Lpn Or Surgical Tech???

Irish Nurse 89 · Jun 25, 2008

greenie101, Reading your post here, just reminded me of my aunt, who also went to school at the age of 50 to become LPN. Many years have past since then, and she still enjoys working as an LPN doing home care. If this is something that you would like to do, I think it's a good idea for you to at least give it a shot. Your post sounds as though you really want to be involved and work directly with patients, and becoming an LPN is a great way to accomplish that goal, as there are many different places for an LPN to work at these days.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.....

Jules A, MSN · Jun 25, 2008

While I totally respect the skills of Surge Techs, they have the best job in the OR other than 1st assists, imo, I think that getting your LPN would offer more job opportunities. Good luck with whatever you decide.

kat7ap · Jun 25, 2008

The answer to this really depends on what your interests are. As an LPN you will have more options in the setting or speciality of where you want to work. Where I've lived LPNs are steadily employed in clinics/physician offices, home health, hospice, hospitals, and of course the largest numbers of LPNs are employed in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

I have also worked as a scrub nurse for c-sections so I do have an insight on what the job entails. Your main job is to maintain the sterile environment. This includes gowning and gloving yourself, setting up the sterile field, gowning and gloving the Dr.s, passing and holding instruments, anticipating the needs of the Dr.s depending on what the surgery is and what is happening, counting instruments, and cleaning up. Depending on the surgery the patient is usually drugged by the time they enter the OR and then placed under anesthesia, so you get minimal if none patient interaction. Not to mention, the only time you are seen by the patient is with a mask and gown on.

LPNs are specifically trained to be bedside nurses. So are job is all about patient interaction. At first you may not have the most desirable hours as an LPN. I have always done evenings or days, never nights. As a CST you will probably have better hours, most likely day shift with no weekends. The pay is very similar for both. I personally did not like scrubbing. It takes a certain type of person and it wasn't me.

Fiona59 · Jun 25, 2008

It really depends on your local job market where the LPN vacancies will be. I'm lucky up here in Canada, there are LPNs everywhere except NICU (and I've never had any desire to work there). Surgical/OR tech is a post grad specialty for us.

Right now, patients who are out and there family members are no where are around are looking pretty good to me.

BUT Surgical Techs work whenever the OR is open and working. Up here that means you work every other weekend. My hospital's ORs are open 24/7 but usually the posted positions are either D/E, E/N or straight nights.

greenie101 · Jun 25, 2008

Thanks to all of you that answered, you gave some good insight. I live in Indiana, I keep hearing that LPN's are going away, due to hospitals having to live up to some new standard (?) yet when I look at hospital sites, they have listings for them. I never thought of it as more options if I were a LPN, good thought. Thanks to all of you! Any other input, I will gladly read! Thanks again, have a great day!:loveya:

Irish Nurse 89 · Jun 28, 2008

I live in Indiana, I keep hearing that LPN's are going away, due to hospitals having to live up to some new standard (?) yet when I look at hospital sites, they have listings for them.

There are a lot of hospitals that are doing away with LPN's in my area as well. However, these same hospitals are also utilizing the LPN's in their specialty areas such as the GI lab and the ER. If you are truly interested in working in a hospital, call the ones that are in your area to see which ones still have LPN's......

tothepointeLVN, LVN · Jun 28, 2008

In my LVN there are a couple of surigical techs. From what I can tell so far they had a hard time getting fulltime hours so are coming back to study. That being said not to judge (but I am ) they don't seem to be the most applied of people and seem a little flakey which I'm sure has affected their job offerings

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jun 28, 2008

While the surgical technician position might offer more desirable scheduling and a better working environment, the LPN designation might be more versatile and transferrable to different workplace settings.

For example, I've seen LPNs being employed as surgical techs at acute care hospitals. When you flip the coin, I have never seen surgical techs employed as psychiatric techs, laboratory techs, etc.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Jun 29, 2008

While the surgical technician position might offer more desirable scheduling and a better working environment, the LPN designation might be more versatile and transferrable to different workplace settings.
For example, I've seen LPNs being employed as surgical techs at acute care hospitals. When you flip the coin, I have never seen surgical techs employed as psychiatric techs, laboratory techs, etc.

I have to agree with that one. I know of some hospitals that have done away with LPNs trained them to function as surgical techs. LPNs are utilized in more areas, and the few surg-techs I knew were limited to just that area. When you are in a pinch, and need to make quick money, you can sign for agencies once you get some experience under your belt.

DaniLPN2RN · Jun 29, 2008

I'm not sure how much truth is to it, but I recently spoke to a patient who is a Surg Tech. He has been looking for work for over a year. He said that most positions are being filled by nurses. His feeling was that they were getting more qualified people, but still paying a Surg Tech wage. He was contemplating going for his LPN as well.

Good luck to you in whatever you decide to do. Either career can be rewarding to you if you truly have an interest!

bearhugs1981 · Jun 29, 2008

It's so funny you would ask this, because I had the same thing on my mind a few months back. I really want to work in surgery, and a friend of mine was a surgical RN and loved it. He would have never left if it wasn't for his brittle diabetes, but the stress of the OR really aggravated his health. So, that being said,the first thing I would expect is stress in the OR.

I was just accepted into a local CC LPN program and plan on running with it. The only Surg. Tech. program in our area is about an hour away, and with rising COL and fuel it would not be feasible. The other thing that swayed my opinion is the "wide open" aspect of the nursing field. I don't have to go on the get my RN if I don't want to, but then again I can. And the employment is so much more varied, if by chance I hate the OR. (I got stuck in that kind of predicament with my AS in Paralegal Studies. Got the degree; hated the job.)

So, with my LPN I can work as a surg. tech. or in any other area of health service. This way I won't feel trapped.

This is just an opinion of someone who has no experience in the health field but was where you are now until I was accepted into the LPN program (woo-hoo! :beer:) LOL!

Liz