Why do so many people insist that LPN'S AREN'T REAL NURSES!!??

Nurses LPN/LVN

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I mean, the title does have "Nurse" in it.So why are so many people insisting that LPN's arent real nurses? When I go to the hospital, I see these people giving medication , care, comfort and other services to their patients, isn't that what nursing is all about? What do you think about this issue? Do you think LPN's aren't real nurses?

Hah, try working in a private office where the doctor keeps referring to the gals who attended Medical Assistant school as "nurse"!!! THAT'll get your goat...it always does mine! And they freely admit it will take them another year of school to become an LPN. And if you say anything about protecting the title of "nurse" (only because it IS in the state laws), you get accused of giving people an inferiority complex ,and appearing to be a know-it -all trouble maker.

i know a med assistant that can run circles around any MSN or BSN - she has had classes and does every type of procedure out there, including one experimental procedure she and the doc she works with do as one of the few teams that do it in the state. it does not bother me that they may refer to them as "nurse" get me my whatever - that i believe is just for the comfort of the patient ( especially the elderly understand "nurse" not "medical assisstant" ) and ease of vocabulary - i dont think they are believing them as nurses. lot easier to say "nurse jones please get.." then medical assistant jones please get me"

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

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I can agree 100% with this statement! I have felt that I had to DEFEND why I don't want to be an RN. I graduated the top of my LPN class, and have a 3.6 with my pre-requisites of anatomy, micro, etc... but I didn't want to become an RN because I didn't want ALL of their responsibilities. And, to boot (while I do enjoy being an LPN), I really HATED school, in spite of my grades. I can't see myself sitting though nursing school AGAIN. I have the highest respect for the RNs that are really compassionate and caring, and want to work side by side with them, but I clearly do not want their job. LPNs are not mugging people for their money, clearly not looking for the money or handouts and are making a respectable living while trying to help others less fortunate than they are...what is the issue?? We should NOT have to plead with people to understand why we are not RNs.

I can also understand how people can leave nursing altogether to be plumbers or whatever else. With arguments such as who is the better nurse taking place, it takes energy away from patient care.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
i know a med assistant that can run circles around any MSN or BSN - she has had classes and does every type of procedure out there, including one experimental procedure she and the doc she works with do as one of the few teams that do it in the state. it does not bother me that they may refer to them as "nurse" get me my whatever - that i believe is just for the comfort of the patient ( especially the elderly understand "nurse" not "medical assisstant" ) and ease of vocabulary - i dont think they are believing them as nurses. lot easier to say "nurse jones please get.." then medical assistant jones please get me"

I can agree that there are even CNAs that can run circles around (some) nurses, but I think that what the person is meaning is that some medical assistants do actually consider themselves to be nurses and will tell an LPN that in a New York minute. I have seen that as well. I had one assistant tell me to fetch her some urine cups like a nice young lady, and another time, this same medical assistant asked me to stop giving injections to cover her desk so she can go to lunch. She does not assist us with vital signs, cleaning instruments or fingersticks. So, I told her that unless she is qualified to counsel patients and give the injections, I would suggest that she get her own urine bottles and stay near those phones until another assistant can relieve her.

I do agree, though that the ease of vocabulary (well put words, I might add) may be needed in order to not overwhelm the client, because many do not know the difference.

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Hey, don't disrespect us of who are getting online degrees! My degree will come from an NLN approved cirriculum. It fits in with my lifestyle and job to get my degree online.

I promise not to be hoity toity and above reproach.:jester:

i bow in apology - i do not disrespect anyone but the ones i KNOW who got theirs online- what i see is not good - not talking about you or anyone i dont know - from your positive attitude you sound like you will make a great NON hoity toity nurse

i do however wonder from what THEY have told me about the online classes how it can be effective in education but i could be lacking in knowledge of the classes as their report of what they did could be totally different - i digress and apologize.

please take this apology also for any offense from my other post that i made in regards to this - my comments are my opinion based on what i currently know from a bad source - sorry.

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Just curious, where does the ANA say that LPNs are not nurses?

not sure - sorry i was posting asking the same thing - should have quoted the whole post sorry.

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I can agree that there are even CNAs that can run circles around (some) nurses, but I think that what the person is meaning is that some medical assistants do actually consider themselves to be nurses and will tell an LPN that in a New York minute. I have seen that as well. I had one assistant tell me to fetch her some urine cups like a nice young lady, and another time, this same medical assistant asked me to stop giving injections to cover her desk so she can go to lunch. She does not assist us with vital signs, cleaning instruments or fingersticks. So, I told her that unless she is qualified to counsel patients and give the injections, I would suggest that she get her own urine bottles and stay near those phones until another assistant can relieve her.

I do agree, though that the ease of vocabulary (well put words, I might add) may be needed in order to not overwhelm the client, because many do not know the difference.

i misunderstood then - yes if the ASSISSTANT is claiming and feeling they are the nurse that is wrong- sorry i misunderstood. ( thanks for the compliment - i do not usually get to many "well put words" together lol)

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
i misunderstood then - yes if the ASSISSTANT is claiming and feeling they are the nurse that is wrong- sorry i misunderstood. ( thanks for the compliment - i do not usually get to many "well put words" together lol)

I don't think that you misunderstood....you are giving credit to EVERYONE in the health care field, and that is commendable.

