Medical Training

Here at the Concord campus our vocational nursing students are entering the halfway mark of their module and oh boy, are they happy!  For group 13, this module was their first time in a clinical situation.  Many of the students had never performed real life hands-on care for a patient before.  Over the last five weeks I have seen these students grow with confidence and ability.  Many of the students are finding out that the clinical rotation just doesn’t teach patient care, it also incorporates a good work ethic.  They are learning the value of good communication skills, working with multiple disciplinary teams (physical therapy, dietary, social service, etc) and how to prioritize their assignment.

We are half-way through the module, and it’s time for the six-week evaluations for our LVN students at Gurnick Academy. All faculty and students must participate to follow up on our VN students’ academic progress. This means, the instructors are completing evaluation sheets to establish the academic and practical standing of each student.

What a great idea this is! Each of our nursing students will find out from the teachers, where they are in terms of their grades and overall progress in our LVN program. Some of our students are only at the beginning of their journey, and have a long way ahead of them. This is their first module on the LVN program, and they are trying so hard! Some of the subjects are very new to many of them, but still fun to learn and practice. Practicing using crutches in the Clinical Skills lab, learning about the nursing process in the Fundamentals’ class, and studying for midterms in Anatomy, is not easy, but surely is interesting and involving.  Other students have been on the Nursing program for a while, and now they are half-way through their courses. For these nursing students, it is time to stay focused in their Medical Surgical Nursing and Pharmacology, as well as keep improving their skills in the Clinical Practice rotations.

Half-way through the module, we want to motivate our students to keep up the good work and work on the areas for improvement. This is the time to replenish the connectedness between students and their instructors, and to insure the continuity of high quality education.

Recently I was with a friend who was appalled with he saw someone in scrubs smoking a cigarette.  Since he knew that I taught for a LVN/LPN school, he asked me what type of education a student LVN/LPN receives in regards to the effects of smoking.  Even though a LVN/LPN program includes the effects of smoking and other carcinogens on the cardio-pulmonary and urinary system, education alone is not the only factor in promoting the health of those who want to hold down a LVN/LPN job.  At this point you might be asking, as my friend did, how many nurses do smoke?  According to the 2002 Current Population Survey (CPS) Tobacco Use Supplement, 15% of Registered Nurses smoke; 28% of Licensed Practical Nurses smoke. These are higher rates of smoking than other health care professionals, especially when compared to the rate of physician smokers.

According to the Association of Medical Colleges in the Nursing Times November 26, 2008 article, Health Study Shows Nurses Smoke More than Doctors, 1% of US doctors smoked in 2005.  The good news is that the rate of nurses who smoke is reducing.  In the November 24, 2008 Washington Post article Fewer than 1 in 10 Nurses Now Smoke, The UCLA School of Nursing study found that the rate of smoking among nurses has fallen from 33.2 percent in 1976 to 8.4 percent in 2003.  Unfortunately the November/December edition of Nursing Research states that the death rates of those who presently or those that smoked in the past are still double than that of nonsmokers.

Whether you are thinking about becoming a nurse or already a nurse you become a part of a team of health professionals.  As a team player you can ask for support, especially when it comes to improving your health.   In the Nursing Times November 26, 2008 article, Bob Smith, clinical nurse therapist in smoking cessation at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust says, “It is absolutely essential that a nurse who is helping a patient quit smoking does not smoke themselves because their help may not appear genuine.” Since stress is a big reason for smoking, student nurses can start on the right track by working together to creatively introduce stress management into their life to promote a healthy life for themselves and their patients.

Eating out at a taco shop can seem mundane until you notice that someone sitting next to you begins to choke and turn blue.  For the lay person without medical training from a LVN/LPN program, the thought of someone choking can be frightening.  One of the many benefits about becoming a LVN/LPN is that all LVN/LPN students must be trained in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).  In addition, healthcare facilities usually require nurses to be recertified in CPR every 2 years to be updated on the latest resuscitation methods.  Just in the last 3 years the amount of chest compressions has increased in ratio to the breaths. Some LVN/LPN schools, such as Gurnick Academy of Medical arts offers CPR training onsite for their nursing students.  Not all CPR courses are the same.  When taking a CPR course find out which CPR guidelines are taught in their program.

