Medical Training

Whether you are considering becoming a RN or a LVN/LPN classes, travel nursing opportunities are abundant.  These temporary nursing positions are a great way to see someplace new, and a way to consider places to later relocate. I once knew of a nurse who wanted to spend her summers near the ocean.  Instead of going through an agency or a nursing recruiter, she asked the hospital of her choice for a summer salary with a housing allotment.  This was a great way for her family of four to spend a summer in her idea of paradise. However if you are looking for simplicity in job placement, it is easy to search on the internet for traveling nurse staffing agencies; make sure you first find out which hospitals and shifts that they are contracted for.

Hospitals generally utilize traveling nurses to cope with the increasing shortage of nurses. If you graduated from a LVN/LPN program and are considering working in another state, first find out the licensure requirements from the state’s board of LVN.  Since each state has different LVN/LPN requirements, it is a good idea to plan ahead.  Another recommendation before signing onto this journey is to first work in one facility for at least one year to develop a foundation and learn as much as you can about nursing.  Sometimes nursing students make the mistake of thinking that all they need to know about nursing will be taught at their LVN/LPN school.

Even though nursing schools, such as Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts offer “real” life situations with simulated mannequins and clinical experience in healthcare facilities, the career of nursing is an ongoing classroom filled with endless opportunities to learn.  In addition, by selecting an area of expertise and becoming certified in that specialty, will place you in even more demand, which can lead to more choices in your job positions.  One last suggestion is to speak directly with a traveling nurse to find out the pros and cons.  If you don’t know of any traveling nurses, you can check out one of the many blogsites written by “real” nurses who have experience in this exciting career.

Have you ever wondered what a patient’s story is prior to admission to a health care facility?  I’ll never forget that question that was asked many years ago by my nursing instructor.  Today I teach LVN students at Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts and encourage them to be curious and find out more than just their patients’ diagnosis and vital data.  Fortunately there is already a program, called My Story, which offers steps in finding out about who the patient really is beyond their room number.  In 2003, Michael Dann became the inspiration to his wife Doreen for starting this program.  After a motor vehicle accident, Michael became just another “John Doe” comatose patient in a trauma unit.

During those last 8 days of life, Doreen Dann, C.O.O. of St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, California, created a life-serving tool to bring connection between Michael and his caregivers. The My Story brochure includes questions about the patient’s support system and what they enjoy, such as their favorite pets, hobbies, movies, music, and food.  Depending upon each facility’s policy, these valuable brochures may be filled-out by nurses, volunteers, family, patients, and student nurses. After the brochure is filled-out it is then posted up in the patient’s room, which allows each caregiver, including LVN/LPN students to easily read about their patient prior to administering care.  A DVD is also provided for the caregivers to understand the purpose and story behind the My Story program.

In the DVD Doreen Dann shares her view about how there is healing power in the life story itself.  She explains that when we are able to connect to the life essence, then we can truly become a partner with each other.  With this healing intent, it is no surprise that this program has a history of not only being beneficial to the patient, but also to the caregivers.  For those who enroll in a LVN/LPN program they usually are filled with excitement about their new career.  To keep this spark of enthusiasm, it is important to utilize tools, such as My Story to continue their nursing education even after graduating from a LVN/LPN school.

Everyone probably has heard of Q Tips cotton swabs and their versatile uses from applying and removing makeup, painting, and household cleaning.  The LVN/LPN uses an elongated version of this short household tool for cleaning around the infant’s umbilical cord, wound care, and if needed, come in sterile packages.  Today the acronym Q-TIP can serve the purpose of stress management by redirecting our attention away from stress-filled thoughts.  Every time a nurse uses a cotton-tipped applicator, they can be reminded of the meaning of Q-TIP, which stands for “Quit Taking It Personally.”

These four simple letters can buy the nurse or nursing student the time to make choices on how to respond before they are automatically in a state of reaction to perceived stress.  As the student nurse in a LVN/LPN program takes on more and more responsibility at their clinical sites, it isn’t easy to just let things go, especially when their patient’s condition worsened or their patient’s family vented their anger.  To maintain a caring attitude from the role of student to licensed nurse, it is important to have tools that can quickly get them back on track.  Jill Hare in her TheApple article Five Ways to Quit Taking it Personally” reminds us that “The bad moods of others are more about them than they are about you.” Even though Jill’s article is focused on how teachers can build their confidence without taking on the actions of their students, her tools are very appropriate to improving the nurse/patient relationship.

Hare points that in some careers, such as teachering, they tend to think too much about something and try to fill-in the blanks with words or tone that can magnify our stress-response.  Her solution to this over-active mind is to “Take things at face value. If you don’t understand the point someone is trying to make, ask for clarification. Don’t assume anything.” Kelly Bryson, MFT, Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer states the following about how to apply Stan Dale’s Q-Tip acronym in his book Don’t Be Nice, Be Real,  “People are never angry or upset with us; they are distressed about an unfulfilled need of their won. I may be the detonator but I am never the dynamite.”  In other words, there is a difference between acknowledging that we can be a trigger to someone’s stress without being the cause.  Nursing students have plenty of opportunities in both the clinical site and the LVN/LPN school to follow the advice from these authors such as Jill Hare who states, “More likely than not, the behavior [of others] is not stemming from something you’ve done, so don’t blame yourself.”