LPN/RN ...Is it all the same? Please Advise!

monkeybug · Oct 2, 2012

I have never worked as an LPN, so I don't have a lot of basis of comparison, but I think it's the same all over. Okay, maybe not as bad as the facility you described (that sounds appalling!), but still bad. I left bedside nursing after 15 years. I've stayed at the hospital per diem, but I think I'm going to just completely cut ties. I did it because I was so frustrated at staffing issues and the ridiculousness that is patient satisfaction. I got sick and tired of reaching the end of a shift and realizing that I had not peed all day. If an inmate in a prison was denied bathroom privileges for 12 hours it would be a human rights issue, but for nurses it's just another day. And I worked L&D, I cannot imagine what conditions are like in med/surg. I actually would have liked to work as an LPN in our unit. We used LPNs as scrub techs for c-sections and to do recoveries and assist with admissions and clerking. Some days they were the only ones that got to sit down. Then again, there were days when we would have back-to-back sections so they would be in the OR basically all day, but we always would make the doctors wait so they would at least get a lunch break--can't have the tech fainting into someones open abdomen!

uRNmyway, ASN, RN · Oct 2, 2012

Depends on where you work. Being an RN is just as stressful, but for different reasons. However, as an RN, you have more opportunities to get away from the bedside, if that is what is freaking you out. Why don't you look at home health? You have one or two patients at a time, and pay is probably better than working for a LTC.

sleepRN, ADN, BSN, RN · Oct 2, 2012

I'm an RN in a hospital, med-surg. My mom is an LPN at a SNF, rehab. When she first started there she loved her job. Now, since management companies bought all the SNF's in the area, she hates her job. When I hear her talk about her job I feel very fortunate. She tells me, "stay away from long term care. Stay in the hospital". On the whole, I like my job. You should go for it.

j464335 · Oct 2, 2012

sleepRN... Your Mom is right, stay away from SNF's. I am convinced they are a small piece of hell on earth! Now with that new law they put on Hospitals being penalized for re-admit's an medicare Pt's I can only imagine how bad it's going to get. We will be stuck with with the liabilty because the Dr.'s won't send them out from the facilities. :no:

j464335 · Oct 2, 2012

As a LPN in a rural MO area, the only jobs for LPN's in my area are SNF's (the bad ones). The hospital's, home healthcare companies, staffing agencies, etc.. All want RN's! And due to 6 ASN-RN programs in the area churining out 2 classes a year, they get them!

I would give anything to work as a scrub tech...sounds like a dream job to me right now!

jreynrn · Oct 4, 2012

I was never an LPN, but I feel I can confidently say you experience the same things as an RN as well. I am per diem right now and so burned out with bedside nursing. Just the other day, I felt like I was on an island by myself. I was working with a bunch of nurses I had never met before but they normally all work together, thrown on a unit I had never worked before that has its own systems in place and do things their own way. Although I've been working at this hospital a while, I'd never been on this unit before. I felt as though I had just stepped into a foreign land. I was given the hardest, heaviest assignment (remember, I'm per diem... happens regularly) on a floor that was very unfamiliar to me. I got all the admissions that night. No one would help me. I didn't know where anything was. I didn't know how to enter in their "special" orders and things like that into the computer... I felt like I was lost. My night finished with me being yelled at by a supervisor in front of all my fellow nurses for something I had nothing to do with... which thankfully she came to realize but never apologized for yelling at me. My point is, LPN/RN, doesn't really matter. Nursing is nursing is nursing. The crapola hits the fan and you get treated like pooh a lot of times no matter what the initials are at the end of your name. The fact that you show empathy and care about your patients enough to help them to the bathroom and want to preserve their dignity says to me, you were cut out for this work. You just need to avoid the places like you described in your post and accept that even in your dream job, there are sucky moments. Its nursing. It is what it is. Hope I helped.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Oct 4, 2012

I worked as an LPN for 4 years and now I'm an RN.

They're not the same role. Different education, different licensure, different accountability, and different pay is the easiest way to explain it. Being an LPN was an aggravating experience for me. Although I'm still aggravated as an RN, at least I earn significantly more money for my aggravation.

The LPN's role is physically, emotionally, and socially hard. The RN's job is physically, emotionally, socially, and politically hard because, in the nursing hierarchy, the buck usually stops with the RN.

AudraHallLPN · Oct 4, 2012

I am an LPN and have been for 23 years. I worked LTC for 13 years before going to work for a private practice doctor. Although I didn't know at the time I worked LTC, i was miserable. I love family practice and have a great working relationship with the doctor I work for. I found my niche. I guess what I am trying to say is hang in there you will find your place. I agree with jreynrn, nursing is nursing and it is what it is.

trai1971 · Oct 4, 2012

I'm an RN and have worked in LTC my entire nursing career (nearly 20 years), and in my experience, in LTC there is virtually no difference between LPNs & RNs in the LTC setting. I hope that you find a facility you like better. Nursing is nursing. It's tough and it's rewarding. Luckily we have so many options in the area and scope of nursing that we can choose to work in. Good luck to you.

AmericianBulldog · Oct 4, 2012

All nurses get burned out especially working in LTC. I am a LPN and I was in the LTC facilities for 15 years. I was offered a great job for a cardiologist in Illinois. I have been working for him side by side for 8 years. I love it. The other doctors have RNs for nurses and some not all of them are on call one weekend a month. So other than that not much difference. I have been told by the other docs and supervisors that if all LPNs worked like you we would hire more. So yes RNs get paid more and have more book education but I have the real world experience that helps out. I have considered getting my RN but timing is not right in my life at this time. So both has its pros n cons but don't give up on ur LPN license so easily there are good jobs out there they just take time to find and knowing the right people help too. I also used my pull to get another LPN hired on for a neurologist in the same building and she is doing wonders for that doc too. Don't sell yourself or all LPNs short we are all people just like the RNs. We all are here for one reason only........THE PATIENT :)

Jess_Missouri_RN · Oct 4, 2012

I went straight to med/surg with 8 weeks orientation as a new grad. I find only new grads get a good orientation. If you've been a nurse for awhile, they throw you out there. Fortunatly I have been lucky with my two jobs. Leaving bedside after 2 years I went to home health and spent 4 weeks with a nurse before receiving a light caseload and sent off on my own. When I think of nursing and how bad it can be I encompass all of us and itbcan suck at any given time regardless of the degree. Like someone else posted, different degree, pay, and whatever but same BS.