It is like me telling people that I am an RN...I am NOT. When I introduce myself to patients, I say that I am a nurse...because that is true; but if they require more details, then, I will say that I am a licensed practical nurse. I am as important as a RN, but I do not have the prudentials of the RN, nor do I believe that I am one. I believe that the medical assistant can refer herself as the 'assistant', and, if the patient wants more details, she can then share a bit more, but it is not totally fair to misrepresent themselves. There are many medical assistants that are very knowledgeable, as we know. I admire them...some of them have taught me something in nursing school that helped me to pass an exam...especially relating to diagnostic tests (I had NO clue at times). But, I think that more respect is earned when being honest about who you are. In fact, if I were to see a knowledgable medical assistant, nursing assistant, etc...I am in awe, and would want to know more about this person, and it may encourage others that can't attend nursing school to be the best that they can be.

I think that the bottom line is making all members of the health care team feel more valuable. If we spend time making the so called lesser positions feel inferior, the profession as well as patient care suffers because that person will do just what is necessary to get by, but not offer the best services.

Oh, and yes, you did word it very nicely, in my humble opinion!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
i bow in apology - i do not disrespect anyone but the ones i KNOW who got theirs online- what i see is not good - not talking about you or anyone i dont know - from your positive attitude you sound like you will make a great NON hoity toity nurse

i do however wonder from what THEY have told me about the online classes how it can be effective in education but i could be lacking in knowledge of the classes as their report of what they did could be totally different - i digress and apologize.

please take this apology also for any offense from my other post that i made in regards to this - my comments are my opinion based on what i currently know from a bad source - sorry.

No offense taken. I have my Rn from an ADN program in a community college. The RN to BSN program I am in is 100% online, with some outside "clinical" type experiences like working one-on-one with a nurse leader, doing interviews, a couple of teaching projects, working with a NP doing assessments, and being checked off on an in-depth head-to-toe. As I said it's NLN approved and that's good enough for me. It's an extension of their brick-and-mortor program and the same cirriculum they teach on-campus students.

No offense taken. I think sometimes people misunderstand online programs as being cheap and easy and bought without doing anything or learning anything, nothing is farther from the truth.

Back to our regularly scheduled topic. :)

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
I think sometimes people misunderstand online programs as being cheap and easy and bought without doing anything or learning anything, nothing is farther from the truth.

Which wouldn't be so bad, except that some people form negative opinions about online programs without even researching them first.

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Case Management, also OR/OB.

my first real job as an RN i worked with Miss Millie G, fiery red hair (original of from the bottle) didn't make any difference, SHE WAS MY SAVIOR many a 2nd shift. It was just her & me and 4 aids for 35-40 sick people. I was oriented by the RN, but Miss Millie showed me how to run that floor, now , make no mistake!! Couldn't have done it w/o her. Wherever you Miss Millie, I hope the Sun is shinin' bright, One of the best nurses I ever worked with. morghan in kansas

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While I have worked with many fine LPNs, and as I have stated in many other threads, I think that the time of LPNs/LVNs has come and gone. That is why so many hospitals across the country are phasing them out.

Do you realize that you have less education than Physical Therapy Assistants? Whose claim to fame is walking patients around the unit, or exercising their legs and arms? What is wrong with this picture? Their educational entry into practice is a associates degree, while LPNs and LVNs have only a 9 month program. That is probably where their credibility with the public gets questioned. and probably why many RNs, including me, don't want to be responsible for their patient load, as well as my own. JMHO.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

I recieved my education in a strenuous, intensive well structured and well taught environment with instructors who demanded the very best from us. those who couldn't cut are not nurses now like I am. I AM a nurse. I am skilled, I am knowledgable, and I am not less than an RN because my schooling did not include hours of gen-ed courses that don't teach a person beans about our profession! I have been a NA, ward clerk, scrub tech and LPN for 8 years and you can't tell me that I don't have more knowledge and experience than an RN with no experience in health care and three years worth of classes that include such useful classes as english lit!

How can an RN claim to be responsible for another nurses pt load when the extent of their responsibility is IV pushes or mixing meds. God forbid you take time from your busy day to spike my PRBCs for me so that I can tend to the entire rest of the procedure. And nice jab at the experience of the PTAs of the country, they'll all be glad to know that the extensive study into the human body and proper care of injuries not to mention intricate knowledge of muscles and their movements that you have mastered, I'm sure is merely a parlor trick, not a valuable and needed part of recovery for many patients. You certainly have shown me that I must surely be at the bottom of the barrel, and should be ashamed of my commitment and schooling to become a valued part of my team.

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Why do so many people insist that LPNs aren't nurses? Because the ANA said so.

It's 1965 "Educational preparation for nurse practitioners and assistants to nurses: a position paper," stated that vocational education should be for the training of "assistants to nurses".

That position paper advocated the complete elimination of diploma programs and the removal of the title, nurse, from vocational programs.

And, it is widely taught in nursing schools. I myself was told, in 1991, that "The role of LPN/LVN as nurses would be eliminated within ten years."

So, thank the ANA and the Ivory Tower for this jewel of propaganda.

~faith,

Timothy.

You are not the best at interpreting, are you? 41 years ago! give me a break. And yes, lots of facilities are doing away with LPNs, just because someone made an offhanded statement to you, don't quote that nonsense as factual.

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