Confused

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in learning disabilities/midwifery.

Please can someone help me make sense of all your abreviations for nursing staff.

Im a registered nurse i the UK and read all of these posts with interest, amusement and a growing confusion. What do all your abreviations mean, ADN's , RN's, LPN's, Im totally confused. I had a look at the glossary page but that only gave me the full titles and not actually what they stood for in a nursing manner. In the UK we have general nurses, mental health nurses, learning disability nurse, midwives, health visitors and nursing assistants. Obviously people specialise within their own field but they still keep their original title. Are your abreviations simply different specialities within nursing or are they different grades of nurse. If someone could help it would make the reading and understanding of a lot of these posts mush simplier.

Thanks a lot,

Lisa :confused:

Specializes in LTC, ER, ICU,.

"adn's , rn's, lpn's"

adn associate degree nursing [registered nurse] 2-3 years of liberal arts and nursing classes/there is a 4-5 year degree bsn (registered nurse)

rn [registered nurse] registered with state board of nursing after the completion of an diploma/adn/bsn school and the passing of state boards/nclex-rn

lpn/lvn licensed with state board of nursing after the completion of training/school and the passing of state boards/nclex-pn

lpn [licensed practical nurse] or lvn [licensed vocational nurse (california and texas u.s.a.)] 10 months-2 years of vocational/liberal arts/nursing classes (may either graduate with a certificate/diploma/ associate degree

diploma nurse [registered nurse] 3 years of mainly hospital clinicals and now some may also have liberal arts classes as well

Specializes in LTC, ER, ICU,.

by the way lisa, welcome to the board!

Specializes in Corrections, Psych, Med-Surg.

Check out the "glossary" button close to the upper right hand corner of your screen.

Hi Lisamct - the confused one - I can understand you confusion - we are confused here is the states. In further reading in the discussion group, you will see the varying levels of entry into nursing is a much debated, hotly discussed topic. And has been as long as I remember. In order to practice nursing as a registered nurse (RN) in the USA, one must take an exam - a national exam - the NCLEX. Requirements to take NCLEX (some,not all) are being a graduate of a NLN (national league of nursing) accredited school, completing a number of clinical hours, etc... The test is taken by graduates of AD (associate degree from a university)graduates, Diploma (graduates from a hospital based nursing school) graduates, and BSN (graduates from a college bachelors level sience of nursing track) graduates. Thus, the USA has 3 entry level of nursing for RNs - all who have had various levels of education - only one who has a bachelors degree. As long as the nursing program is NLN accredited, each of these levels of graduates sit for the exact same NCLEX exam, in the same room - and when you pass, you are a registered nurse. Crazy, HUH????? Anyway, hope this helped. I do not know much about LPN (licensed practical nurses)/LVN(licensed vocational nurses) as I have rarely worked with them. The other thing that complicates these issues is each state in USA has a state board of nursing that writes a nurse practice act for that state. The practice acts are not the same from state to state. The passing grade on the NCLEX is not the same for each state, so you can pass in one state and fail, thus not be able to work as a registered nurse in that state. Confusing? And because of all this, discussion ensues. Shouldn't there be one educational entry level into nursing? Who knows?? After you catch on to this, you can tackle graduate level nurses - MSN, MN, NP, APN, CRNA, FNP, etc... (masters level) and the 3 big ones PhD, DnS, and ???can't remember the others - doctorate level. good luck with studying the USA nursing system - OH and there are the certifications that nurses can get to add initials to their title. more confusing now? frankie

Specializes in learning disabilities/midwifery.

Thanks for the replies, I think I will be eternally confused with the USA nursing system. I dont Know if our system in the UK is better or worse, as I said we only have a few nursing titles denoting which field you work in. Our nurses are all either diploma or degree qualified however this doesnt make a difference to your title (or your salary) Once qualified we can continue on to complete a masters however this is also not noted. I dont know if its the same in the USA but over here your level of qualification also has no bearing on your salary, we have a grading system and an E Grade staff nurse educated to diploma level will get the same salary as an E Grade with a masters degree.

hey lisa...

i think the confusion is all around. i spent a semester in northern ireland on a nursing exchange... i couldn't understand your grading system and titles for the life of me!! it was the most wonderful trip i have ever taken, though. it is absolutely beautiful over there. i took the ferry over to scotland, too. i can't wait to go back again and again and again!!

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