Comment about LPNs made by clinical instructor

[FutureIsBlue]

Hello everyone!

Last week, I was attending a post-conference (for clinical) and my clinical instructor was discussing on how one of the LPNs on the unit didn't take out the foley catheter correctly and she made a comment about LPNs. She said something like no offense to LPNs but there are some things that they need to improve on. My mother is a LPN and I know that my clinical instructor didn't know that my mother is a LPN. After she made the comment, I didn't say anything. After I went back home from clinical, I felt sad (and offended of course). My mother is wonderful at her occupation.

What do you think?

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

Well, I'll tell ya, I don't want to be an RN.

I am 3 years away from retirement, and as soon as I get there I'm taking it

and getting out.

Yall can have it, the whole kit and kaboodle.

I never had "that wanna be factor" you all refer to.

But I'll tell ya this, I've worked with several RNs for several years,and I've been on this job 25 years, and I have yet to meet one who would get in there and roll up her sleeves and go to work like an LPN would.

They will do everything they can to get out of giving medication. Call everybody else on their day off to try to get someone to come in, just so they wouldn't have to give meds.

One in particular that I know of, would say "No, I'm NOT giving meds." And another was so scared, she would literally shake like a leaf on a tree if she had to draw up an injection and give it.

On the job I am on, there will be at least 4, if not 5 LPNs that will retire within the next few months to 5 years. The first one will be gone before winter hits again.

And the DON is begging her to stay and take a part time position.

So, when LPNs start retiring, you may see an even bigger shortage of nurses, but right now whenever I read anything on the nurse shortage all they ever refer to are RNs.

Well, LPNs do a major part of work, whether you like it or not, and when we're gone, you're going to feel the crunch. Just wait and see.

I know it will hit hard in Arkansas, because Arkansas uses aLOT of LPNs.

And I have exactly 2 years, 11 months, and 19 days to go. And then I'm out.

JMHO.

I read things like this, and i have no question as to why there is animosity.

[nervousnurse, ASN]

....I respect RNs a lot, and I know they have more education than I--- but ALL nurses are human and make mistakes......RN or LPN--it doesn't matter! I am one of those LPNs that is kind to new grads and I share helpful hints with them......I cannot STAND it when what I call "bitter LPNs" treat new RNs badly by not sharing their valuable experience----We are ALL supposed to be there for ONE THING.......THE PATIENT!!!!

---The comment your instructor made was just ridiculous......I wonder what she'd think of these examples:

.....When I was a patient, an RN accidentally inserted the Foley into the "incorrect orifice", then used that SAME catheter and inserted it into my urethra.......ummm.......any nurse (RN or LPN) should know it is a STERILE procedure and she should've gotten an NEW catheter. :angryfire (I did not say anything because I was sooo actutely ill and honestly, I just didn't have the guts to say anything!)

Or the time I was working on a Pediatric floor and the RN (who LOVED to brag about her BSN, the university she attended, and her 4.0 GPA) dropped the tip of the IV tubing on the floor, then started to connect it to the the child ...... :angryfire Luckily, another RN saw what she was about to do and corrected her, so she got new tubing......that is just basic asepsis, is it not?

Oh, and then there was the time we got a child from the ER whose IV fluids were supposed to be running at *TEN* per hour, but the ER nurse had it going at *100* (for quite a while). When the child got to our floor, I was working with a brand new RN who didn't realize that we should take vitals often, observe carefully, and notify the physician---and look for s/s of hypervolemia.........I think the RN was shocked that I, a "lowly LPN" even knew what that "big word" meant She didn't think there was anything to worry about at all.......scary!

Then there was the time a brand new RN came to work in our NICU......we had a baby under an oxyhood who was retracting with each respiration. The RN started getting ready to bathe the baby-----(everyone else was too busy to notice...we were so understaffed and overwhelmed!) .....Thank goodness I noticed and told her very nicely that she couldn't bathe a baby in respiratory distress-----she was VERY thankful that I corrected her. This was a case of experience being VERY valuable, even though I was *"only"* an LPN.

But yea.......to some people, no matter what we do, we will always be seen as "technicians" who don't have much education, and our very valuable experience doesn't count for much

[SmilingBluEyes]

Well LPNs, you can join us ADN/RN nurses who are considered "Technicians" incapable of having any sort of critical thinking skills by those with university degrees....you see it goes on and on....

the person who said there is animosity and backbiting among so many is right. The name calling need not go on here. We are all nurses, or studying to be, after all.

I also think this thread has done more to divide than unite us, sadly, and has gotten off track from the original concern. I do think the OP got the vent she needed and some very helpful replies, at least initially. However, things are getting too ugly now. Maybe we can focus on helping the OP with her issue and stop attacking and name-calling each other, ok?

