American Nursing Ranks???

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Specializes in emergency surgery.

Hi, I am currently a Staff Nurse in England and am moving to California next year. Can anyone help me with understanding the rank system for american nursing? For example, here we have Nursing Assistant, NVQ 2 or 3 Nursing Assistants, Staff Nurse, Senior Staff Nurse, Junior Sister, Senior Sister, Ward Manager. How is this different? What is a LPV??

Hope someone can make this clear! :idea:

Thanks, Angie.

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LPV? You mean LPN?

From the bottom:

Certified Nursing Assistant/Patient Care Tech

Certified Medical Assistant

Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurse

Registered Nurse

Charge Nurse (in charge of the shift)

Nurse Manager (in charge of the department)

House Supervisor (RN in charge of the building for her shift)

Director of Nursing (administrative, in charge of all nursing staff)

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Specializes in emergency surgery.

Oh thanks, that helps. So when you graduate, are you a LPN or a registered nurse there? How long does it take to train as a nurse? Do Nursing Assistants have to do any training for the job? Everything is so different - here a 'Charge Nurse' is a male sister and often Senior Staff Nurses are in charge of the shift! I am sure everything will become clear once I have been there a while! :thankya:

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Oh thanks, that helps. So when you graduate, are you a LPN or a registered nurse there? How long does it take to train as a nurse? Do Nursing Assistants have to do any training for the job? Everything is so different - here a 'Charge Nurse' is a male sister and often Senior Staff Nurses are in charge of the shift! I am sure everything will become clear once I have been there a while! :thankya:

their LPN is roughly the equivilant to our Enrolled nurses. Training varies from 2 years upwards. and CNA upwards as far as I have read have to do some recognised training.

This is my interpretation from reading both on here and books

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What level of certification/license you hold is up to you. LPNs graduate from LPN school and take the LPN boards and are licensed as LPNs. It's very common for people here to get their LPN and work as one while furthering their education to the RN level, but it's entirely their own choice. Same with CNAs and MAs: some use it as a stepping stone on their way to RN, some are perfectly happy with those certifications.

There is no distinction here between male and female nurses in terms of title, we are all the same. Some have unisex names and you often don't know what gender a person is until you meet him/her.

The only position that requires a certain level of education first is that of nurse practitioner: these people are RNs with a Master's degree.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Can you explain the nursing ranks and the educational levels in England? I'm considering moving there in the near future.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Can you explain the nursing ranks and the educational levels in England? I'm considering moving there in the near future.

you may find it hard to get a work permit in the UK as preferances are currently given to UK then EU and finally the rest of the world, plus plenty of hoops to complete with the NMC our governing body.

nursing ranks are

Auxillary nurses = provide support and basic care

Health care assistant = again provides support and basic care but has done further training to enable help RN with certain skills as long as they have the training in it ie wound care, basic dressings, obs like blood monitoring (finger sticks) BP etc

RN = many levels depending on qualification here is a rough list http://www.nmc-uk.org/aarticle.aspx?articleID=28

ward sister/charge nurse = responsible for management of ward

from there hospitals may very depending on what is required, there are specialist nurses, nurse practitioners, and modern matrons to name a few

This is just my thoughts on the structure

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Educationally, the ranks are:

CNA - usually a 2-4 week course and then you register with the state after passing a test.

LPN - licensed practical nurse - 1-2 year course, then you take the NCLEX-PN and are licensed by the state.

RN - registered nurse - education varies between an associates degree (2 years of study), to diploma (2-3 years of study) to bachelors degree (4 years). Then, you take the NCLEX and register with the state.

Once you have your RN, you can pursue an advanced degree usually leading to a master's degree (another 2-3 years after your bachelors degree). To be in education, often a PhD (doctorate of philosophy) is needed which is another 2-4 years after the masters degree).

Believe me, this can even be confusing for those of us who live there - good luck.

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