To be safe look for CPR certification agencies that follow the recommendations of the American Red Cross and American Heart Association for both CPR and AED techniques.  Just imagine what would happen if in a hospital everyone involved in a “code” received different CPR guidelines; not only that but what if they did not stay current on the latest techniques. Becoming an effective LVN/LPN and working safely in a LVN/LPN job requires receiving the most current information.  This leads us to the next question,“Where does one attend a reputable CPR recertification classes?” It may be tempting to take an online course or a one-hour quick course, but how much will you learn and retain without actually having sufficient practice time doing CPR on mannequins?

Another consideration is to find out if you will be able to practice the Heimlich maneuver, use an automatic external defibrillator (AED), as well as practice CPR on different size mannequins to resemble the adult, child and infant. You might receive training in adult CPR and mistakenly think you are proficient in CPR until you come to the aid of an infant choking or drowning, which requires a different technique.  The BLS Healthcare Provider Course, which is designed to provide the LVN/LPN student and a wide variety of healthcare professionals the ability to provide CPR, use an AED, and relieve choking in a safe, timely and effective manner. Even if you are not yet a nurse, this course can also be taken by nonlicensed healthcare professionals, and can prepare you for a variety of life-threatening emergencies.

Parts of the LVN clinical training in Module 4 is that LPN licensed practical nursing students are scheduled to participate in various field trips throughout the Bay Area.  There are scheduled field trips to HeadStart, Martin Luther King, Jr. Preschool, Lynn Center, California Medical Facility in Vacaville, John Muir Medical Center and Sonoma Developmental Center.  These scheduled field trips during LVN courses are done to enhance the knowledge and experience of our students and thus better prepare them to be the best nurses they can be.  One of our field trips for Group 11 was to go to the Napa Coroner’s Office to observe an autopsy.

On July 16th Group 11 drove to the Napa Valley eager to have a life altering experience.  Students were anxious with cold, sweaty palms but also excited to experience the unknown.  We were welcomed by the Deputy Sheriff who gave us a nice tour of the facility and told us that there were two autopsies scheduled for that morning: a 25 year-old male and a 58 year-old female.  The Deputy Sheriff was explained that these two cases will be good experience for the students, as they will be able to see a variety of cases in one day.  We were briefed by the Deputy Sheriff as to what to expect and what was expected of us, but nothing could really prepare us for what we saw.

Our Clinical Coordinator, Nancye Maffei, handed out the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and instructed us to put it on.   As we put it on, we began to wonder why we needed this level of protection to observe an autopsy.  Nancye told us that during previous autopsies the pathologist allowed students to touch and hold human organs.  Experience from previous classes also taught us that there is the risk of exposure to clothing and skin.

We were told if we could not stand the smell or being that close to a dead body we could always stand behind the glass window in the other room.  As we were guided inside the coroner’s laboratory you could feel the cool breeze and the absolute absence of noise.  As the metal gurney was wheeled in with a closed body bag, reality started to kick in.  When the pathologist opened the zipper of the body bag we could feel the anxious, tense feelings of the students in the room.

The Pathologist (as well as all of the staff) was very accommodating to the Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts LVN students.  As he proceeded the pathologist told us exactly what he was doing.  The experience was very overwhelming to the students but it definitely taught them a lot about human anatomy and physiology.  For most LVN students it was the first time they had seen a human brain, heart, lungs, larynx, stomach, kidney, liver, thyroid, spleen and other organs.  It was an experience we will remember.

If you attended this weekend’s graduation ceremony of our VN group 17 and 18, class of 2010, you, probably, would have cried too. Tears of joy of making it to this long-anticipated day, filled with bitter-sweet memories and good-byes, tears of happiness and pride were rolling down the cheeks of our LVN students and faculty. Smiles were on every face, and no heart was left untouched.Following the heartrending Amazing Grace, the speeches of our VN program director and program coordinator, the beloved instructors and counselor, touched the hearts of the graduates and their families, who came to support and celebrate this special day for Gurnick Academy.

When the time came to light those candles and to pronounce the famous Florence Nightingale Pledge, the faces of our graduates lit up. It was not just the glow of the candles, but the deep, sincere belief in every word of the oath they were taking and the pride and devotion in becoming nurses that kindled the radiance on those faces. Oh, how pure that moment was! The distribution of the diplomas and the pinning of each student by their family members: husbands, wives, parents, or children, was simply breathtaking in the sincerity of the moment. Then the speeches by the student body government that brought tears to the eyes of the listeners as well as the speakers themselves were followed by the ever-so-moving slide show, accompanied by song No More You, where pictures of the fun times, working and learning together, growing to be nurses, were shown to the audience.

