Do LPN's get the pay they deserve?

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I am an LPN in SW Missouri. I make $11.50 an hour. I do 90% of the same job that the RN's do on my floor. Am I whining? Do LPN's really get what they deserve? Does LPN really stand for Low Paid Nurse?

When I had my knee surgery, the nurse who took the best care of me was an LPN, the worst one was an RN. This was at one of those "boutique specialty hospitals" where the cases are not nearly as critical.

I don't think LPN's are entitled to make as much as an RN. That is my opinion and I am sticking to it. If I were in LTC, I would have no issues and would probably prefer an LPN taking care of me because that is their homefield advantage. If I were in a big city hospital on a cardiac floor with all the drips and extra trimmings, I would in no way feel comfortable with an LPN managing my care. I'm not speaking as an RN...I'm speaking as a patient.

All nurses are underpaid no matter what their degree!! If I am working the floor and there is an LPN there, chances are pretty good that she is practicing under the umbrella of my license. Yes, I would expect to get paid more for that added responsibility. Just as there are some bad RN's out there...there are equally some bad LPN's. All of which you have to wonder how they manage to dress themselves in the morning. :uhoh3:

As for the payscale in SW Mo...I travel down there a lot because of family. The cost of living is considerably low, especially when you compare it to Kansas City. I'm only saying that salaries often reflect the cost of living for that particular area. While we may gasp and admonish how bad $12 and hour is for a LPN, we may want to consider that for that particular area...that's probably a pretty good salary. I'm not saying it to be mean, but that is economics, y'all. I know I will get flamed for this...so I am going to go find my flame retardant suit. :chair:

...one little tidbit, remember LPN's specialty is direct care, they are supposed to be better at it. If you did the same thing over and over and over again, wouldn't you be pretty good at it?:rotfl:
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I am an LPN in SW Missouri. I make $11.50 an hour. I do 90% of the same job that the RN's do on my floor. Am I whining? Do LPN's really get what they deserve? Does LPN really stand for Low Paid Nurse?
Depends on Hospital and Locality-I made about $20/hr. when I left last year-due to the workload. I was topped out on my pay grade. The VA system for LPNs starts at GS3(which might pay $8-$9 hourly) If you persist and saty until you reach Top Scale a GS6 it would pay probably-$20.50'hr. and where I was-I also received locality pay-so that accounts for my Rate.In the GS levels-there are steps,1-10. I would say that on my floor-our work was 90% of an RN's respon sability. I left the VA due to stress and returned to home health-and grossed $70000 in 2003. Mike:rolleyes::rolleyes:
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PERSONALLY, 11 bucks an hr is SO LOW it's outragous,

I have been reading these post with a very open mind. It wasn't that long ago when I was an LPN working Med/Surg for $12.07/hr. Now I am a RN and one of the night shift charge nurses for the unit. I make $14.77/hr. I currently have 3 LPNs working on my unit and the nights that they work doubles my patient load. As the RN I am responsible for the LPNs patients. I also have to do IV push meds and IV starts. My facility does not allow LPNs to call doctors or take telephone orders. IMO LPNs are not paid what they deserve, but neither are RNs. There has been nights when I was the only RN on the Med/Surg unit with 2 LPNs. These nights are horrible. The LPNs on my unit are well trained, but the LPNs still cannot perform several number of tasks that the RN must do.

To sum up this long rant, both LPNs and RNs deserve a decent wage.

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PERSONALLY, 11 bucks an hr is SO LOW it's outragous,

I have been reading these post with a very open mind. It wasn't that long ago when I was an LPN working Med/Surg for $12.07/hr. Now I am a RN and one of the night shift charge nurses for the unit. I make $14.77/hr. I currently have 3 LPNs working on my unit and the nights that they work doubles my patient load. As the RN I am responsible for the LPNs patients. I also have to do IV push meds and IV starts. My facility does not allow LPNs to call doctors or take telephone orders. IMO LPNs are not paid what they deserve, but neither are RNs. There has been nights when I was the only RN on the Med/Surg unit with 2 LPNs. These nights are horrible. The LPNs on my unit are well trained, but the LPNs still cannot perform several number of tasks that the RN must do.

Here in Spokane Washington, Sacred Heart just laid off ALL of their LPNs and are hiring more RN's and CNA's to replace them. They cited the same issues that you just did. An RN has double the patient load & responsibility when there are LPN's. They are not a bargain to have. They are too limited in their scope of practice and make more work for the RN.

