  According to Anne Katherine, M.A., author of Where To Draw The Line: How To Set Healthy Boundaries Every Day, “A boundary is a limit that promotes integrity.” One type of professional boundary-setting discussed in her book involves the use of dress and attire.

Have you ever wondered why a LVN or LPN program, such as Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts requires the students to wear professional uniforms?  Katherine says, “Our appearance and attire are the first signals we send to people.  By our attire we reveal who we are, [and] what we care about…” The next time you go to a health clinic notice how safe or unsafe you feel in response to the attire worn by members of the office staff.  If you find yourself wanting to run out the door, it might simply be your sensitivity to the nurse’s jewelry that looks like s/he fell into a fishing-tackle box, or the fashion-torn jeans.  There is nothing wrong with jewelry or fashionable clothing.  The key is to find a balance between personal expression and sending a message that relays “Don’t worry – I won’t hurt you.” As you become more aware of how appearance can either stimulate fear or foster reassurance, the nursing-career-focused attire can become a tool to support both therapeutic and professional relationship.