Career & Salary

salary chart

Career and Working Conditions

 Some of you might be wondering what you could expect if you followed the steps necessary to get certified as a LVN. This is a very rewarding job, because everyone will have the chance to perform many different essential medical functions. There are so many options out there, that you will need to make sure you get the most out of them. You might want to work alongside other experienced medical staff in a hospital setting. Many types of nurses also enjoy working in a clinic atmosphere. As you advance and get more training, you will find that more options will become available to you.


Salaries 

Others will naturally be interested in the different types of income options at their disposal. For somemone who haven't had a nursing job before, they might be impressed by the amount of money you can make. An experienced vocational nurse should not have any problems with getting over $60,000 in a year, the average LVN salary is around $47,000 - source: http://www.lvnsalary.org/. This number may vary based on a few different factors. There are some locations in this country that have a higher demand for these nurses, so they will naturally want to pay more money. Try to find the places where your skills are in the highest demand.

A Day as a LVN in California


 There are many different types of experiences that a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) can expect to encounter. They will be one of the most valuable assets that a hospital can have, because they will be needed to perform vital medical tasks. There are patients that will need to have routine procedures done, such as blood tests and other evaluations. These minor tests may take up quite a bit of the hospital's time. Though it may seem hard to believe, having well trained nurses on staff can make the entire system run much more smoothly for the hospital.



 Since these nurses are in high demand, they can expect to face some long hours in the hospital. I have been asked to fill long shifts that might run up to 12 hours a day. This can be challenging, but it is important for the hospital to rely on these trained medical professionals. I know that my hospital appreciates the work that i put in to developing these skills. I also find it very rewarding to see that my patients are well taken care of while they are here. Some of them may come in to the hospital feeling very sick, but quickly leave feeling better than ever. I get a great feeling knowing that I have been a part of this essential healing process.



 I would also like to emphasize that many people will simply enjoy the challenge that the medical field presents to them. As a LVN, I will be asked to learn a number of different vital skills that can be used throughout my day. It makes me proud to realize that I have cultivated a vast body of expertise on different medical techniques. Though the work itself may be challenging, it represents something that I can be proud of in my life. You may want to think about whether you would like to feel this sense of satisfaction for yourself.

LVN Tips #7 - Get Involved

On a serious note, it's very easy to become distracted and bothered and bewildered by your nursing studies. Don't worry about it, in such a bad way making people think that you're an idiot. A lot of people get miffed and bothered and bewildered and wondering if they're doing the right thing and don't want to do the work, too much work, and all this driving me mad and going to leave nursing school. Don't leave, well do if you want to, if you were not meant to be a nurse and hating it, but if you're liking it and you find that you easily become upset or bewildered just stick with it and always remind yourself of why you did it in the first place, why you applied to become a nurse and why and also remember that feeling when you got accepted when you applied.


 The days that you go up to the school and having to get the money together to pay for it, remember how you felt when it all came together the day before you're going to school to start the first day of nursing school. That feeling of excitement and wonder, I'm pretty sure that if you continue and if you can overcome the hurdle of the hard work and the time consuming energy and stuff that it takes to get through nursing school, I'm pretty sure that on graduation that excited feeling that you had the night before your first day of nursing school, just explodes and comes this multiplied sense of joy and excitement, the night before you graduate nursing school. Keep your eyes on the prize and just try to enjoy it and work really hard, that's all you have to do, it's not easy - no one ever said it was but you can do it if you really want to, if you really love it, keep it up.

LVN Tips #6 - Littmann Cardiology III

If your school provides you with a good Littmann or some other quality brand of stethoscope, then all very well, you don't need to get a new one. My school provides with learning stethoscope it's pretty scrappy but I got the Littmann Cardiology III and I was startling with hearing the heartbeats, particularly the pulps beat with taking blood pressure and when I was using this stethoscope and when I got this one I could hear it as clearly as the pulse so it's well worth investing in a good stethoscope and here in this state you can claim it in tax.


And blood pressure taker, you don't need to buy one but I bought one because I want to practice, just practice all of your clinical stuff if you can. I got this on line, it cost me probably about 30 dollars in credit and postage.

LVN Tips #5 - Time Saving

Anatomy and Physiology takes up a great amount of time, if you just started to anatomy and physiology in your thinking, I'll tell you when it slows down, it slow down after your exam. You never get a break, so you need to learn to use your time wisely and you've already been told this probably by a million different people but think about all of those times where you're waiting for something or you're just, not really doing anything or you're in between doing things like catching a bus, or catching a train, those are the times that you should be pulling out your text book or your notes or if you get hand to buy a bunch of notes by the teacher and there's things in there that you're not quite understanding or getting a grasp on, don't put them in your folder and in little plastic safes, take those notes, put them in your handbag and then when you're going home from college, pull them out and read them.


Most people will spend about an hour an afternoon or an hour in the morning, using public transport, so use that time, that's two hours of study a day using a public transport. And another thing is if you're riding and taking notes and you're catching public transport and you get on and there's no seat so it’s really difficult to write when you're standing up, go up to somebody and just ask them, I'm studying nursing and I've got this assignment due, or I've got an exam that I'm studying for and I really need to do some writing, would you mind if I could have your seat. I'm telling you now people would do things just because you ask, because they didn't expect the answer, they'll agree with what you're saying because they think you're a leader, and everyone needs a leader, particularly on a public transport - because what if something goes wrong - no one will know what to do; and you know, you're a nurse - make sure you tell them you are a nurse, because everybody loves nurses.