History of the LPN in Health Care

[lpnflorida]

I ran across this article which I also hope to find a correlate in regards to LPN's who practice in the United States. This article however gives a history of LPN"S in Canada. It goes on to break some of the myths which we become so crushed beneath in our quest to continue to practice in the Hospital setting or in health care in general. Below is an excerpt from the article > I will post a link at the bottom of the page in regards to reading it in its entirety.

Myth: LPNs are taking over the work of RNs

Fact: LPNs provide nursing care within a legally defined scope of practice

and recognize the vital role of RNs. Each health care worker within the

family of nursing has an important and complementary role in providing

quality care to clients. As opportunities for RNs arise in areas such as

clinical nurse specialty and midwifery, so too the practice of LPNs

evolves to meet the needs of clients and the changing health care system.

Myth: Increased utilization of LPNs will jeopardize the quality of client

care and cost more.

Fact: There is no evidence that increased utilization of LPNs compromises

client care or is less cost-effective than all-RN staffing; in fact, the

opposite is true. Studies which advocate all-RN staffing have a narrow

interpretation of factors influencing health outcomes and costs. Already

in 1991, the Seaton Royal Commission recognized that replacing LPNs with

RNs in B.C. had increased costs with "no evidence that patient care

improved as a result".

http://www.kootenaycuts.com/archive/?4837

I would hope others can post links as to our history and usefulness. I believe we can be proud.

[lpnflorida]

Found a study which was done here in the United States. It is divided into I belive 7 chapters. It is an interesting read for all of us. It helps to uphold our own arguements in regards to how we are underutilized. The link I provide is for chapter 3. However you can read all chapters .

http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/reports/nursing/lpn/c3.htm

[Fiona59]

I have worked in British Columbia and Alberta. Trust me BC lags behind Alberta in how far scope of practice is permitted. It truly is a facility to facility thing out there. One hospital in the region permits one thing while another shudders at the thought.

In Alberta, the training has alway been longer, with more content. Scope of practice is still determined by facility but for the most part we are working at full scope of practice. We have become the diploma nurse of old.

Many of the problems with the ability to practice lead back to the RN associations protection of what they percieve as "their area of expertise". I've been to conferences and in-services where the RNs governing body and it's views have been met with silence from both the LPNs and RNs in the audience.

http://clpna.com/AboutCLPNA/HistoryofAlbertaLPNs/tabid/61/Default.aspx

Changes are happening very quickly up here to our scope of practice. The LPN works in pretty much every area except the NICU. When I graduated at the turn of the century, we weren't in ICUs and Oncology. Now we are.

In my hospital, you have to read the ID tag to determine who is an RN and who is an LPN. Unless you need your TPN started or a blood transfusion, chances are you are being cared for by an LPN.

[lpnflorida]

Fiona, thank you for sharing. I found it very interesting. I internally felt happy that your government founds ways to help increase the educational requirements needed as roles needed to expand to take care of patients. I noted that they so called grandfathered in some of the earliest Orderlies and Aides without doing away of them. The later on provided the necessary updates needed in their programs to help with the growth and needs of the working LPN's.. yeah.....

I am all for continue to allow us to go for additional certifications/ the continued learning we need to further our own practice to be of value to our patient.

Do not just say, we can not do. You need to be an RN. I swear there are some, not all who truly believe we get out of school and do nothing beyond that to further our knowledge. School is only the start, not the finish.

[Fiona59]

Thanks, it's getting to the point though where there is very little difference in our scopes.

The diploma RN no longer exists in most provinces. The BScN is/has become the RN entry point. Unfortunately, the trend is towards the brightest not the best applicant. With many universities requiring high 80-90s in the sciences they are cutting the RN role out of many applicants future. I've heard it from RNs who were hospital trained (up until the '80s) and then via diploma that they would never make the selection cut today.

The training that a LPN is provided with to work in the OR and on Dialysis units is identical to that of the RN working in those areas. Some courses include a "supervisory" module for the RN but that's the only difference. Supervisory skills as we all know cannot be taught. Some of the brightest people I know make lousy managers but they have that piece of paper to prove they can.

My region is great at providing the extra training needed. My hospital listens to the comments made by LPNs who have had the training and if a trainer has, shall we say, an attitude towards the LPNs in the course, they are usually moved away from that role.

We are a valuable resource and give very good value for what they pay us. The RN union in this province is very strong and have had contract settlements in the last few years that have upset the police and fire services (at one point the RNs were making more than experienced constables) I'm not saying that one provides a more valuable job than others but the line was crossed in the publics mind. More than one patient has had the "nursing facts of life" explained to them when the LPN that was caring for them was told he/she wasn't worth $35+/hour. When they found out how much we made, their opinion changed. It still ticks us off that a fourth year university student working to our scope of practice makes more than we do.

[lpnflorida]

One of my best friends an LPN use to work in the OR, the only thing she could not do at that time was be the Circulating nurse. She had worked there for eons and was good at her job. I know as she ended up being the OR private Nurse to my beloved who is a retired surgeon.He told me he had his pick of many nurses to choose from , but her enjoyed her humor and admired the skills she had. They were an inseparable team.

You should hear her gripes at that way things have gone. She retired 15 years ago , it was before they no longer took in LPN's into the OR setting.. sad,, just sad

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I sincerely thank you for sharing this with us. I have always been proud of being an LPN and I know that I am a positive contributer to the health care team. I actually saved these articles in my favorite spaces to share with my fellow LPNs.