About an LPN becoming an RN...

Nursing Students LPN-RN

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Question for all of you..

I'm not sure if this belongs here or in the career advice forum, sorry if I put it in the wrong place.

Now for my question: Is it ok to continue to work as an LPN when you have a registered nurse license?

I have asked my state BON and the vague answer that I got was that as long as the LPN license is current, it's okay.

My issue is with scope. Say I'm working as an LPN at a LTC after I'm licensed, and that facility currently can't bring me on as an RN. In the interim, I choose to stay in my position and continue making money as I search for an RN job, which could take months. While on the job, do I just stay within my scope of practice or what? Is that left to facility policy?

Any insight from anyone who has experience with this would be greatly appreciated.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

I would be very cautious, and personally, I'd never work below my highest level of licensure. The reason being that should something happen, the BON will most likely hold you to the highest level of licensure that you hold. On the other hand, your facility is going to restrict the scope of your job. If push comes to shove, do you protect the job or the license? And if you protect the job, it may not only affect the license being used in that position but any other license as well. I believe there are some states that don't permit one to hold a license at multiple levels, such as once an RN license is issued, the LPN license is inactivated.

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Yeah, see this is what I was afraid of.

Since I won't be in this position for a little while, I guess I should start saving money now.

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