Bye, Bye, LPN's

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I work at a level 2 Trauma Center in Ohio. Recently they layed off all of the LPN"s. :cry: They offered them a few options to cross train for another position for less pay such as a nurse tech or Unit Secretary. However, this would be fairly big pay cut. I heard some had the option to go back for there RN. Not sure if hospital was paying or not. Some of the nurses have been there for years and have more on the job experience in their pinky than I have in my whole body. Some have opted to stay b/c they are so close to retirement. The severence pay wasn't good from what I hear. Just a few weeks worth. I feel terrible that this has happened to them and my heart goes out to them all. :heartbeat My question is: Is this the new trend? Are your hospitals doing the samething? What does this mean for LPN's out there if so????

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
What does this mean for LPN's out there if so????
While LPN hospital employment is declining in many regions of the US, LPN employment in nursing homes, home health agencies, prisons, and hospice is booming. Since today's 76,000,000 middle-aged baby boomers will be the elderly people of tomorrow, nursing homes and home health will be the wave of the future.
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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

A local hospital near me laid all their LPNs off about 10 years ago. 5 years later, they started hiring them again. I guess it looked like a good idea on paper...

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Specializes in NICU.

Our facility no longer hires LPNs for the hospital and the currently employed LPNs can't work in any of the critical care units. The only place the company will hire LPNs for are the clinics and outreach centers, and the pay is quite different. When the current LPNs leave the facility, that'll be it.

We're also phasing out all 8-hour unit secretaries - only. If they want to cross train as MAs or CNAs and work 12-hour shifts, they can stay....but might get switched to a different unit.

By contrast, the closest hospital to ours employs a lot of LPNs, and the pay is only about $0.25 different for new grads.....and they employ VERY few CNAs - like one per floor.

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I think this is the new trend. I live in california and most of the hospitals I know are not hiring LVN and they are encouraging thier current staff of LVN to go and get thier RN. They are offering tuition rebursment. Most of the Acute care hospitals here are phasing LVN out and every body will have an RN soon my guess is most nurses will need a BSN. I am a recently graduated RN (ADN) and I have having difficulty finding work. The local hospital Kaiser accepted only 12 New graduates and had a total of over 450 applicants mind you they are paying about $50.00 to start and full benifits day one so it is highly competetive. soon LVN will be a thing of the past here. PS I passes NCLEX after 75 questions!!!!

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Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.

Here in Northern California, there are very few LVN's in the acute care setting. The last three hospitals that I worked for were actively phasing out LVN's and now I see a trend towards unit secretaries/CNA's getting the boot.

Where will our future nurses come from now? A Cheerios box?

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We don't have LPNs, either...at least, we haven't hired them for years. So there are still a few left here and there; they aren't being laid off but are either being reassigned to non-acute care or are "support staff" in terms of nursing. Meaning that for staffing, they are counted as "part" of a nurse, if you can figure out how that goes. It's not like they can be assigned "part" of a patient!

Anyway, it's a trend that has been going on for some time, and will continue. Hospitals are looking for RNs, but LPNs are still needed in LTC by the bucketfuls.

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Specializes in LTC, med-surg, critial care.

My facility is odd. They have stopped hiring LVN's in all acute care except ED and urgent care. Urgent care only staffs LVN's and the LVN's in ED are regulated to the "fast track" area of the ED. All LVN's left in other departments were either encouraged to bridge over to RN or continue working until they retired. I only know of one LVN who will stay on until she retires but she's pretty close to it already.

As for long term care, the facility I work for has off site buildings that hire LVN's. There is a sub-acute facility that I worked at for a short time as an LVN that is mostly LVN's. It shares a building with a "transitional care" unit that staffs LVN's. There is also a assisted living/nursing home owned by the hospital that staffs LVN's.

I did LTC when I was an LVN and there is still no shortage of positions if one chooses to work LTC.

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My hospital seems to be doing the opposite. We are phasing out our support staff (NAs and PCSs, which are NAs who also draw blood for labs and do ECGs) in favor of licensed personnel. LPNs take a lot more burden off RNs since the LPNs can help pass meds.

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I work in a Level II trauma center in Illinois. My hospital just announced last week that they would be phasing out the LPN's over the next 3 years. They are offering to assist them in getting placed into an RN completion program, they also offer tuition and book payment, with the agreement to stay and work for a certain period of time, they are also offering them one 8 hour day of pay per week for classes or study paid. I know a lot of people don't have the desire to go back to school, but I think they are offering a decent option for them to look at.

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Specializes in Obs.

At the hospital where I work, all of the LPNs were phased out about 16 years ago...now they're being phased back in...go figure. Their training and scope of practice has expanded is my understanding, and with the massive shortage of RNs...that and they're paid about $12 less hourly. I'm guessing this is why they're making a comeback at my hospital. They have always been at the other hospitals in my region.

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My hospital feels like the "odd ball" here. I work as a PCT/US on a medsurg floor when out of all the 25-30 nursing positions we have only 7 are RN's and then to GN's. When I am US all I hear all day is, " Can you do this puch for me, can you hang this blood for me, etc. . . " I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for our few RN's sometimes. They normally only have 1 per shift- and we have 30 beds which normally stay full.

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