Does anyone regret becoming an LPN?

LPN01112005 · Jan 17, 2007

I don't actually regret becoming an LPN, but I do see now how beneficial it would've been for me to go ahead and start out on the associates degree path. At the time, money was a motivating factor for me, in that the quickest route to a job was the route I needed and the one I took. Right financial decision AT THAT TIME. Now, however, that I am a full time hospital based LPN working along side RN's doing primarily the same job as me (ok, they spike blood products, regulate heparin gtts, maintain central lines, and push cardiac drugs; all of which I, as an LPN, cannot do) but making at least $10K a year less than an RN with the same experience as me, I'm thinking perhaps it wasn't the right financial decision for the long term. I will be enrolling in school this summer to start getting my core classes completed so that I can bridge the next year. I feel like I need to do it in order to be fully compensated for the job that I do. But more importantly, to remain a valuable employee to my facility. The truth is, there are facility policies that limit me moreso than my state BON. I also want to be able to fully care for my patients, without having to ask my charge nurse or another RN to do things for me. I've watched enough central line maintenance to be able to do it myself, but because I'm an LPN, I can't. I'm not stupid, I can regulate a heparin gtt based on the most recent labwork, but I'm an LPN and it isn't allowed, so I have to get an RN to go change the gtt rate! These things are annoying. Not only for me, as the LPN caring for my patient, but for the RN who has patients of her own to care for. These things that we are limited in, over time, can make an LPN feel frustrated. Regardless of knowledge and ability. I start my own IV's, do my own NGT insertions, yet I have to get an RN to go push the buttons on my patient's IV pump when the lab results warrant a change in a heparin gtt rate!!!! LOL.

When I was employed in LTC, I felt differently. LPN's were "the nurses" there. There were many more LPN's than RN's. Those RN's were in management positions. The LPN's handled the day to day resident care along with the CNA's, so I didn't feel like I "needed" to be an RN there. However, the hospital is where I plan to stay, so my feeling changed with the change in the work environment.

PralineLPN · Jan 18, 2007

NO. I even like the paper work, believe it or not. I like filling in all the little boxes and writing my thoughts on the pts. Well, except maybe when I have like 3 admissions. But I still go home satisfied and happy. I can not stand the ones who come to work and complain and tell me how much of a chore their job is. Whatever.

colettea · Jan 20, 2007

You bet cha! I have been a lpn since 1980 and have lived in the mid-west and the south where lpns are utilized in almost every arena. Not so the case here in the pacific northwest were I honestly think we are being phased out and replaced by MA's! It's sad but the bottom line for corporations is $$$ I also have a BS in biology (had to raise my child then finish my degree), and I can't see spending another (at the min) $7K to get my RN...I might out of despiration...I plan on attending grad school and maybe dental school, but damm, do I feel like an old dish rag!!! I love the area (pnw), but I think I will move back to Texas were the nurses are at least professional to each other!!!!

rgrgray · Jan 22, 2007

Do I regret becoming an LVN? No! well not yet atleast I have 2 more months to go before i can call myself an LVN. But I did get my associates before deiciding to go the LVN route. were I live it is very hard to get into the RN program. so I thought at least with the LVN program I am starting the process. you know the LVN program is the first year of the RN program, so you really are not losing anything. I plan to work for a year then hopefully get accepted into the transition program. I have talked to alot of nurses thru my clinicals and they have told me that I am doing it the best way. I will come out with so much more knowledge. and I will be a better nurse. so far I love the LVN program and have done very well. I hope to do as well in the transition program. There are alot of places for LVN to work but my goal is to do labor and delivery and I need my RN for that but working as an LVN will give me my basic skills and the confidence to work were ever I choose later in my career

codebrown · Jan 22, 2007

Used it as a stepping stone, the pre reqs were more user friendly when my kids were small, and I was ablt to do an accelerated LVN-ADN program because of it

skittlebear · Jan 22, 2007

Please be honest. I know this is blunt, and some will get upset. And I also know some may not want to admit because there are others here who already look down on our profession. But are there times when you regret the choice that you made to become an LPN? Just a question.

