Are we being phased out?

[fishchick72]

How is it looking in your area? Where I'm at several hospitals have stopped hiring LVNs. I am still an LVN, so this is bad news for me. Especially since there's been a lot of changes at my hospital over the past year (for the worst) & I want desperately to find another job. But I will be graduating in the spring with my RN, so I am hanging on for now.

[krob0729]

I work LTC for pediatrics and thank God we work 12 hr shifts or there would be noway to get all of the daily paperwork, med passes, med orders, tx's, etc....done. Not to mention it's nice having 3-4 days off a week to recoup.

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

I was an LPN for 26 years and this same theory/threat was talked about 30 years ago when I went to LPN school. I don't foresee it ever happening. LPN's are far to valuable!

Exactly. I was an LPN back in 1978, when rumors began circulating that Practical Nurses were going to be demoted to the equivalent of Aides. Rather than risk having my title and bedside skills stripped away, I immediately enrolled in an RN program. That was 28 years ago, and I don't see it happening, either.

[S.N. Visit, BSN, RN]

LPN's are alive and well in all the hospitals that I have done my clinicals at.

I have some students in my class that work at the Veterans Administration Hospital and got their LPN schooling paid through them, but the V.A refuses to pay for their RN education. Also, many doctors offices in Southern Iowa are hiring only LPN's.

No phasing out in my area :)

[HAPPYNPROUD]

i was an lpn for 6 years before becoming an rn and i heard from the time i started lpn school that lpn's would be "phased out"---i don't believe it---here in st louis, i worked nursing homes, ortho, med surg, psych and even was a research nurse after taking the exam for certified clinical research nurses----be your best at whatever level you choose to care for patients---my step mom has been an lpn for almost 20 years. she lives less than 30 minutes from me in illinois and she floats in the hospital she works in, even to the emergency room---now i work in a level 1 trauma center that doesn't employ lpn's in the er, but the hospital does hire lpn's on some of the other floors---hospital pay is less than nursing home pay, but then nursing home pay on staff is less that agency nursing home pay----good luck in your career

[STRESSED SPN]

With the nursing shortage I don't really see how it would be possible to phase out LPNs. In Louisiana there are no restrictions on what an LPN can do you can be trained certified and then state approved to do anything an RN can do, but if you are gonna do that go back to school. Why would you want to do it and get paid less.

[edchunt, BSN, RN]

I have heard rumors of phasing out here in WV so I am back in school for my RN cause I wouldn't want to be phased out and then trying to look for work.

[icugirl33]

I went on a job interview today and the nursing director told me that she was attempting to phase out the LPNs. Two out of the 3 hospital systems in the area do not employ LPNs. I don't see LPN's being phased out, but they seem to be trying to limit the use of LPNs in the acute care settings.

[ljds]

I'm in northeastern Kansas, and we are still hired in hospitals here, though not in the numbers that RNs are.

Other job opportunities for LPNs here are home health, doctors offices, and of course nursing homes.

I love my job, and I feel like the RNs I work with would really go to bat if they started to phase us out. I don't feel like my job is insecure at all.