Hello everyone. I am new to the forum. Just thought I would drop in and say some things that I know if you are an LPN , then you can clearly relate to what I am saying (maybe). First of all I would like to say that getting into LPN school was one of the most exciting moments in my life, as well as completing the program and passing state boards. I have been an lpn since 1998, but as years passed I began to see and hear just how much an lpn was underrated as to having lack of skill, education, knowledge, and ability to care for their patients. I have seen as well as experienced patients, patients families, as well as other medical staff professions say that lpns are not real nurses, they dont want an lpn to care for them, or if you are caring for them the family/patient complements the excellent nursing care being given, but as soon as they realize that you're an lpn instead of an RN then alot of their attitudes change. I live in a part of FL where basically the only stable job an lpn can get that pays decent is in a LTC facility which can quickly cause burnout over a period of time (at least it did for me). I briefly did homecare, but mainly I and another lpn (which we were the only lpns there) were told by the RNs "you should go back to school to be a real nurse". Soon or later I was doing odd jobs rather than the job that I was hired for. My experiences could go on and on. No commercial or billboard that I have ever seen has referred to lpns as nurses. Can somebody out there please tell me what lpns are, because we certainly are not referred to as a nurse. Don't get me wrong RNs do have more schooling than lpns and I DO UNDERSTAND the difference ,but people need to realize that lpns didnt just get something handed to them, we had to earn what we got. There are good and bad RNS AND LPNS. I know that I am a good, caring and competent lpn but I'm afraid that my zeal to be a nurse is almost lost.
Pagandeva----excellent post !! You said what I was trying to say in my post. RN's and LPN's have different roles but those roles involve overlaping duties. I do believe that the LPN's that have a difficult time with the RN's sometimes have a general perception that RN's treat them badly or feel they are superior. I realize that there are those RN's that do that to LPN's but in reality I've seen RN's do the same to other RN's and I think it stems from insecurity in themselves. It is a sad situation because as the saying goes one bad apple................
I enjoy this hierarchy of nursing so much that I have been a LPN for less than one year and am thinking of going back to school for something totally unrelated to nursing. I've worked as a CNA and as a Pharmacy Technician, which are both part of a support system, but working as a LPN falls into a different type of category. I'm not sure which, but somewhere else. Since I've been a LPN, I've never been made to fell so inadaquate in my life. I was never made to feel less than what I was in the other areas I worked in. The bad thing is that because of this heirarchy, I'm pretty much sure as soon as my kids are a couple of years older, I'm going back to school, but I don't think for nursing. I don't want to continue in a field where we are supposed to be the most caring and nurturing of all professions, but are the most petty, competitive and demeaning. I'm not singling out RN's for the LPN's limited scope of practice, but the societal(sp) norm of today and the government that supports it. I want to work in a profession where I am treated as either equal or part of a team, and not any less. The sad thing is, is that I'm the first person to graduate from high school or go to college in my whole family and at one time when I started my pre-reqs I thoroughly thought nursing was what I wanted, but I did not realize you weren't good enough until you received your master or higher. One thing that makes me angry is that working at a family practice clinic and in LTC at present, my patients love me and I thorougly care for all of them and am an excellent nurse. None of them know I'm just a LPN and I really don't think they care, but everyone else does, (society). I hope that society isn't set itself up for a real nursing shortage when the people who were going to go to LPN school with the hopes of working anywhere they wanted, decide to change their career, like myself, because of so much limitation. What would the world be like without any LPN's? If they keep limiting us and belittling us, it may come to that. We somehow need to stand together and get these facilities and government to let us practice to our full potential.
I can hear your frustration and bitterness throughout your post. You are sooo right, but what are you doing this for?? Recognition? Self satisfaction of a job well done?? I quit LPN school before because of all the negativity associated with LPNs vs. RNs, and now I am going back to LPN school, and now that I am grown up, 41, and was about 27 before...and I have been in RN school, but we moved out of the country both times, then I have to say, I have matured and found what really matters is my own happiness. No one can dictate to me my own self worth except myself and God. I am who I am based on what God made me to be....and if I never get my RN, then so be it, that was God's will, and I know who I am so I could care less what people think. My attitude and the way I perform my job and my patients will all I need to confirm my ability. The respect I gain for my job will be done out of how I perform, not what letters go behind my name, and if they are disrespectful, then so be it, its their problem not mine!
I will just make sure that everyone around me will know that I am the type of nurse they can come to do get it done correctly and done right....regardless if I am an LPN or RN. Just make sure your decisions are based out of careful, thoughtful consideration and not anger or a sense of "getcha back".
Be true to yourself, sounds like you are one heck of a nurse, and they will be sorry they lost you....just make sure its not to teach them a lesson, and because your desires are truly changed....I just feel when I read your post, God say to me that the anger is clouding your judgement, so put it to prayer and thoughtful consideration and God will direct your path :)
I hope you don't mind me saying so, but I hate to see a wonderful NURSE leave the profession.....we do need you!!! I want to learn from nurses like you!!!
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Pagandeva----excellent post !! You said what I was trying to say in my post. RN's and LPN's have different roles but those roles involve overlaping duties. I do believe that the LPN's that have a difficult time with the RN's sometimes have a general perception that RN's treat them badly or feel they are superior. I realize that there are those RN's that do that to LPN's but in reality I've seen RN's do the same to other RN's and I think it stems from insecurity in themselves. It is a sad situation because as the saying goes one bad apple................
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I can hear your frustration and bitterness throughout your post. You are sooo right, but what are you doing this for?? Recognition? Self satisfaction of a job well done?? I quit LPN school before because of all the negativity associated with LPNs vs. RNs, and now I am going back to LPN school, and now that I am grown up, 41, and was about 27 before...and I have been in RN school, but we moved out of the country both times, then I have to say, I have matured and found what really matters is my own happiness. No one can dictate to me my own self worth except myself and God. I am who I am based on what God made me to be....and if I never get my RN, then so be it, that was God's will, and I know who I am so I could care less what people think. My attitude and the way I perform my job and my patients will all I need to confirm my ability. The respect I gain for my job will be done out of how I perform, not what letters go behind my name, and if they are disrespectful, then so be it, its their problem not mine!
I will just make sure that everyone around me will know that I am the type of nurse they can come to do get it done correctly and done right....regardless if I am an LPN or RN. Just make sure your decisions are based out of careful, thoughtful consideration and not anger or a sense of "getcha back".
Be true to yourself, sounds like you are one heck of a nurse, and they will be sorry they lost you....just make sure its not to teach them a lesson, and because your desires are truly changed....I just feel when I read your post, God say to me that the anger is clouding your judgement, so put it to prayer and thoughtful consideration and God will direct your path :)
I hope you don't mind me saying so, but I hate to see a wonderful NURSE leave the profession.....we do need you!!! I want to learn from nurses like you!!!
:)
Deb
I am glad that you decided to follow your heart and re-enter LPN school after your experiences. It is true, we cannot live through someone else's eyes or expectations.
Kymmi
340 Posts
Pagandeva----excellent post !! You said what I was trying to say in my post. RN's and LPN's have different roles but those roles involve overlaping duties. I do believe that the LPN's that have a difficult time with the RN's sometimes have a general perception that RN's treat them badly or feel they are superior. I realize that there are those RN's that do that to LPN's but in reality I've seen RN's do the same to other RN's and I think it stems from insecurity in themselves. It is a sad situation because as the saying goes one bad apple................