Why the Prejudice against LPNs

Nurses LPN/LVN

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I am an LPN and due to health reasons I have to give up RN transition hopefully for a short time. I fail to understand why RNs and LPNs can't work together without the bickering.I know that med techs and uaps are being used in hospitals in my area and I had a particularly bad experience with a med tech, she had 4 weeks experience and she was going to change my IV, I demanded a nurse,I refused to let her touch the IV. I hear that RNs are refusing to work with LPNs who have training and did sit for the state boards,are licensed as such when med techs and uaps have as little as 4 weeks training.I feel that it is not a lack of intelligence but opportunity that many of us are LPNs.I would prefer to work with nurses that have skills and not leave something as important as an IV to someone who flipped hambergers before changing IVs.

mmmmm sounds like you've had some bad experiences.... the LPNs that I've worked with have been incredible.. and as far as I know, we haven't had issues of us "not getting along"... however, i do know that LPNs are being phased out to hire cheaper help with the promise of increasing the number of RNs (I'll believe it when i see it!)

Hang it there..

I've been an LVN for 8yrs and in transition to upgrade my license. As a single mom, it's hard to do. I do experience prejudice in the workplace mainly by new RN grads who have more theoretical than on hand patient experience. They constantly try to tell me how to give care to my patients(since I am assigned my own patient care) and treat me as if I was a moron because of my title. Lately, we have frequently been assigned as aids and not being utilized to our full potential due to the Title 22 confusion. The other RN's who've been there a while do respect our experience and knowledge. I think our scope of practice needs to be updated and rewritten and maybe alot of inexperienced nurses won't see our title at the end of our name as a lower pedigree of nursing.

Too bad about your experiences with RN/LPN conflict. I, for one, depend heavily on my LPNs...they are experienced and intelligent. They work well with each other and the rest of our team. They were being phased out here, too, but the current feeling seems to be toward re-hiring and even re-opening the LPN courses! Here's hoping!!

I am sorry that you have had these problems. The RN's and LPN's work well together on my unit. I will say that as a charge nurse it is easier for me to have an all RN staff if I have LPN I's, because of the increase in IV therapy for me. But the LPN's on my unit I trust more than some of the RN's! Especially one that I have, if she tells you something is just not right with her pt, You BETTER go look!! This would be more of a individualized thing than a title thing. I used to be an LPN and I remember being put down by an RN because of my educational level. I will never forget it either. We still work in the same facility.

I understand exactly what you mean. The nursing profession as a whole is all about hierarchy....CNA..LPN..ADN..BSN..etc. It really does not matter where you are, there is always one above you, and there is always the one who'll let you know they are above you. In nursing title is everything.(sad)I am a LPN in a unit where I take care of ventilator patients, post-op patients etc. I am IV certified and we do not work as "teams".Ihave my own patient load with an RN as the house supervisor, but I am responsible for all patient care. Bottom line is that I work in one of the most anti-lpn places around, but I tend to think that maybe my skills, ability, and intelligence threaten their assurance that the title makes the person. I also realize that LPN duties vary from state to state- but have you ever read an LPN job description- the ones that say we are qualified to do vitals, empty bedpans, and do ADL's-all under close supervision of an RN. Well, is it any wonder we are viewed as "the help"?

I am a new grad RN and I work in a stepdown unit that uses LPN's. Our unit is Primary Care and our LPN's do everything we do except take orders off. I learn from the LPN's just as much as I do from RN's. Our entire facility utilizes LPN's this way. I think it is a shame that you have to deal with attitudes like that and you might want to see if there is another facility near you that shows respect to LPN's. Just thought you might like knowing that not all new grads treat LPN's like that and not all facilities either. We love our LPN's and have no intention of ever phasing them out.

I am an RN who has always relied heavily on the LVN/LPN's who work with me. In most of the positions I have worked there have been LVN/LPN's who have worked there a lot longer than I. I also believe that as an RN it is my responsibility to train and teach any new grad LVN/LPN's whom I work with. I can relate to the problem of difficulties between RN's and LVN/LPN's as most of the LVN/LPN's I do try to teach always ask me why no one else will show them things. I feel a lot of it has to do with the fact that I went to a Diploma school and the only way to learn is by hands-on teaching and since these people will be working with you wouldn't it be best to help expand their skills.

Hello...Please excuse my ignorance. I am a soon to be new grad and I would really like it if someone could explain the scope of practice of a LPN. One of the people who responded said that she did total patient care. If that can be true, then there is no diffrence. However, I do feel there is an educational diffrence, so the scope of practice should be diffrent right? I'm not trying to discount LPN's at all. I have learned from people with every education level. As a "newbie" I'm always glad for someone to share their experience, regardles of title. Thanks.

THIS IS MY 32 YEAR AS AN L.P.N. I HAVE SEEN THE RN/LPN "THING" COME /GO BOTH WAYS. WE (LPN'S) IN MY STATE WORK ALONG SIDE RN'S IN

HOSPITALS, NURSING HOME AND ETC. I AM TRAINED

TO DO IV'S, TPN'S AND ETC. THE LETTERS BEHIND THE NAME ARE NOT AS IMPORTANT AS THE BRAIN BETWEEN THE EARS AND THE COMPASSION IN THE HEART. THE PATIENT,RESIDENT,CLIENT OR WHAT EVER THEY ARE CALLED IN YOUR FIELD IS THE IMPORTANT THING. THAT'S WAY WE ARE NURSES!

LOOK PASSED WHAT PERSON WHO IS SO CONCERNED

WITH LETTERS,TO THE PERSON WHO NEEDS YOU

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Yoshi

I started my nursing career as an LPN and said at the time, "I don't want anyone to say 'just an LPN' to me ever again'. I worked very hard for those initials. I have since gone on to higher degrees, but I still remember how hard I worked in the beginning, and since. The LPN's I have worked with down through the years have been a VALUABLE asset to the overall patient care. However, I too was treated to the "attitude" when I was an LPN. Now that I have higher degrees, I occasionally get treated to the "attitude" by some. It may be a self-esteem bolstering thing? I am sorry that this has happened to you and others.

First let me apologize for my insensitive fellow RNs. I'd rather be in a unit staffed with experienced LPNs than with a group of newly graduated BSNs for the simple fact that LPNs aren't stupid and there may be a variety of reasons they haven't gotten their RN. That's like saying someone is only an ADN RN. That is what I am, and I am just as a professional nurse as anyone with a BSN or higher. Initials don't tell the whole story. BSNs get a lot of theory in school but little bedside experience so when they get out of school they are already behind in their clinical skills. That experienced LPN may not be able to regurgitate theory but knows the signs of a changing condition that aren't always able to be verified with numbers or waveforms. Experienced nurses develop an intuitive sense, a "gut feeling" just like the experienced RN. Don't put LPNs down! Isn't there enough problems in the way things are going in healthcare and the bottom line without spending time looking down noses to those with a lesser degree/title behind our name. We need to take care of each other and get over the petty crap.

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