Here is a question I have been pondering. Is someone who has their license as a LPN/LVN considered to be a real nurse? How do most Helthcare professionals view LPN/LVN? When I get my LVN license will I be a nurse?
I know it says nurse in the title... licensed vocational nurse..... but are you considered by your colleagues to be a nurse? Does hospital administration consider the LPN/LVN to be a nurse? When you go out in public and someone asks what you are, do you say your're a nurse? Or do you say your an LPN/LVN?
Just thought I'd get it straight from the horses mouth :)
I'm attending school right now where they have a LVN program and I am so excited about it. Everyone in my class is striving to get into the program next year. But I keep hearing my mother say about someone else..... "Oh shes just a PRACTICAL nurse." As if the job the woman was doing wasn't important.
Thanks for any replies. You know how hard it is to get those repeating mother tapes out of your head. :chuckle
A lot of the programs in MN for LPN's have waiting lists till like 2010 or something - it's because since it's so hard to get into an RN program, nearly impossible here...they figure they go for the LPN and then go right into an LPN-ADN bridge program. Of course you have to have 6 mos expereince as an LPN there as well. It would seem that we're all aiming for RN- I don't know anyone who is just sticking with LPN.
i dont agree with common idea that LPN's stay in nursing homes and are just a notch above the CNAs, LPn is truly a state of mind, it is what you make it. Im an LPN and sure theres certain tasks that i wish i could DELEGATE instaed of DO but i work in the ER i start iv's, hang lines, i work as part of the trauma team in a pediatric hospital(cpr, intubating, emergency decisions...). so no, your not stuck to passing endless meds, and charting i'&o's. do what you want, it all comes down to thinking skills and motivation. im in school now for my RN because the money situation looks better on that side, but i dont think im any less competent as an LPN. yes i run circles around them. :loveya:
Specializes in med/surg/tele/neuro/rehab/corrections.
Hello everyone and thank you for your thoughtful replies. I just don't want to be made to feel less when I get on the job or about my career choice. It looks like a few of you may have had some trouble with that but most have garnered respect in tehir chosen profession. I do want to go on to get my RN after I get my LVN and when I do I will be an experienced nurse already.
Yeah I don't think this turned into an LVN vs RN discussion and I"m glad because that's not at all what I was thinking about when I started this thread. I just kept hearing my mother's voice with that comment she made and now I have some ammunition to fight that with.
I too, am going through an LPN program. Wea re definitely REAL nurses! As healthcare is changing, so have the responsibilities of nurses. Most LPNS are required to do what only RNs did 20 years ago. The RN's are considered in my state to be "professional" nurses. I suppose that means an LPN equates to a paraprofessional, but definitely still a nurse!
I will be going on to my RN after, mostly because of what someone else's teachers were implying. Where I live they have cut out almost all of the LPN positions in the hospitals. You can pretty much count on having to work in long term care as an LPN around here. However, there are always a few other options. Where I live there are ALWAYS openings at our state mental hospital for LPNs (which is where I want to work anyway) and there are always doctors' offices, home health agencies, school nurse, and a couple other places to look into. One of my profs has said that she believes LPNs are going to be obsolete in another 20 years. ALot of it has to do with nurses taking on more and more responsibility as there are more shortages. Also changes in managed care, etc., now some nurses can do what only doctors used to able to do, so places want that higher degree.
To my understanding, the majority of floor nursing you learn in an LPN program. The majority of your clinicals are already done at that point. I've been told that the clinicals you go through in RN, are really just more specialized. You've already learned all the basic nursing....
I just don't want to be made to feel less when I get on the job or about my career choice. :)
That will not happen, unless you allow it to happen. Yes, people are going to try to make you feel less of a nurse, or maybe inadvertently make you feel that way not knowing how rude they are.
But only you have control over how you feel. No one can make you feel anything regardless of what they say. Don't give anyone the power over you.
Although I'm in a student in an ADN program, I'm so excited to be eligible to test for the NCLEX-PN next summer, so I can finally say & feel like "I'm a NURSE". (if I pass of course! )
I had a similar dissapointing discussion with my mother-in-law about a month ago, she stated how awful and dangerous she thinks it is that LPN's pass meds. She said she thinks only RN's should. I was shocked that she was say such a ignorant thing, after all she was a former nurse (in England). Yes, I set her straight, but her reply was, "Oh, maybe I confused CNA with LPN".
YES!!!!!!!!!! An LPN/LVN IS a NURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was an LPN for 15 years in Florida. I worked in a hospital too! I can honestly say that there is only a FEW things that an RN could do that my hospital does not allow LPN's to do like hang blood, give cardiac IV pushes and maybe a couple of other things. I am an RN now and I value every year that I was an LPN. YES,YES,YES, you are a REAL nurse even though some people will treat you like you are not. They are small minded and VERY uneducated!!!!!!!!!! Good luck to you!!!!!!!
) 
KatieBell
875 Posts
Never been a LPN myself, and have only worked with 2, but yes, they are real nurses. I can't see it any other way.