Our LVN students have finished their studies here at Gurnick, but they will never leave our hearts. And we will always welcome them back with open arms, because no matter where they go, or where their career takes them, they will always have us: their Gurnick family. Congratulations, class of 2010! Farewell and Good Luck!

Well, the Summer break is officially over at Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts, and it’s time to roll up those sleeves again and get back to work. For some of our LVN students it’s time to continue their studies, get back to those thick textbooks and get ready to take more lecture notes. They feel like the seniors of Gurnick Academy. LVN classrooms come back to life after a two-week break, and like a busy bee-hive, our LVN college is buzzing again with students hurrying to their classes, instructors walking down the hallways, locomotion in the corridors, moving desks, equipment, projectors… lights… camera… action!

And yet, though some of our nursing students are soon to graduate, others are only beginning their journey. We are talking about the LVN students who are just starting their LVN program now. This will be their first module, and they are about to take their first LVN course, the Fundamentals of Nursing. Our newcomers are about to experience their first contact with this profession, with the world of nursing, as they attend the Clinical Skills Lab course. And even though they have a long way to go to their graduation day and they may feel a little nervous right now, they are excited, because they know that they are on their way to something wonderful, stimulating, and very rewarding. Welcome back to school, Gurnick!

The end of the Spring Module has come! The grades are in, and the summer break is starting! Here, at Gurnick Academy, we especially want our LVN students to succeed in their endeavor of obtaining quality education and experience on the way to successful careers. We, the Gurnick family, are very proud of our LVN program, because we wish success to all that enter it. If you have come to us, we meet you with open arms, and make sure, you get all the help on your way to a new beginning in your life, because we give education to all those who want an education in LVN nursing!

So, as usual, at the end of the module, we look back and sum up the successes of our nursing students. No one is left behind here. Even those, who need assistance in academic progress or have fallen behind on their studying or clinical hours, will be given chances to improve their grades to catch up with the rest of their classmates. It is like a family here: we care about all our students, and we sincerely want them to be successful in studies and in practice. This is why we have remediation procedures for the ones who had hard time in the past module, and need to catch up. No one is left behind, and we, Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts, are proud of this!

Happy Father’s Day to all Gurnick Academy dads and those who whish to be dads! This weekend all of us are celebrating the special day, when we appreciate the men that supported us no matter what, who helped us up, when we were down, who gave us the roots and the wings to fly. This one is for the dads, who inspired our LVN students to aim high and never give up. This is for the dads, who believed in our potential and helped us on the way to success by supporting us morally, physically, and of course, financially!

Oh, who cares what they say, when they announce on the radio that the highest numbers of collect calls happen on Father’s Day. When you decide to become an LVN nurse and enter an LVN program, who is there to cosign your loan? Daddy, of course! He is your number one, always has been, and always will be. If not him, then who would help you? And when the money runs out, who will write you that check to help you out? LVN school is not cheap, and daddies know it. Besides, the world would be a much grimmer place without the dads.

So, this one is to the dads that stand by our LVN students, because if not for their masculine tender loving care, and their strong shoulder to lean on, where would they be?

There is excitement in the air because Gurnick’s LVN students in Group 11 and 12 have their last clinical day tomorrow, Friday, June 18, 2010.  The Gurnick LVN students have been working for LVN certification and studying hard the last couple of months and they await a well needed break. The students will enjoy two weeks off before their last module starts. Many Gurnick students have discussed that even though they will not be going to class, they will start to look into the availability of LVN jobs in California.  The students are realizing that with only one more module to complete before graduation, their career in nursing is becoming a reality.

As a clinical instructor, I have seen the students grow and develop their nursing skills, critical thinking and self confidence. They are well on their way to becoming wonderful nurses. This last module they have focused on bedside care, vital signs, documentation, administrating medication, wound dressing changes and insertion of Foley catheters. Many of the students had the opportunity to remove stables and apply steri-strips to an incisions site.

For their last module, the Gurnick students in Groups 11 and 12 will be able to focus on OB/GYN, Pediatrics and Psychology.