As an LPN, I can't help but feel like I'm not a "real nurse"

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I've been an LPN for about 3 years and I work in LTC. Whenever the topic of my job comes up I can't help but notice that people are disappointed in my response. First I'm an LPN and not an RN and then I work in LTC and not a hospital ... Anyone else? How do you deal with it?

Specializes in FNP.

I've been in your shoes before went from LPN to RN (ADN) to BSN to NP and no matter what you do people are always going to expect more from you. People have said " why didn't you go to med school, your very smart" as if NP's are not!! Soooooooo you don't even get a break in that role either. LOL, now, I'm pursuing Law School so I won't hear that again,, nothing higher than that other than becoming a Judge welp, we will see how far you and I can go, conundrum are everywhere!!. Good luck.

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Specializes in LTC, NEUROLOGY, REHAB.

The only input I can give is from my own standpoint. I became an LVN in California straight out of the USAF. I did various jobs in LTC too and I then was head-hunted by the local pharmacy chain to go work with them as a nurse "consultant" adding an extra nursing perspective on their drug regimen reviews and taking over the audits such as med pass. I also gave inservices and did a CNA course....all as an LVN. Then my lovely wife ran off with a family friend and my world imploded. I moved back to my birthplace in England expecting to carry on with my LVN career. WRONG!! I was shot down in flames. Their is no equivalent role in the U.K and so - having sent letter after letter to the UKCC governing body for nursing in England, I had no alternative than to quit trying. They wanted me to do 3 more full time years in college to become a British RN! I was fuming...and gave up nursing entirely. Then, in 2008 I had MOF...and somehow survived although it left me with fatigue issues and nerve problems. I had been made redundant from my job in telecoms when that happened and I decided to go back to nursing...no matter what the grade. I have been a "Care Support Worker" ( I LOATHE that title) since late 2008. So the bottom line really....is not to settle for the LVN....go on and get your RN if you want to see doors open to new possibilities...and should you even begin to contemplate working in another country....mark my words....your LVN licence won't get you a job.

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Being an LPN is being a real nurse. I understand you frustration, though. As an LPN I frequently felt caught between a tech and a RN, picking up duties of both. I did go through a bridge program, and then got my BSN. For me, it was a good move, as it opened up more opportunities. I really like my current position, and could not have done it as an LPN. But you have to do whatever you feel is right for you.

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Specializes in Home health.

I have been an LPN for 9 years now. LPN was not where I wanted to be when I started my nursing education. In fact it wasn’t even a blip on my radar when I started my education at all. I started out pre med with the intentions of becoming a pediatrician. During pre med I met a lot of med students and discovered that the MD wasn’t for me. I wanted to be more hands on and personal with my patients. After wasting a lot of money and acquiring a lot of student debt, I dropped out of pre med and planned to go for my RN BSN. Life had a different plan for me though because once I moved back home I ended up getting married and having children. I wanted to stay home with them until they started school and then I would go for my RN BSN. Again life said no because just before my youngest was school age, life handed me a nasty divorce that left me with 2 small kids and nothing I was qualified to do that would make enough to support them on my own. That’s where LPN school came in for me. I needed a decent pay check and I needed it quick. Once I started school the plan was always I’ll go back for my RN bridge over work my way up. I was the first of my class with an active license and before pinning and graduation I was already working on the med/surg floor of my local hospital. I was giving and drawing blood doing everything the RNs did with less paperwork. I gained a lot of experience. I moved into mental health and later LTC working with patients of all ages and conditions through out my career. Always feeling like I was less of a nurse than the RNs for the same comments you hear. I was 3 years into my LPN career feeling inadequate and incompetent from those comments and just about to go back for my RN when I got a call from a home health agency I didn’t apply to that saw my resume on indeed. I was an LPN with experience in pediatric to geriatric. Mental health and developmental disabilities, With g-tube, trach/vent, iv, blood the whole 9 yards. I would be paid a lot more money, I would not work weekends, I would have insurance, paid holidays, and PTO. All things I had not yet experienced in my career. The best part was I could set my own schedule, not overtime mandate or restrictions. I could work as much or as little as I wanted/needed. I figured it was way too good of an opportunity to pass up. It would be great pay, hours and insurance and allow me to get my RN. So I took the offer. Well here I am 6 years later. I never got the RN, because after a year in home health here is what I learned. No matter what anyone says once you find that place in your field that you call home, be it hospital, home health, LTC, whatever. And you know that’s the area you want things change. The title doesn’t matter. LPN, RN-ADN, RN-BSN we are all nurses. What matters is getting up to go to your shift and being happy and content with what you are doing. All nurses make a difference. We all have a part to play in health care from CNA to MD. What matters is finding where you are happy. Because that is where you will preform at your best, that is where you will be the most valuable to your patients. I wanted hands on time with my patients. I needed work/ life balance. I found everything I needed and wanted in home health as an LPN. The RNs at my company don’t have that. They spend most of their time doing paperwork, often into overtime hours that they aren’t paid extra for because they are salary. Me, I’m paid by case. Which means by the time you break down the hours worked by the pay, I’m making what the RN makes, with potential to make more than the RN if I work overtime. The RN is on call every week night and one weekend a month. I only take call one weekend every other month. The moral of my story and advice I give is that the letters behind our name aren’t going to make us happy. My advice is to find your area first. Once you find the area you want pay attention to the requirements and demands of the different job titles and credentials. If you want what the higher credentials require, and that’s what will Benefit you and your life then go for the RN. But if it isn’t something you want then stay where you are happy. Getting the RN just because it’s what will make random people of no importance think of you as a “real nurse” will only bring you misery and make you want to walk away from your calling all together. But finding the area of the field with the level of knowledge, skill use and requirements you want out of life will make you happy and content with yourself and your position. And if you are happy and love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. Me, I am a home health LPN, with a ton of experience in all skills of nursing, and no desire anymore to get my RN. I love what I do and every single day I make a difference and save lives. Which is all I ever wanted in the first place. I hope you find your home in nursing and always know that you are a full fledged, life saving, difference making, license holding NURSE!

