[Luckygizmos44]

I agree with what Marry23 & ITsurvivor06 have to say. I started the part-time PN program at Ivy Tech in Jan 05 and each semester I hear about the LPN debate. Our teachers say they have seen this happen every 10 years or so where it seems LPNs are not utilized as much in hospitals and then there is a big push for them & the numbers increase. Has a lot to do with economics they tell us. Hospitals, or companies that own them, think they can get more for their money from an RN that can do everything. Then they realize they can get almost as much from an LPN & pay them less.

As far as Indiana is concerned our Nurse Practice Act is so vague. On pg 5 of the 2005 edition, it defines an LPN as someone who holds a license & practices at the direction of an RN, Physician, or Dentist, etc. in activities commonly performed by practical nurses requiring skill or special knowlege. Practical nursing is defined as

(1) contributing to the assessment of the health status of
individuals or groups;
(2) participating in the development and modification of the
strategy of care;
(3) implementing the appropriate aspects of the strategy of care;
(4) maintaining safe and effective nursing care; and
(5) participating in the evaluation of responses to the strategy of care.
Thus leaving it wide open for us to do a lot of things including IV pushes & hang blood. It is up to the individual facilities to be more specific in LPN role & duties.

I will be finishing the program in May and am fully aware that my first job will probably in LTC. I didn't have an interest in this area in the begining but am being realistic. I finish Med/Surg 3 clincal in April and start Care of the Older Adult the same week. It will be my first experience in a LTC facility as I always chose clinicals that took place in hospitals. I look at it as one be job interview. In a perfect world, I will have a job offer from that facility when I am done or at least build a network that will assist in my job search in other LTC facilities. I plan on continuing for my RN because working in a hospital is still my goal but realize I may really like LTC after all.

[mrs.frog]

I know a few LPN's who are DON's of a LTC facility, some work in hospice as case managers and one that I know of is an office manager at a docs office.
I worked LTC in Canada before moving here and loved it. I loved my residents and you get so close to them.
Here in the US, I tried the LTC and ws not impressed by it though but there are still plenty of great nursing homes out there....you just have to pick and chose whom you work for.
I personally don't think they will ever phase out the LPN.
There are even several LNP's who are on the Heath Professions Board in Indiana.........so there are plenty of opportunties out there.

Good Luck!

[bluegeegoo2]

Hospitals here in S. Indiana don't hire LPN's at the hospitals themselves, but do hire for their clinics. LTC is still the #1 employer for LPN's. I think there is a hospital in Warrick Co. that hires LPN's, though. At least that is my understanding. Clinics don't pay squat, ($13-14/hr), where LTC starts a little better for new grads. (I make $16.25 as a new grad on nocs. That's with $1 shift diff.). Once you factor in the better hours (usually 8a-4p, M-F, no nights, weekends, or holidays), as well as better insurance, I guess clinics aren't so bad. We use QMA's extensively in my facility, but they can't give injections, hang IV's, do assessments, give breathing tx's, do some skin tx's, chart, (lucky devils, I HATE charting!), take Dr.'s orders, CALL the Dr. for that matter, etc. I feel pretty secure in my job. The QMA's have to ask me if they can give a PRN, and I have to sign off on it, even if it's a Tylenol. Our nursing instructors told us that "they" have been threatening to "do away with" LPN's for 30+ years, yet, here we are! I'm not worried in the least.

[mrs.frog]

In the Bloomington area, Monroe Hospital, Morgan Hospital and most Indy hospitals hire LPN's still.
Bloomington Hospital does not and is encouraging all its present LPN's to get their RN within the next 2 years or they will be laid off.
LTC here pays very high for W/E only......up to 23/hr at one place and 20/hr during the week for more senior LPN's.
And at another, they only pay 14.84/hr.

All depends on where you look. Shop around for pay!

[ChanceORiley27]

I graduated from Ivy Tech Lafayette, and have been an LPN for a year and a half. Myself, and most of my LPN co-workers, are going back for their RN's. However, my instructors at Ivy Tech were LPN when they first started and apparently they were told 25 years ago LPN would never last- 25 years later they had become RN's who trained LPN's.

I don't think LPN's will ever be phased out. Yes, a lot of us do work in nursing homes -and that can get really old d/t short staffing. But, we will always have jobs, and I have to tell you that you learn a lot as an LPN. Yes, you learn more technical things as RN's at hospitals, but as a LTC care LPN I have learned to make ends meet with less staff, less supplies, less time, and still get all the paperwork done.

It might not want to work in a nursing home my whole life, but I know now what I'm capable of because I had to learn to think on my feet, and that is a skill I wouldn't trade for anything.

Trust me LPN's are going anywhere - especially with the baby boomers reaching the point where they need LTC anyway.