I actually went into LPN school to make it easier to get in the RN program. The RN program in my area has a HUGE waiting list. I even had all my pre-reqs for the RN program shortly after graduating LPN school. I've been an LPN for a little over a year, and I can honestly say that I have no desire to go back to RN school. I have no desire to deal with all the extra responsibilities that being an RN entails. I also enjoy performing my "basic" nursing skills in the long-term care facility I work at. The only RN's at my job are supervisors and the DON. I have no desire whatsoever to lead a supervisory role. I also have no desire to work in a hospital. I perfer to limit as much stress as possible in my life. I have no regrets at all!

rehabnurse82 · Oct 28, 2007

As far as regrets go, I wouldn't call it that. I have been an LPN since July of 2004. I am currently in an LPN-RN transition program and will be graduating in December. I started in the healthcare field to find out if nursing was for me, so I became a nurses aide and decided to go to LPN school then on to RN because I live on my own and though I know it isnt much, I needed the additional income of an LPN opposed to CNA to finish out college. I am very satisfied with the Rehab (cva's, joint replacements, SCI's) field that I have come into. However, even though I have always planned on going to RN school, it's almost like everyone else assumed I would, and if I didn't, that was a huge let down. I get tired of hearing "Are you a RN, or just a LPN?", or the infamous "Oh, you are an LPN, well I hope you are going on to get you RN, so you can be a REAL NURSE." It's almost like even though I am a LPN going to RN school, they would have preffered me to come in the room as a traditional RN student, who wasn't already an LPN, like they would rather have a student than someone who already IS a nurse, but just an LPN. The traditional RN students I have come into contact with get more respect than I have being an LPN-RN transtion student. I love my job, and I love taking care of the public, and Rehabilitation is awesome, we see people come in that are 2 max assist and can't transfer from the bed to wheelchair, and then when they leave, they can walk out the door! It's amazing! But, it's the pressure from the community to go ahead and become a REAL NURSE, because who would want to settle for being a LPN, that has concerned me with my job choice.

MAmom81 · Oct 28, 2007

I am not an LVN ( in California we are called LVNs) yet but I do not regret getting ready to go for my LVN licsense first and then my RN because I have to complete about 7 to 8 classes before I can even put my name on the RN wait list and that wait list is 1 to 2 years, that would mean 3 to 4 years before I can put my name on the ait list on top of having to wait another 1 to 2 years to start the RN program. With the LVN program at my CC they just needed my high school transcripts and my college transcripts and the completed LVN packet application and they put me on the wait list-#85!!! I start in Fall 2008 or Fall 2009 and I cannot wait to start!!! My CC also said that when I finish the LVN program and pass the boards they will credit me 2 semesters of the RN program and all I have to do is complete and pass the thrid semester of the RN program and pass the RN boards and I am an RN!!! so instead of taking me 3 to 4 years to be put on the RN wait list, it should take me 3 to 4 years to become an RN!!! It is just easy on my family financially to do it this way, so what ever works best for you. I wish you luck and I hope that everything works out for you!!!

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Oct 28, 2007

I don't regret becoming an LPN- I do regret remaining an LPN for so long. I've been an RN for seven years now, and wish I'd gotten my RN sooner.

gt4everpn, BSN, RN · Oct 28, 2007

i feel the same way as suesquatch. i also start my rn this fall if all goes well. i too, am tired of being limited to only certain practice areas, however i do like ltc but it is very difficult if not impossible to find an ltc with decent work conditions. just my opinion.

pssh, aint dat the truth, 10 meds each to 40 residents, your bound to make mistakes, the facility where i work floats the nurses to different floors every day, and i ended up being on the heaviest floor! the med pass on this floor is so severe the draw in the med cart cant even hold all the meds anymore! and they wont put two nurses on this floor for anything!

sharona97, BSN, RN · Oct 29, 2007

No regrets on achieving an LPN license. Working toward my RN, if I get there great if I don't , I don't. I love patient care and practice within my scope. Nothing wrong with visions tho......................

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Oct 29, 2007

Nope.