Bye, Bye, LPN's

[gilf7243]

I work at a level 2 Trauma Center in Ohio. Recently they layed off all of the LPN"s. 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????

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

We just had a staff meeting and the handwriting's on the wall; they want the LPNs out of here (telemetry/ICU stepdown). I'm frantically trying to get into an RN program, but even with a 3.9 GPA and an undergraduate degree in something else, there's just not enough seats locally to get into a program. What ticks me off is we have nurses working at the hospital that are clinical instructors for the 2 schools in the area (and that means w/in 75 miles, each with a 3 year wait list) -- if the hospital is pushing us to become RNs or vamose, then why not HELP us by doing a bridge program at the hospital? Virginia has just recently said it won't accept Excelsior anymore, and the only onlines available are Indiana State, since Virginia says they want 500 clinical hours to accept a RN.

I can agree with that...create a bridge program right at the hospital. It makes sense because you can retain your own personnel. I think it is totally unfair to pull the rug out from under an incumbant LPN and have them scramble around for RN programs to accept them; especially if they were not prepared to go that route to begin with. I was recently reading an article in Advance Magazine that stated some of the LPNs went into these programs "kicking and screaming"...which would describe me to a "T".

[Bumashes, MSN, APRN, NP]

My hospital phased them out by stopping hiring them. Now, my hospital has no LPNs, and my hospital's sister property has maybe 2 left. Once they quit or retire then that's it for LPNs at my particular facility. It's crap. Our hospital is going for magnet status, so they're making many changes. They hired me with an ADN RN, but the unspoken agreement is that I WILL be going for my BSN shortly. Apparently, you have to have a certain percentage of the nursing staff with BSNs to get magnet status? Don't get me wrong, I love my hospital. It is very supportive compared to others I've read about. And it will be paying for my BSN, bringing classes to me at the hospital or online, however I wish. But still...

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

It's a sad affair, really. I say this because even though I am not interested in becoming an RN, I can see why people decide to do so. However, they are adding so much additional responsibilities that are impossible to perform that I can't see how it will lead to safer patient care even with higher education. It has become document care, and leaving patients by the wayside to suffer alone.