Are the LPNs get the dirty works?

[12breakfree]

Is it just a myth or it is real that LPNs get all the dirty work, while RNs don't? What I meant dirty is that cleaning up after the patients, etc. I'm thinking of applying to both LPN and RN, just in case if I don't get in one of the two choices. RN is my ultimate goal, but if I don't want to wasting time waiting to get accepted into RN, then I might give LPN a consider. I honestly don't know if it is a good choice.

[LPN01112005]

I work on a post surgical unit and we have no unlicensed personnel on our floor. In fact, there are very few in our facility...mostly in ED. Our usual patient load is 4-5. We do it all. We have RN's and LPN's on our floor and we do the same job. I chart on all my patients, without an RN to sign off on it. I am IV certified, so I push my own drugs, etc. Most of the time, if there is a patient on our floor who has a Heparin drip, that patient will be assigned to an RN. Otherwise, there isn't much difference made in who gets what patient based on the credentials behind our names. We all do the "dirty work" that is called for in order to care for our patient load. When I need help, I don't search out another LPN to help me with the dirty work. I'll ask whomever I see who looks available and I have NEVER had an RN tell me to get an LPN to help me. If I did, I'd report HER. Heck, at my facility, my charge nurse will get up and help with incontinent care if she needs to.

[General E. Speaking, RN, RN]

I work on the medical floor of a hospital. Each nurse, LPN's and RN's are assigned to equal amt. of pts. We usually have 2 CNA's that share the hall. LPN's and RN's are equally responsible for all treatments, med. administration, charting, etc.. of their pt. The CNA's usually handle most of the diaper changes, baths, etc... however, when CNA's are busy we never let a pt. lay in their own waste, or refuse to empty a bsc or bp while waiting for an aide to do it. RN's and LPN's alike do it. The "dirty" work is never deligated to an LPN just because they are an "LPN". One nurse is not treated different from the other where I work. "Dirty" work is part of nursing, RN or LPN. Takes a lot of teamwork.

:yeahthat:

[psalm, RN]

Toileting a patient is an excellent time to access ROM, skin, color of stool, etc. If the pt. uses a BSC or gets assist to the bathroom, we access gait, steadiness, color, HR.

One pt. in his 80s was embarrassed because he had occasions of bowel incontinence and was wearing a "depends". I told him matter of factly that maybe it was easier for women pts. to wear a brief because we were used to using kotex...and he would probably get back to being continent after the chemo was done. He whispered, "Thank you".

[withasmilelpn]

It is in the job description for all of us...in fact, the aides can't do what nurses do, but the nurses CAN do what aides do, and then some.

What you may find, is that in some places, RNs do more paperwork, management and delegation while the LPN is administering the medications and doing treatments, then, the aides doing more of the work you are speaking of. At my job, for example, there has been an uproar between the LPNs and RNs because they are "double assigned" together, and in many cases, the LPN is administering the medications for the 10-15 patients that she is sharing with the RN, while the RN may do the treatments, suctioning, catherization, etc... (there are some RNs that may not bother to do those, but that's mainly because of their personalities, not each RN is negligent.) However, the LPN has no hand in the care plans or any nursing notes, and the RN has to write notes on each of the patients that they are sharing, not always knowing whether or not the LPN or aide for that matter, have done all of the care in the plan. The LPN signs for her meds, or may chart why she held a med, but the rest of it falls on the RN.

If there is a patient that does need some sort of care such as diaper changing and there is a choice between who is going to do it between the LPN or RN, it may probably be the lesser titled person.

In order to avoid that type of work (and it would be hard to never, ever, NOT see it), you may have to venture into community nursing, such as clinics, teach, or go into management.

Doesn't sound like your facility really utilizes their LPNs appropriately. LPNs can chart, do trach care, caths, wounds. The patients that fall out of their scope of practice should be assigned to the RN. Like TPN, blood products and chemo is not in our scope in PA. I don't blame the staff being in an uproar.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I was an LPN for two years while getting my RN and worked in LTC. Yes, I did the "dirty" stuff. However, that was the least of my worries. Once I became an RN and moved to a level one trauma center, cleaning folks was actually a hoped-for event. It sure beat:

1. Telling the parents that their 17 y/o daughter had burned alive in a car accident (smell of burning flesh still lingers and that was 8 years ago!).

2. Watching a 30 something y/o female die right in front of me from meningitis.

3. Taking care of a child that had been systematically tortured to death.

Believe me, this puts the "dirty" stuff into perspective, believe me.