[BabyRN2Be]

Recently I was at a conference where we had a lactation consultant come down and discuss the atmosphere in the NICU. She said that although they had only one LPN up there, she could run circles around a lot of the RN's up there.

I think that the instructor the OP was talking about should have thought about making such a generalizing statement as that.

[RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN]

2 words.

uncalled for :stone

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

Well, I think nursing is a very stressful job whether or not you are an LPN or and RN and it is showing here on this thread.

I think really they should just do away with LPN's altogether. Many facilities are trying to phase them out, and to be honest I think it would just solve a lot of issues about LPNs vs. RNs. Man, I can't help it, I know you know some RNs who you wouldn't let touch you with a ten foot pole, and right or wrong I don't think these people are deserving of respect and being held above LPNs just because they have a title, because they are giving their title a bad name. I can think of three good examples in the circle of nurses I know right now.

For that matter, there are LPNs and even MDs I wouldn't let touch me with a ten foot pole either, but since we are on the topic of RNs that is what I was talking about.

My instructor would emphasize in school that if you can be an LPN you can be an RN. I now understand the truth in that. I'm sorry I said the title RN is overrated, it really shouldn't be.

I have to agree, it is stressful, and while they shouldn't, tempers can get short. We need to both be able to stand up for ourselves and to cut each other some slack.

Just so we're clear, I think I'm in agreement with most, here, that the instructor in the original post was way out of line, both in her remarks about a particular nurse and her generalizations about LPNs.

Sadly, I have to agree I've seen a very few RNs, and LPNs, that didn't seem to be very good nurses. I say "seem" because I have found that I see a lot fewer bad nurses since I've finished nursing school than when I started--not because they've gotten better, but because I've learned how very much I don't know. But still, there will always be a few who make you wonder why they ever became a nurse in the first place.

To a point, I'll even buy the idea that incompetent or unprofessional RNs reflect poorly on all of us. If we tolerate such behavior, we accept the discredit that goes with it. Individually, we may be tempted to make excuses for someone who is lazy or negligent because we like them personally. Still, I think we have to grant that our profession as a whole works hard to police itself, and if we aren't always immediately successful in weeding out bad nurses, or even if we give every nurse an opportunity to correct bad practices, I don't think it's fair to condemn the whole profession for the acts of a small minority.

I don't blame any nurse for being offended by those "Let's Play Nurse" and other disparaging remarks. I only mean to say that offending in return is a poor way to respond.

I would also say that your instructor had a point: anyone who can make it through LPN school can probably do just fine in RN school, too. I have, on occassion, encourage LPN friends at work to get their RN, not because it would make them a better person, or even a better nurse, but because it would open up more opportunities and get them better pay. I know I've never said, and I hope I've never implied, that they were wasting their talents as LPNs, because I certainly never thought so.

[BENNETTRN]

Excellent, to-the-point post. Thank you.

I second that!!!!!!!!!

[BENNETTRN]

Well, I'll tell ya, I don't want to be an RN.

I am 3 years away from retirement, and as soon as I get there I'm taking it

and getting out.

Yall can have it, the whole kit and kaboodle.

I never had "that wanna be factor" you all refer to.

But I'll tell ya this, I've worked with several RNs for several years,and I've been on this job 25 years, and I have yet to meet one who would get in there and roll up her sleeves and go to work like an LPN would.

They will do everything they can to get out of giving medication. Call everybody else on their day off to try to get someone to come in, just so they wouldn't have to give meds.

One in particular that I know of, would say "No, I'm NOT giving meds." And another was so scared, she would literally shake like a leaf on a tree if she had to draw up an injection and give it.

On the job I am on, there will be at least 4, if not 5 LPNs that will retire within the next few months to 5 years. The first one will be gone before winter hits again.

And the DON is begging her to stay and take a part time position.

So, when LPNs start retiring, you may see an even bigger shortage of nurses, but right now whenever I read anything on the nurse shortage all they ever refer to are RNs.

Well, LPNs do a major part of work, whether you like it or not, and when we're gone, you're going to feel the crunch. Just wait and see.

I know it will hit hard in Arkansas, because Arkansas uses aLOT of LPNs.

And I have exactly 2 years, 11 months, and 19 days to go. And then I'm out.

JMHO.

Im not sure where you work and what area of nsg, but please know there are many of us RN's who "roll our sleeves up, and dig in" remember many units in hospitals have gone to totol pt care, and that means we do everything. I work in labor and delivery, I have noone to give my meds, clean up the massive mess after delivery, give my antepartum pts bedbaths and get them on and off the bedpan, or clean the projectile vomit off every square inch of the room they spewed for the 5th time, I am it and I do it all for my pts very willingly, and honestly I wouldnt have it any other way. I feel like I have the best possible grasp on my pts condition with TPC and can give the best care to my pts, and have a great relationship with them.