To answer your question, NO, as an RN, you do not get paid enough to be responsible for someones else' patients. LPNs get paid enough in my opinion realted to their low level of education and limited scope of practice.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

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As a night nurse in LTC, I am paid $15.50 per hour, and I work in Arkansas. The dayshift nurses at this facility are paid $12.50 per hour. My problem is that I've been an LPN for 15 years, and yet the other night nurse, a new grad LPN, makes $15.00 per hour. We have no insurance or other benifits, except we are paid holiday pay and get 2 weeks paid vacation every year.

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PERSONALLY, 11 bucks an hr is SO LOW it's outragous,

I have been reading these post with a very open mind. It wasn't that long ago when I was an LPN working Med/Surg for $12.07/hr. Now I am a RN and one of the night shift charge nurses for the unit. I make $14.77/hr. I currently have 3 LPNs working on my unit and the nights that they work doubles my patient load. As the RN I am responsible for the LPNs patients. I also have to do IV push meds and IV starts. My facility does not allow LPNs to call doctors or take telephone orders. IMO LPNs are not paid what they deserve, but neither are RNs. There has been nights when I was the only RN on the Med/Surg unit with 2 LPNs. These nights are horrible. The LPNs on my unit are well trained, but the LPNs still cannot perform several number of tasks that the RN must do.

Here in Spokane Washington, Sacred Heart just laid off ALL of their LPNs and are hiring more RN's and CNA's to replace them. They cited the same issues that you just did. An RN has double the patient load & responsibility when there are LPN's. They are not a bargain to have. They are too limited in their scope of practice and make more work for the RN.

To answer your question, NO, as an RN, you do not get paid enough to be responsible for someones else' patients. LPNs get paid enough in my opinion realted to their low level of education and limited scope of practice.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

both of those wages sound horribly low! Rn and Lpn :o, any chance of changing to another hospital? how are you paying off your loans for your BSN! yikes :uhoh21: Is this the norm in the spokane area? (student here in SW washington working on Rn-BSN prereqs)

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The LPN's where I work do most of the same work the RN's do, but at a cheaper rate. Alot of LPN's have or are going back to nursing school. LPN's work very hard for little pay considering what they do.

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PERSONALLY, 11 bucks an hr is SO LOW it's outragous,

I have been reading these post with a very open mind. It wasn't that long ago when I was an LPN working Med/Surg for $12.07/hr. Now I am a RN and one of the night shift charge nurses for the unit. I make $14.77/hr. I currently have 3 LPNs working on my unit and the nights that they work doubles my patient load. As the RN I am responsible for the LPNs patients. I also have to do IV push meds and IV starts. My facility does not allow LPNs to call doctors or take telephone orders. IMO LPNs are not paid what they deserve, but neither are RNs. There has been nights when I was the only RN on the Med/Surg unit with 2 LPNs. These nights are horrible. The LPNs on my unit are well trained, but the LPNs still cannot perform several number of tasks that the RN must do.

Here in Spokane Washington, Sacred Heart just laid off ALL of their LPNs and are hiring more RN's and CNA's to replace them. They cited the same issues that you just did. An RN has double the patient load & responsibility when there are LPN's. They are not a bargain to have. They are too limited in their scope of practice and make more work for the RN.

To answer your question, NO, as an RN, you do not get paid enough to be responsible for someones else' patients. LPNs get paid enough in my opinion realted to their low level of education and limited scope of practice.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

All state boards are differ-in their scope of practice. Here in Fl. the only big difference that seperates us is--1) we have to have an addmission countersigned by an RN --2) WE cannot iniate blood --but we change after the 1st bag--3)we can not give IV push meds-but neither can an RN unless she ICU priveleges.--not much diff. is there-Mike
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Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.

I have been an LPN and am now an RN. I knew as an LPN that I was making all that I could with my level of education. It's not about doing the same job it's about the piece of paper that you have hanging on the wall. I worked hard for 3 years to get my RN. The education was far more in depth than my LPN program was. Having been both I can honestly say that "I" believe we all respectively get paid what we should.

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Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.

I made $15.78 an hour as an LPN and $24.87 as an RN. I am in Nashville Tennessee. I hope we never move to Wisconsin (no offense) I'm sure it's great but the salaries suck !

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i'm and lpn in virginia and working 2nd shift i make 14.87 and hour, still not enough money considering you have too many patients and not enough staff and people's lives in your hands

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i'm and lpn in virginia and working 2nd shift i make 14.87 and hour, still not enough money considering you have too many patients and not enough staff and people's lives in your hands
Thats why I left the hospital and work Home Health(florida) . Too many pts. and not enough$$$. In home health I see one pt. at a time and I hustle on my route(6 pts) BID so 72 weekly. I hit $70000 last year and if I picked up a few more pts. I could have hit $100000 last year. Mike Try Home Health-you may like it.:coollook:
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