LPN outlook

Nurses LPN/LVN

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I know this question may have been asked several times but how does everyone feel on becoming an LPN. I am about 3/4 through the program and I am so tired of hearing "why didn't you just go for your RN". This is something I will eventually do but at the time being LPN is what is best for me. I currently live in CT and work for a big hospital which I was hoping to work as an LPN but all I hear is they don't hire LPN's. Due to nursing shortage does anyone think his will turn around? The LPN program I am in is pretty intense and we do a lot, I'm confused on why some people think LPN's are not real nurses (yea I also get that alot). All the negativity I get is very discouraging, I would love to hear some positive information from all nurses out there. Thanks!!! :nurse:

Thanks you guys!!!! RN waiting list in my area are about 3 yrs plus the amount of time for you to complete the program so I thought LPN was the best route and from my clinical experience I love it! LTC is great as well not sure why some people look at is as a downer but the environment is less stresful (I work in a hospital now) plus you really get to know your patients. I was just thinking since I already work in a healthcare setting that maybe they would let me squeeze in an LPN. But we will see, guess I should concentrate on finishing school and passing my boards.............SPN

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Specializes in Peds Homecare.

LPN's work in hospitals in NY State, I wish some of you would check your facts before you speak. Just because where you work doesn't have them doesn't mean they aren't employed at other hospitals. Nothing in our scope of practice precludes us from working in a hospital.

http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/nurse/nursebroch.htm

Licensed Practical Nurses:

Administer medications as directed

Provide bedside nursing care, including services requiring sterile techniques

Observe, measure, record, and report indications of patient health status

Perform more specialized tasks, such as IV therapy, with additional training

Administer blood and blood products, with additional training

Copied and pasted from the New York State BON website.

There is nothing wrong with being an LPN, I have been one for 30 years. It's not a stepping stone but a destination for many, and we are proud of being good nurses!

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LPN's work in hospitals in NY State, I wish some of you would check your facts before you speak. Just because where you work doesn't have them doesn't mean they aren't employed at other hospitals. Nothing in our scope of practice precludes us from working in a hospital.

http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/nurse/nursebroch.htm

Licensed Practical Nurses:

Administer medications as directed

Provide bedside nursing care, including services requiring sterile techniques

Observe, measure, record, and report indications of patient health status

Perform more specialized tasks, such as IV therapy, with additional training

Administer blood and blood products, with additional training

Copied and pasted from the New York State BON website.

There is nothing wrong with being an LPN, I have been one for 30 years. It's not a stepping stone but a destination for many, and we are proud of being good nurses!

I'm in upstate NY and we still have a few LPNs in the hospital setting. There used to be a lot more before the economy got worse. Now they have their pick of GNs. But I'm sure that will improve when the economy picks up again. But they are still hiring them and using them in the acute setting.

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Specializes in Trauma & Emergency.
LPN's work in hospitals in NY State, I wish some of you would check your facts before you speak. Just because where you work doesn't have them doesn't mean they aren't employed at other hospitals. Nothing in our scope of practice precludes us from working in a hospital.

http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/nurse/nursebroch.htm

Licensed Practical Nurses:

Administer medications as directed

Provide bedside nursing care, including services requiring sterile techniques

Observe, measure, record, and report indications of patient health status

Perform more specialized tasks, such as IV therapy, with additional training

Administer blood and blood products, with additional training

Copied and pasted from the New York State BON website.

There is nothing wrong with being an LPN, I have been one for 30 years. It's not a stepping stone but a destination for many, and we are proud of being good nurses!

Nobody said they couldn't work in New York, but there is no denying that hospitals in most areas are not hiring LPNs. And as stated directly from the BON

"The provision of IV therapy by an LPN must be under the direct supervision of an RN who is assigned to the patient care unit at all times that the LPN is providing IV therapy."

There is nothing wrong with being an LPN..but like you said you've been a nurse for thirty years..it is very hard for new LPNs to get positions in the hospital--there really aren't any. You should be proud of where you are--I'm sure you are a wonderful nurse.

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Specializes in Coronary Rehab Unit.

FWIW, as an LPN seeing what BS our RNs go through, I don't know if I want to jump through that hoop. I'm happy to be where I am....comfortable.

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Specializes in Peds,LTC, Assisted Living, Med/Surg.

LPN was supposed to be my stepping stone to RN (all I had left to do was my clinicals for RN)....but then life happened...so here I am 4 kids later and still a LPN.... Some people try to make you feel bad for not getting your RN...but hey I still make good money and I don't care what they say. I have been a LPN for 9 years... I decided to go back to school not for RN but for Medical Business Admin. You do what is good for you and your family. I get it a lot that we are not nurses but the last time I checked the state considers me a nurse and I sure work my butt off as a nurse

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ok i plan to take my academics this fall then either LPN or RN school, how hard is the acaemics?

