What is the difference between LPNs and RNs?

[Chameleonchick]

I understand that one is a Licensed Practical Nurse and one is a Registered Nurse. I also understand the length of school is different and that the pay is different. Actually, I would like to know the difference between the job duties/hours etc. I have looked at older threads and I still cannot come up with a clear answer. I think it would be even better if there is an RN on here that used to be an LPN help me out with this since they have been on both sides of the fence. Thank you so much for your help and I hope this thread is in the right place.

[OgopogoLPN, LPN, RN]

im in an RN program, and my professor stated that the difference between RN and LPN is:

LPNS cant assess, hang iv's or do patient teaching...

In BC, Canada, I can do initial assessments on stable patients with predictable outcomes and "under the supervision of an RN". The RN and I are team members. She doesn't look over my shoulder or check my work. I do however ask him/her if I'm unsure of anything. Very grateful to the awesome RN's I work with! I can hang non-mediated IV bags and I certainly and do patient teaching all the time. On matters that fall within my scope. I work on a general surgery ward and do lots of patient teaching on post op wound care, S+S of infection etc.

LPN's are one of the reasons why I want out of nursing. They have ruined my total outlook and faith in the nursing profession. No LPN has the right to tell an RN how to do their job. I show no respect toward LPN's no matter how much they experience they have. I have been put with LPN's to be oriented into new positions are you kidding me? I have a four year degree and was an LPN. [b']It seems like LPN's do not want to better themselves and are content just being LPN's. I am so angry and disgusted that I let little people like LPN's ruin my attitude toward my career. [/b]In my last job, my supervisor kept saying "LPN's and RN's here do the same thing." Really? I don't think so now or ever. LPN's I feel have brought down the nursing profession and made a mockery of RN's everywhere.

Wow, just wow. I work with the most AMAZING RN's whom I respect and they respect me in turn. We work as a team. I worked with a casual RN the other day and he was asking me questions about certain procedures that are unique to our surgical floor. He hadn't done a VAC dressing before. I've done many dozens. I did the VAC and he watched. He was appreciative of my knowlege and thanked me for showing him. It was amazing TEAMWORK. I in no way told him how to do his job.

So just because you were an LPN and "bettered yourself" by becoming an RN, all LPNs should do the same? "Little people" like LPNs are not as worthy if they dont' aspire to be as good as you? Not all LPNs aspire to be RNs, but for some that do, there are numerous obstacles. Family, finances, time. etc. I'm in Canada and there is NO ADN, 2 year diploma. There's LPN and 4 year BScN. Even for the LPNs who can only dream to "better themselves" by becoming an RN, there's usually a lot more to the story than you are stereotyping.

[nursel56]

I have never heard that a LPN is not allowed do patient teaching. That makes no sense to me.

It's something I read most often from students and new nurses. I think it goes with our old friend the nursing diagnosis - when they took over the care plan process it apparently took over the patient education too. But if I don't do it in my job in home health I'll hear about it! It's one of the things they use to justify the expense of a nurse vs a home health aide. There is a checkoff box and place where we docoment what the topic was and whether the patient or parents understood and/or return demonstrate it, etc.

[sweetnepenthe]

When I worked on the floor--and this was many years ago--LPNs could not start ivs or give iv meds or do assessments. This seems to have changed somewhat.This seems to be in line with increased ability of RNs to do things only docs used to be able to do.

The difference lies not so much in the specific tasks, but in the conceptual arena. The RN's increased education should enable a greater understanding of what is going on with the patient compared to the LPN,just as the MDs greater education compares to the RN. Naturally, this is a generalization, as we all know LPNs who are more with it than some RNs and some nurses we would trust more than some doctors. But that is the theory.

I have to say that when I got my first job as an RN, not having been an LPN beforehand, I would have been lost if the LPNs had not taken me under their wings. I had been hired to rotate 3 shifts and to float as well and had no preceptor. It could--and would--have been disastrous if they had not been willing to coach me along until I got some experience.

The LPN, RN, MD degree and educations do not necessarily have anything to do with competence or intelligence so much as it does with opportunity, money and time for school and field of interest. Honest work of any kind merits courtesy and respect.

