Not a nurse? Then, why does LPN stand for Licensed Practical Nurse?

Nurses LPN/LVN

Published

Ugh... Sorry if anyone else is putting up with this.

Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

I don't know why people have to be such idiots! I'm so sorry your feelings were hurt. Unfortunately, that belittling goes on at every level of nursing. When I finally earned a B.S.N., a few people asked, "Oh, you stopped at only a B.S.N. degree? What if you decide you want to advance someday?" OK, got my M.S.N. "What if you want to teach someday?" SCREECH! "When do you plan do go on and either get a PhD or become an NP?" Hey! Let me get some experience, PLEASE! You and you alone determine who you are and what you become! Don't let some darned fool mess with your head or your confidence and your sense of self.

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Specializes in critical care, Med-Surg.

Those kind of comments are rude, annoying, and ignorant.

I rec'd a few of them myself during my years as LPN. Finally found the best way to avioid them was by answering the question "What do you do?" (outside of hospital) with "I am a Licensed Practical Nurse."

B/c if you say "I'm a nurse" (which is natural inclination), they inevitably followed that up with "Oh, you're a Registered Nurse?" Then you have to correct, explain, blah,blah,blah.

So I avoided it.

However, in hospital, I did say "I'm a nurse" (Because I was, and you ARE!)

Here's my thought: A great LPN can easliy become a great RN. A crappy RN could never be ANYTHING but a crappy LPN or RN!

Take pride in your work and your education (because ALL and ANY is valuable), and identify ignorance as...ignorance.

But I get the vent...

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Wow! Great reading here! Would like to add that those comments have been from CNA's and RN's.

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In my area the only difference between each level is 3 classes. That's if you are done with all basic courses or prerequisites. The first two semesters of NS the RN and LPN students are put in the same classes at most schools in this state. To get accepted into the program they require the same thing.

I believe that once some people get out of NS and start on their Nursing career they forget how they got there and what it took for them to get to the position they are now. And the same mistreatment can be used towards Nursing students during their (our) clinical rotations. Why must some Nurses fill the need to be rude and unprofessional towards nursing students. Did you forget that you had to get through NS to get where you are?

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Wow! Great reading here! Would like to add that those comments have been from CNA's and RN's.

CNA's I believe that act they way are jealous by the fact that you are a nurse. Some of my classmates have experienced CNA's being mean towards them during clinicals as well I believe its jealousy.

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Specializes in Psych.

I laughed at my son while I was going through the transition.. sn.. gn.. rn, because of the names he would come up with to go with the letters on my name tag. (Silly nurse, Good nurse or Great nurse, Regular nurse / Real nurse/ Ratty nurse, depending on his mood of the day)

The job of LVN demands work ethic, smarts, and a certain sense of self worth that comes from the inside. Some of the very best RN's I've worked with were LVNs for years - and (IME) they're different from the people who were RN's for years in that the people who were RNs from the beginning seem to be burnt out, where as the people who progress through the ranks over the years (usually) seem to be always working towards some sort of growth. Of course, that's probably just the growth personality causing them to progress through the ranks... but the outcome is the same.

Anyway - my oldest child is looking at becoming a nurse now. I told him I'd pay for LVN school. He told me, "You started at RN." My response? If I had it to do over, I'd start LVN.

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Specializes in Psych.

tcstr05,

My response is probably going to be unpopular - but to be honest, in nursing school, I learned the most from the nurses that most of my classmates considered grouchy old krones. They looked for ways that we had messed up, and 'intentionally gave us lousy assignments'. Some of them were LVNs, and some of my classmates mentioned how much they would enjoy being their supervisors and changing the scenery...

As a student then, and as a nurse now, students like that are hard to teach because they're not really there to learn. It's not being mean to say something has to be done a certain way, or to push a student to learn in an environment they'd rather eschew for some paperwork... it's teaching. Specifically, it's teaching someone the reality and the work that is involved in the career that they are going to school for.

That said, perhaps the preceptors where you work are truly awful - if that's the case, I'm sorry you're going through that. Learn what you can. It was my experience as a student that most of the time when I thought people were being mean to me it was because I was being obtuse and not catching what they were trying to teach. The more open I was to learning and growth experiences (even the gross ones), the more interested they were in helping me learn, teaching me how to do skills, and showing me their tricks (i.e. a 'brain' sheet). That's my experience, of course YMMV.

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In most states there are regulations which mandate who can use the word " nurse" and the last time I checked LVN/LPN and RN are the only two professionals who can call themselves nurses. maybe the next time someone says something about LPN/LVN not a nurse then maybe you can point their ignorance?

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Specializes in ED, Telemetry,Hospice, ICU, Supervisor.

Your state may have it in law that an RN can be called a nurse but an LVN cannot. I have read this kind of discussion before.

In any case check up on the laws in your state.

There is also a possibility that you were talking to an ignorant person regarding what an LVN is.

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Know a RN who refuses to toilet her pt because she already "done that job" and will call the CNA to get a call light. YIKES!

That is just lazy.

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Your state may have it in law that an RN can be called a nurse but an LVN cannot. I have read this kind of discussion before.

In any case check up on the laws in your state.

There is also a possibility that you were talking to an ignorant person regarding what an LVN is.

Wow, even though the word NURSE is in the title? Weird! We don't have LPNs here. We used to have enrolled nurses, which I think was the same thing, but they phased them out.

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Specializes in ED, Telemetry,Hospice, ICU, Supervisor.
Wow, even though the word NURSE is in the title? Weird! We don't have LPNs here. We used to have enrolled nurses, which I think was the same thing, but they phased them out.

Yeah I know weird right. But there are old threads about this some where in the archives on this site

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