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| Transition from military medical service to the civilian sector
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| Tuesday
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War-wise Navy corpsmen, Marine reservists and recent retirees are among those learning to be licensed vocational nurses through a MiraCosta College class that helps them transition from military medical service to the civilian sector.
About 24 students are enrolled in the class, held each Monday at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, said instructor Julie Vignato."There's a definite need in our community to help military enlisted medical members transition into our civilian workforce," Vignato said. "Because we're at war, we do have more people in the military looking to transition out.
"Student Freddie Chapoco, 52, said he decided to take the course after recently retiring from a 20-year career as a Navy corpsman.Chapoco said he discovered the MiraCosta program while seeking information on the GI Bill of Rights at the college's career center."It was an accident that I found that MiraCosta College offered a certificate course, and I grabbed it," he said.
Vignato said most of her students enroll in the class to prepare for a state examination that is required to earn a license to practice vocational nursing in California.
Chapoco said he'll take the test in May. The class should help him land a nursing job quickly in this high-demand market, he said.
Licensed vocational nurses are in demand, Vignato said. Nationally, there is expected to be a need for about 105,000 more such nurses by 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The federal agency shows the median pay for a licensed vocational nurse is about $36,000. Hospital jobs pay more, but are harder to get.
The MiraCosta class is designed to fill in gaps in medical understanding between Navy corpsman and practicing licensed vocational nurses, Vignato said."They (the corpsman) have the hands-on experience, but not the theory," Vignato said.
While in the service, Navy corpsmen get a few months of training in basic field medicine, such as dressing battle wounds, how to begin an intravenous drip and how to prepare a catheter.
The 17-week MiraCosta class offers theory and critical thinking skills on how to create a patient care plan. The five-step process includes assessing the patient, diagnosing need, planning care, implementing that plan and evaluating the plan's effectiveness.
Vignato said students also learn to speak the language of civilian medical care.Vignato, a former Navy corpsman, said she created the class last year after military officials noticed a troubling trend. About 60 percent of Navy corpsman failed a state examination on their first try. She said 23 students started the fall class and 17 finished. All but one of her students went on to take the LVN test. S
he said she'll know this spring how many students passed. During a Feb. 23 class, instructor Latifah Davis told students the goal of the program is to prepare students for the state exam. Davis led students through a mind-mapping activity to help them collect patient complaints and conditions. The process will help them assess a patient's situation -- a key to planning care.
James Buchanan, a 34-year-old resident of San Clemente, said he'll leave the Marines in April after more than five years as a corpsman. He said he hopes to pass the state's licensed vocational nurse examination, then find a "pay-the-bills" job as an LVN while seeking work with the FBI.
Another student, Tonya Issacs, 33, said she travels from Hemet each week to attend the MiraCosta class. A Marine reservist, she works as a medical assistant now and said she hopes the MiraCosta class will help her advance her career and make more money. ( source) |
posted by blogger @ 09:06
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| An incredible Adult LVN program
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| Monday
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After being a stay-at-home mom, Paulette Malcome was ready to try something new in the medical field. Now she is a member of the first graduating class of the new Licensed Vocational Nurse Program, offered through Lompoc Adult Education. She also is the first of the graduates to receive her license.
The program, which not only recently graduated it's first class, also received a four-year accreditation on its first try.
“They have an extensive curriculum and a very difficult curriculum,” Malcome said. “It's an incredible program.”Adult Ed's LVN program is small but intensive. The program admits 15 students plus two alternates. Those 15 students must complete 1,530 hours - 576 hours of theory and 954 clinical hours - in 18 months to graduate.“
I warn them that it is intense - no social life for the duration of 18 months,” said Yvonne Cooper, a registered nurse and the director of nurses for the program.Because the program is small and facilities are limited - they have two classrooms, one is set up as a lab with beds and equipment for hands-on lessons, the other is a regular classroom with computers - it has fostered partnerships with local organizations that can give students the various types of clinical experience they need.
The LVN program's partners include the Lompoc Valley Medical Center, the Convalescent Care Center, Sansum Clinic, state preschools through Santa Barbara County offices and the Santa Barbara County Health Clinic.
Having partners such as these helped in the accreditation by allowing the program to provide access to clinical experience that otherwise would not have been possible for such a small program.
In the nursing hierarchy, LVN are right in the middle with certified nursing assistants (CNAs) requiring less training and having fewer duties and registered nurses (RNs) requiring more training and having greater duties.
While CNAs can be certified after completing a 12-week or 160-hour program, LVNs must complete 1,530 hours of theory and clinical training.
RNs require either a bachelor's degree or completion of accredited programs that last at least three years.
CNAs work under the supervision of nursing staff, performing such tasks as helping patients to eat, dress or bathe.
LVNs work under RNs and do work such as recording patients' vitals, preparing and giving injections, dressing wounds and dispensing medications.
RNs plan or contribute to plans for patient care, work in surgeries and consult with physicians among other duties.One area that garnered a commendation from the accreditation team was in the close relationship between the teachers and students.
“The teachers and staff really try to make themselves available to the students,” Cooper said.The teachers, all RNs who have been recognized by the State Board of Vocational Nurses as being eligible to teach and who have a teaching credential from the state, observe their students closely.
This attention to students' progress not only ensures that the program's high standards remain intact, it also allows for early remediation when needed.If the teachers see that a student is falling behind, they meet with the student and create a plan to help them succeed.
Other students even get involved by forming study groups.Malcome said that the staff were very supportive. “We had instructors phone numbers and could call them day or night.”The instructors also provided extra tutoring when needed and would join the students' study groups on the weekends, spending hours going over what they could expect on their next clinical rotations or helping to understand concepts, Malcome said.
Because each learning module builds on the one before it, it is important to catch problems early.Cooper said the students are monitored particularly closely during the clinical hours.“A student can do well on theory, but not well in clinical,” Cooper said. “We watch them like a hawk.”This program, though small, does admit students who have been waiting to get into either Allan Hancock College's or Santa Barbara City College's programs.
Those schools, as do many others throughout the state, select students via a lottery. No lottery system is used for the Adult Ed LVN program and admission is competitive. According to Cooper, candidates must apply and meet certain criteria: They need to have a high school diploma or the GED and be an active CNA.
They must also take a test for occupational math and language skills. If they have met the criteria and passed the tests, they are then invited to an interview, after which the students are ranked.
The top 15, plus two alternates, are accepted into the program.Though this is rigorous, it allows students the opportunity to enter a program through their own efforts rather than leaving it to chance, Cooper said.
In November 2007, the program graduated its first class. The class started with 14 students. Eight graduated. The next class starts in April and there are already 85 applicants for the 15 spots, according to Adult Ed Principal Susan Williams.Malcome also liked that the program allows working people with families a way to continue their education while still helping to provide for their families.
“Other programs are full time, which means you can't work and go to school,” Malcome said. “This program is ideal because classes are in the evenings and on Friday and Saturday, making it possible to juggle work, family and school.
”She also said that since the clinical rotations are all done locally rather than in cities such as Arroyo Grande, as in other programs, it makes it easier on the students.“And now that they are accredited, the students will have more opportunities for financial aid and scholarships.
”Malcome said now that she has passed her exams and gotten her license from the state she will be applying for work in Lompoc. The others who graduated with her are also planning on working locally, she said.Many LVNs get work locally at the CCC or in long-term care.
Adult Ed started the program because one of the mandates from the state is that adult education programs offer classes that meet local job needs.“So nursing was a logical choice because there is a need for nurses here,” Williams said. ( source) |
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posted by blogger @ 15:39
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