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The LPN program that i'm in is a bit challenging but I figure it will be all worth it in the end! So you do have to put a lot of time and effort in studying!!

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Thanx for the reply. I have been a CNA since 1993 and have worked with nurses and there are some things that i can do and plenty i can't. I am better at hands on than book work...:lol2:

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I was going to go to school for my adn but i chose to go to school for my lpn first seeing as i can take night classes and it fits into my schedule. I do intake at a home health agency and trust me lpn's are just as important and beneficial as rn's. I just recently discovered that lpns can go straight for their bsn so after a year or so i will be challenging that. Good luck with school and don't let anyone discourage you!:yeah:

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Loved84

Like dixeechicken mentioned, LPN or LVN is a stepping stone for becoming an RN, IMHO. I am a brand new RN (just graduated in Dec). I am on my second week of orientation. I worked as an intern for a while so I could become familiar with the duties of nurses and the hospital environment. To get to my point, while I don't regret becoming an RN, I do sometimes wish I would have had the opportunity to become an LPN first.

The hospital that I work for has a lot of LPNs, at least 1/3 of the nurses are LPNs. And yes ~ they are REAL nurses. :) There are jobs out there for LPNs, at least in my state.

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that LPN gets so much more clinical time and more hands on training. I wish I would have had that experience. I think your time you have invested in training as an LPN will prove to be invaluable. As you mentioned, your training has been intensive. It will help you to become a better RN if and when you decide to pursue your career further. Good luck and don't give up, it sounds like you have came so far. It wil pay off.

Thank you for recognizing the knowledge/skill base of LPNs. There aren't many new RNs who recognize this, so it's refreshing to hear of a RN who is open to recognizing LPNs.

I graduated from my LPN program in Dec of 08. I started a regular RN program (not a bridge, since hadn't even taken NCLEX-PN yet, but had applied to the ADN program before even starting the LPN) in Jan of 09. I'm currently in my third semester of RN school, have one to go. I work full-time in long-term care and go to school full-time. My goal is to become a geriatric nurse practitioner.

My LPN training is probably going to turn out to be the most valuable education I'll receive toward becoming the kind of nurse I hope to be. The program was intensive, patient-oriented, and skill-heavy. The concentration was on care of the patient in a very practical yet holistic way. Even if I'd had no wait to get into the ADN program, I'd CHOOSE to do the LPN year of training before doing my RN.

My RN program doesn't even touch to quality of education I received in my year of LPN. The instructors are distant, the other students are with "I'm an RN-student-I-don't-have-to-do-THAT" syndrome, and the program is just overall sink-or-swim and nobody cares. The content is not in-depth...you're shown a skill once, the program is too large to even be noticed if you've mastered it (yes, you have to pass with a certain percentage, but as for details and in-depth training, it's not there). My LPN program had presence of instructors who cared that you first, had the skills mastered, critically-thought about why doing, and made sure the holistic care and professionalism by the student-nurse was considered. This is the kind of stuff that I THOUGHT the RN program would expound upon! I'm in my third semester, yet I am waiting for this.

I think the plight of LPNs is representative of overall nursing lately...LPNs are like the old-fashioned nurse as we think of: wisely applying skills for and willing to care for the WHOLE patient. Too bad this kind of nurse is going out of style. I'm proud to have been exposed to the LPN profession, and I'll be careful to never forget these fundamentals of THINKING like a LPN even when I get to big-shot RN/BSN/MSN status.

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Loved84

Like dixeechicken mentioned, LPN or LVN is a stepping stone for becoming an RN, IMHO. I am a brand new RN (just graduated in Dec). I am on my second week of orientation. I worked as an intern for a while so I could become familiar with the duties of nurses and the hospital environment. To get to my point, while I don't regret becoming an RN, I do sometimes wish I would have had the opportunity to become an LPN first.

The hospital that I work for has a lot of LPNs, at least 1/3 of the nurses are LPNs. And yes ~ they are REAL nurses. :) There are jobs out there for LPNs, at least in my state.

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that LPN gets so much more clinical time and more hands on training. I wish I would have had that experience. I think your time you have invested in training as an LPN will prove to be invaluable. As you mentioned, your training has been intensive. It will help you to become a better RN if and when you decide to pursue your career further. Good luck and don't give up, it sounds like you have came so far. It wil pay off.

How dare some of you people only call being an LPN just "a stepping stone". Becoming an LPN is my long term career goal after becoming a CNA, and just because an LPN usually does not get hired to work in hospitals or because they don't have to go to school as long as an RN does not mean an LPN is less then an RN, I will gladly work in a nursing home, and be just a "lowly" LPN while you RNs have trouble even finding a job.

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