How much a LPN school teaches compared to an RN school?

Nursing Students LPN/LVN Students

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Just wondering, how much a LPN school teaches compared to what an RN school teaches? just like a previous thread said "80 percent"? (only nursing classes, I am not considering any general education courses).

I'm asking since I'm thinking LPN-RN route instead of Rn route. I want to have some idea about if a LPN school will prepare me very well for LPN-RN. My friend told me in her RN class, a LPN fails the program, and my friend thinks one can learn very little in an LPN program.

Specializes in Certified Diabetes Educator.

Take 4 nurses..........all fresh out of school and just passed NCLEX...........

One is an LPN/LVN

One is an ADN RN

One is an BSN RN

One is a Diploma RN from a hospital program.

The Diploma RN will hands down work circles around everyone. He/she shines as the most outstanding with clinical skills and management skills.

Next will be the LPN with clinical skills.

Day one the ADN and BSN RN are about equal.

A year later, the RN's and LPN are further apart. The LPN has had limited opportunities compared to the RNs. The Diploma RN is still ahead, but the others are catching up quickly.

2 years later, the BSN RN has caught up to the Diploma RN and may start to inch ahead of her due to opportunities offered because of the BSN. The ADN catches up to him/her and the LPN has lost ground due to limitations on their scope of practice compared to the others.

3 years later, the BSN shines.

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Specializes in Infertility, Reproductive Endocrinology.

In our LPN program the first two semesters are identical to the RN (ADN)program. ( Fundamentals, Pharmacology, Health Assessment, Maternal/Child Nursing and Adult Nursing). I plan on doing the LPN-RN mobility program after I graduate in August. State of Alabama requires you work 500 hours as an LPN prior to entering the Rn mobility program. Once I am in the program it is only 4 classes to earn an ADN. ( I completed all prereqs for the ADN prior to applying to the LPN program. I am doing the LPN first for financial reasons and for experience....... :nurse:

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Specializes in LTAC, Med/Surg..
Take 4 nurses..........all fresh out of school and just passed NCLEX...........

One is an LPN/LVN

One is an ADN RN

One is an BSN RN

One is a Diploma RN from a hospital program.

The Diploma RN will hands down work circles around everyone. He/she shines as the most outstanding with clinical skills and management skills.

Next will be the LPN with clinical skills.

Day one the ADN and BSN RN are about equal.

A year later, the RN's and LPN are further apart. The LPN has had limited opportunities compared to the RNs. The Diploma RN is still ahead, but the others are catching up quickly.

2 years later, the BSN RN has caught up to the Diploma RN and may start to inch ahead of her due to opportunities offered because of the BSN. The ADN catches up to him/her and the LPN has lost ground due to limitations on their scope of practice compared to the others.

3 years later, the BSN shines.

I know this is an old thread and I shouldn't even be adding to it, but I read this last night, and it burnt me up so much still today that I had to post.

Generalizations like this are DANGEROUS. It's great to theorize. It's great to philosophize. But lumping individual practitioners into some sort of "ranking" system like this is BUNK.

I'm sure in some situations the above summation might hold some truth. But I've known BSN's and even MSN's who weren't worth a D*MN compared to their ADN or Diploma colleagues. And I've certainly seen many a floor that would CRUMBLE without the dedicated and CRITICALLY SKILLED lpn's that helped to staff it.

Individual competence is determined by the individual. There are no universal truths like the one posted above. Please don't generalize.

I'm done ranting - i'll go back to my cave now. :)

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I keep seeing these threads comparing one nurse to another and am continually amazed at how easily we all fall into this same old argument. It is very easy to see why nursing will never unite. I guess I am wasting my time going through the BSN program and should have taken the shorter route and became an LPN. This is very frustrating to everyone involved and i wonder why we keep playing who's better. I am almost embarassed to admit i am in a BSN program as everyone always degrades the program and acts as if we are not fit to be nurses. I believe we get the same clinical time it is just spread out more. Please lets all respect each other and appreciate each others roles in the field.

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Specializes in LTAC, Med/Surg..
I keep seeing these threads comparing one nurse to another and am continually amazed at how easily we all fall into this same old argument. It is very easy to see why nursing will never unite. I guess I am wasting my time going through the BSN program and should have taken the shorter route and became an LPN. This is very frustrating to everyone involved and i wonder why we keep playing who's better. I am almost embarassed to admit i am in a BSN program as everyone always degrades the program and acts as if we are not fit to be nurses. I believe we get the same clinical time it is just spread out more. Please lets all respect each other and appreciate each others roles in the field.

Oh gosh. I hope in my haste to respond and present a contrasting arguement I didn't sound like I was BSN bashing - in hindsight, reading my post above it could seem that way. Which, let's face it, is absolutely ASSININE, since a BSN RN is a highly educated professional.