[OgopogoLPN, LPN, RN]

The LPN, RN, MD degree and educations do not necessarily have anything to do with competence or intelligence so much as it does with opportunity, money and time for school and field of interest. Honest work of any kind merits courtesy and respect.

:yeah:

Beautifully put!!!

[Fiona59]

The best way of describing the difference is to use the military as a point of reference.

LPN = enlisted

RN = officer

[diva rn, BSN, RN]

Fiona,

That's good...

the enlisted men and the officers are BOTH well trained and BOTH crucial to the winning of the war!

[nkim]

LPN's are one of the reasons why I want out of nursing. They have ruined my total outlook and faith in the nursing profession. No LPN has the right to tell an RN how to do their job. I show no respect toward LPN's no matter how much they experience they have. I have been put with LPN's to be oriented into new positions are you kidding me? I have a four year degree and was an LPN. It seems like LPN's do not want to better themselves and are content just being LPN's. I am so angry and disgusted that I let little people like LPN's ruin my attitude toward my career. In my last job, my supervisor kept saying "LPN's and RN's here do the same thing." Really? I don't think so now or ever. LPN's I feel have brought down the nursing profession and made a mockery of RN's everywhere. [/quote']

I have read your posts and I will say that from experiencing both sides, you are wrong. LPN's and RN's both went into the profession to be a nurse and despite how you may feel about LPN's, there are disgraceful RN's too. You can not generalize people depending on their title. There is more education with us RN's but that doesn't always make a better nurse. Base your conclusions on the actual person not the title. I thought us nurses :nurse:were taught to no stereotype...

[Zombi RN]

Not all of us have been lucky enough to be able to afford going straight for our RN. I cannot believe some of the hateful things in this thread. What a shame that people are so hateful and in what is supposed to be a CARING profession.

Where I work the Nurse Practice Act states that LPNs may not spike blood, or perform the initial/admitting patient assessment. RNs must "co-sign" with assessments of the critically ill. As long as an RN assesses the patient every 24 hours, the LPN can be responsible for patients. Those are the major responsibility differences.

[studentmom77]

Originally Posted by Isitpossible

im in an

RN

program, and my professor stated that the difference between

RN

and LPN is:

LPNS cant assess, hang iv's or do patient teaching...

I think it depends on the state you are in. The only thing LPNs can't do here is IV push meds. Here in MA we certainly assess, start and hang IV fluids or meds, and teach. I think the state to state differences in role is the explanation why you see such varied salaries posted for LPNs I make $24.75 as a new grad LPN here but I see people posting that they make only $15 in other parts of the country perhaps that is where they are not teaching or assessing. I imagine their role is more comparable to what a MA is here.

[gatoraims RN]

Here in FL, I have been told and have not looked up the "laws" but an RN is able to the first assessment and hang blood. LPN's can push most IV meds and spike as long as they have been cert. in IV training. We are also able to do pt. education. I did not learn much about care plans in LPN school (in that we never really did them) but were I work we are required to update care plans.

The LPN, RN, MD degree and educations do not necessarily have anything to do with competence or intelligence so much as it does with opportunity, money and time for school and field of interest. Honest work of any kind merits courtesy and respect.

Sweetnepenthe- Well said! I could not agree more.

I am a LPN soon to be LPN-RN student. I know that most of the students in my LPN class wanted to go onto get their RN but a few were happy as an LPN. I think honest work is something everyone should respect, from the cashier who passes you a burger to the Dr. who just saved your life. It amazes me that some have such disrespect for others. I am a new LPN but I do not look down on the CNA's just because they are CNAs. I think they have one of the hardest jobs (just my opinion). I respect anyone who is willing to bust their butts to do the work they do.

As for Bruinsmom who said that LPN's are mad because they want to be RNs but can't. Please anyone can be anything they want to be. I have seen some frighteningly uneducated RNs, docs, Lpns, ect... I have thankfully seen many more that are very educated and many many nurses (RNs and LPNs) who could run laps around a docs knowledge. I do not think that the title RN or DR make anyone any better or any worse than any other human.