Feeling Upset Please Help

mydesygn · Sep 25, 2006

I am an LVN student planning to transfer to a BSN program after I finish. I am a little upset cause I feel like I am kinda waisting my money. Whta exactly do LVNs do that is so different from what techs do. My books have such elemetary subject matter that I feel like I already know most of it before even going into it. I really want to be very involved in patient care and it seems like I am paying 23 grand to go to school for 18 months and then come out knowing how to give a few meds. I hope that I am very wrong. Some one please enlighten me.

In Texas, the LVN (LPN) pretty much do the same exact job as the RN and get paid 5-8 dollars less an hour to do it. Most LVN's go back for the RN for that reason. The facility really defines what an LVNs practice limitations are. They are very broad here in Texas. We recently hired an LVN from California. She was oriented as a new grad since her practice was so limited in California and did not administer IV medications, blood etc.. as is the practice here.

GiantHeart21 · Sep 25, 2006

Thank you everyone! I am feeling better now. I wish that CA did not have such strict limitations for LVNs. Thanks Agian I'll keep you posted.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2006

Whta exactly do LVNs do that is so different from what techs do.

LVNs are taking quite a bit more money to the bank than the techs in my area.

Patient care techs in my geographical area are paid between $8 and $12 per hour. LVNs are paid between $17 and $22 in city of residence to work at long term care and rehab skilled care nursing facilities. This LVN program will present more challenges as you approach your med-surg schooling. In the beginning they're all pretty basic.

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2006

I went from a Paramedic precepting other paramedics in the field to ADN nursing school at a community college so I think I know what you are asking. You will find a bigger responsibility with the license and yes some of the skills are the same. Stick it out, follow the teaching as the very basic things are what makes a good nurse. Much of what you learn in class will eventually become somewhat automatic, something you don't think about you just do. I can explain a cardiac cath procedure and make a bed at the same time or prime an IV and hang it on the IV pole while I answer questions about diabetes and I never forget to wash my hands before or after a procedure because it has become a part of the procedure to me. These learned from repetition things save me a lot of time now.

Princess74 · Sep 30, 2006

Ben's right, the LPN programs in Virginia are hard. I'm lucky that I even have time to sleep some nights and I'm only in my first semester, its going to get worse. It is true that LPNs here are allowed to do everything a RN can do, with just a few exceptions. Maybe thats why is tougher here, maybe it just seems harder because I work too many hours? Techs make about $7 an hour less than LPNs, RNs make $5 an hour more than LPNs.