So to clarify - I absolutely agree with you! That was the point i was trying to make, but got too steamed to articulate clearly - assumptions shouldn't be made about a nurse based on their level of education - nurses as a whole must ALL be educated and not resort to juvenile, destructive bickering and infighting. I think as a soon-to-be new LPN I am hyper-sensitive to these issues -I'm ALREADY sick of the assumption that I am less skilled, less intelligent, or less of a NURSE because I chose the entry point of the LPN. I'm entering an accelerated RN / MSN direct entry program upon finishing my LPN, but I think that starting at this level of the profession has given me an appreciation for all of the various roles in nursing - I just wish others would see that as well rather than making judgements based on generalizations. Good luck to you!

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As a soon-to-be-graduate of an LPN program with an excellent reputation, I feel adequately prepared to begin my new career - that of a Licensed Practical Nurse, a much-in-demand professional. I may or may not pursue an accelerated program in the future to become an RN; however, I make no apologies and offer no excuses for choosing the career of an LPN. Having worked in LTC for the past four years (3 of which as a CNA), I have seen how hard the LPNs work, and what an integral part of a skilled nursing facility they are. In the area that I reside, in order to work in a hospital one must be an RN; that by no means implies that one MUST earn one to be a REAL NURSE. I look forward to putting the vast skills I have learned into use and doing my best to give the best care to those I am fortunate enough to be able to care for (whether they be known as "residents," as in LTC, "patients," as in a hospital, or "clients"). This is such an amazing site that should be a means for ALL NURSES to come together and learn from each other, not for two kinds of nurses to tear into each other, claiming to be "more of a nurse" than the other. Which kind of nurse a person chooses to become is a personal decision, based on many factors (financial, a desire to work more closely with people, wanting to specialize, etc.) and I for one commend all nurses and nursing students for the amount of work they do. Good luck to all, and never forget WHY you chose this profession....to care about ALL people (including the nurse with the "other title")

:[anb]:

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Specializes in Nursing student.
Basically, RNs and LPNs are taught the same basics of nursing care. Most LPN schools teach medication administration and treatments. They teach LPNs the same principles of nursing that the RN students are taught. The major different between the two categories is in the focus on critical thinking skills and the delegation and prioritization of nursing interventions and nursing tasks. RNs will have a broader choice of options when it comes to delegation than will an LPN. While LPNs may also focus on some critical thinking skill in their courses of study it will not be to the depth and extent with which RNs students are exposed. By law, there are also a few things that LPNs cannot do. Medicare will not permit written care plans to be done by LPNs. Most states will not permit LPNs to initiate blood transfusions either. Up until some years ago, IV therapy was only within the realm of RNs, but that is changing. Many states still will not allow LPNs to give any medications intravenously.

Daytonite...Do you know if the state of California allows an LVN to give any sort of IV's? Also, I was wondering if you know if hospitals are hiring LVN's? Its been rumored that they phased them out, is it just a rumor or have you found it to be true? Just pondering what my future responsibilities will be:rolleyes: Thank you:nurse:

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
Daytonite...Do you know if the state of California allows an LVN to give any sort of IV's? Also, I was wondering if you know if hospitals are hiring LVN's? Its been rumored that they phased them out, is it just a rumor or have you found it to be true? Just pondering what my future responsibilities will be:rolleyes: Thank you:nurse:

The California law for LVNs doing IV therapy and blood drawing is as follows:

2547.1. The Board will consider a licensed vocational nurse as competent to start and superimpose intravenous fluids via primary or secondary infusion lines and perform blood withdrawal who has completed one of the following:

(a) A course of instruction in intravenous therapy and blood withdrawal approved by the Board.

(b) Submitted certification, satisfactory to the Board, by one of the persons specified in Section 2547.4 (Approval of Course Instructors), that the licensee has been instructed in the subject areas specified in Section 2547.3 (Approval of Course Content) and that the licensee is knowledgeable and competent in the practice of venipuncture and blood withdrawal.

What that means is that you if you have taken the IV certification course and are certified you can start IVs and hang maintenance IV solutions (normal saline, D5W, etc.) and draw blood. You cannot give IV piggybacks with medications in them or IV push meds. You can read the law here: http://www.bvnpt.ca.gov/pdf/VNRegs.pdf. The IV and blood drawing laws are near the end of the document.

The hospital in the town where I live does not hire LVNs. I have only seen RNs working there. However, I have seen LVNs in other hospitals that were there through agencies doing staff relief. The nurse ratio law does not apply to LVNs. With all the insurance and Medicare requirements as well as the complexity of procedures and RN follow up that is necessary for many patients these days it is less hassle for hospitals to just staff with RNs and hire nursing assistants to do the basic nursing care. If any hospitals are still utilizing LVNs it is most likely because they can't hire enough RNs.

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There are PN students who fail and there are RN students who fail-I don't think the gauge your friend is using to determine the knowledge base of LPNs is very intelligent.

I'm in an LPN program, and it's extremely intensive. I took my pre-RN courses (A and P I and II, micro, all humanities and math, plus nutrition and pharm). I earned an A in every one of those courses, and I study like crazy in my PN courses to get As. Not that grades are everything, but my point is, if PN school were so easy, you'd think I'd breeze through, having gotten the science base down.

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