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Specializes in wound care/rehabilitative care.

I love that perception is key to how you feel walking on the floor every day. I chose to be a nurse after a successful career in medical management. I was able to obtain a BA as a single parent and not become an RN BSN at that time simply because at the time they did not have evening/weekend programs as they do today. I bring a nice mentality as a former manager to the floor as an LPN and only recently during the COVID crisis did I feel the "Oh, you're an LPN" mentality. We all received a blast email to place our names in a float pool to work elsewhere, and after feeling confident having COVID patients, and knowing the proper PPE usage I threw in my stethescope to help my fellow nurse colleagues. Imagine my surprise when there was no area for me, and LPN, in the nursing pool ? I emailed the author of the email blast and received this reply, "LPN's are in the non-nursing personnel." YUP! In a rural hospital working as an inpatient nurse, caring for COVID patients, I was considered non-nursing personnel. I decided to email the VP of Clinical nursing staff and made a stand for LPN's within our large network system. Hopefully things will change, but at least I stood up for myself.
Good luck out there wherever you land, remaining an LPN, moving on to RN, BSN, MSN and above. Hold your head up. We are nurses, and we care for those that need us.

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Heck, I’m an LPN in a doctor’s office and people are almost ashamed they ask what hospital I work in when I answer. I get “oh, okay. . .” Or even ”oh, sorry”. Just know you are a nurse, that’s what the N in LPN stands for, and LTC takes a very special skill set and mentality that most people don’t have. You’re doing awesome work.

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Specializes in Lpn.

No way. Be proud of who u r. Way proud. Who cares what anyone  thinks. I had all of my RN classes done. Except my 5 weeks of  clinical. Which was my job anyway. I quit. I saw how all the nurses in ice were with the doctors. Bad stuff. And I said. That's OK. I don't want to be a part of that game. Then it was icy. The rns carried on. Laughed real loud. Swore. Thats why  I thought. No way. Stick it

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Hi!! I've been an LPN for 11 years and proud of it! Received my license at a late age of 50+ years. It was a proud moment on that graduation day when my daughter, an RN, was there on stage to give me my pin. I choose not to go for my RN because I am completely satisfied as an LPN. Besides that, I did not want to spend more time in school getting pre reqs before going for RN. I love my job as an LPN I & would not trade it for anything else in the world!!

 

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Specializes in wound care/rehabilitative care.
2 hours ago, limey said:

Hi!! I've been an LPN for 11 years and proud of it! Received my license at a late age of 50+ years. It was a proud moment on that graduation day when my daughter, an RN, was there on stage to give me my pin. I choose not to go for my RN because I am completely satisfied as an LPN. Besides that, I did not want to spend more time in school getting pre reqs before going for RN. I love my job as an LPN I & would not trade it for anything else in the world!!

 

Limey, AWESOME and reassuring to me! Thank you for the post. I too became an LPN at 50. A second career for me. I admit I struggled a little after starting in a hospital rehab unit with feeling  "less than", but there was no way I wanted more pre req's, some repeats in order to change my title. I LOVE every day I am on the unit doing what I want to do now as a nurse.

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