LPN Petition to Take RN Boards

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Found from a blog in Advance for LPNs, a petition to allow LPNs with experience to sit for their RN boards. I would love to do that. What does everyone else think? Here is the link:

http://www.petitiononline.com/lps2t/petition.html

Specializes in Wound Care, LTC, Sub-Acute, Vents.
wow, this comes from a nursing student ???? take off your rose colored glass's sweetie.... you have no idea who i am, and what i'm all about. first off, i take pride in my profession, but i know what my limitation are when it comes to being a lpn (see in my state we are not lvns.) i'm back in school getting my bsn, and yes i'm learning in my class's, just becase i have been a nurse for 4 yrs doens' mean i know it all...

lvn and lpn are exactly the same thing. if you move to texas and california, their board of nursing will call you an lvn.

we don't have to know who you are. this is an online board and there is no way to prove or see who you really are.

like what txspadequeen921, just because you have the rn title behind you does not mean you know it all.

there are some meds that lpns know that rns do not know and vice versa.

you can't know it all even if you are an rn.

i plan on becoming an rn myself very soon, but i will be more proud of my lpn title.

cheers,

angel

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Specializes in Wound Care, LTC, Sub-Acute, Vents.
in all fairness, exposure/knowledge about medications can also depend on where the nurse is actually working (may it be lpn or rn); in addition, there are many unlabeled uses that are coming up frequently. this is one reason why it is a good idea for any nurse to take continuing education classes and subscribing to nursing journals. as blueridgehomern stated, a prudent nurse would look it up as well.

an example of this is i am an lpn who has been licensed since 2006. i work in a clinic where we do a great deal of teaching about meds and conditions. i have noticed that my nursing drug handbook for 2008 is really not as current as i would have expected regarding medications and their purposes. a very knowledgable, seasoned rn that transferred from the er is orienting with us, and she was reviewing the chart of a diabetic patient. she didn't know that a diabetic who is not hypertensive may receive an ace inhibitor or angiotension 2 inhibitor for renal protection, or asa. i can't beat this woman in regard to critical thinking, experience or knowledge. but, she was exposed to somewhere different-the er deals more with presenting symptoms and the teaching, i would assume, would be geared towards the history taking and current situation. and, there are lpns that work in the er who have been taught how to correctly administer these medications, are practicing these skills each day that can outbeat us clinic nurses any day-because of daily exposure.

personally, i didn't take offense, but wanted to know what you meant.

exactly!!!

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I'll give you a little chuckle that will give everyone a laugh.

When I was doing my clinicals last month, we had a patient that was in his 70's that had schizophrenia and could not communicate and was cared for in a group home.

My LPN that I was assigned to for that day, went into the room and the caregivers for the group home were discussing with the physician about diarrhea that he had, because he was going through 10 to 12 changes per day.

The physican was sitting there puzzled, b/c it started after he was given antibiotics (3 weeks later) so that idea was thrown out. The physician was writing a prescription for something to stop it and said she would be back.

Well, my LPN "trainer" and I left the room, and went to pull this man's meds. Of course, I don't know meds very well yet, and as she was pulling them, she said, "Uh...if he has massive diarrhea he shouldn't be taking this....or THIS....or THIS either....dang! No wonder!!!"

This man was on THREE drugs that caused either loose stools or flat out diarrhea.

You should have seen the look on the physicians face (who, BTW prescribed ALL of these drugs), when the LPN went up to her and said, "I think I found the problem"

Scary, huh?

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

A similar question would be," Should experienced CNAs be allowed to challenge LPN boards?"

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Specializes in LTC, sub-acute, MDS.
A similar question would be," Should experienced CNAs be allowed to challenge LPN boards?"

The obvious answer to that is no, considering they have no nursing education. Having said that, if our educators feel it is appropriate and safe to create a certification program enabling CNA's to perform the licensed duty of passing medications; why can they not create a curriculum whereby LPN's can become certified in assessment, delegation, and critical thinking; as these are the tasks most of our State Practice Boards say we are not qualified to perform.

Why do hospitals pay upwards of 10,000 dollars to hire a foreign RN, when they can spend this money on certification and mentor programs to bring back the experienced LPN, and the "team nursing" concept back to acute care?

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
The obvious answer to that is no, considering they have no nursing education. Having said that, if our educators feel it is appropriate and safe to create a certification program enabling CNA's to perform the licensed duty of passing medications; why can they not create a curriculum whereby LPN's can become certified in assessment, delegation, and critical thinking; as these are the tasks most of our State Practice Boards say we are not qualified to perform.

Why do hospitals pay upwards of 10,000 dollars to hire a foreign RN, when they can spend this money on certification and mentor programs to bring back the experienced LPN, and the "team nursing" concept back to acute care?

In many states, CNAs are required to complete a formal curriculum and pass a state certification exam, which, unlike NCLEX, includes demonstration of hands-on skills. Also, many states allow experienced CNAs to become certified in medication administration, and pass oral and topical meds under the supervision of licensed nurses. Considering this, some would argue that there is relatively little difference between the practice of an experienced med-certified CNA and an LPN/LVN.

Disclaimer: I am not saying I agree with this, because I don't, just like I don't support LPNs challenging RN boards without additional formal education. I am simply playing devil's advocate that what is considered for one category of healthcare provider should also be considered for another.

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Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

oops i goofed....:omy:

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Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

lol ...i have no rose colored glassed on "sweetie", but i know this you are generalizing the lvn/pn profession (same thing) when you say "there are medications in which lpns do not know about and or how to give correctly"... all i am telling you is that as a lvn/pn you should be more respectful of your profession because this is degrading to yourself as well as your colleagues.

i also have no chip on my shoulder and i never attacked you.

you seem so angry...lol

wow, this comes from a nursing student ???? take off your rose colored glass's sweetie.... you have no idea who i am, and what i'm all about. first off, i take pride in my profession, but i know what my limitation are when it comes to being a lpn (see in my state we are not lvns.) i'm back in school getting my bsn, and yes i'm learning in my class's, just becase i have been a nurse for 4 yrs doens' mean i know it all...
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why can they not create a curriculum whereby LPN's can become certified in assessment, delegation, and critical thinking; as these are the tasks most of our State Practice Boards say we are not qualified to perform.

"They" have -- they're called "LPN to RN bridge programs," and they're all over the place. :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC/Geriatric.
why can they not create a curriculum whereby LPN's can become certified in assessment, delegation, and critical thinking; as these are the tasks most of our State Practice Boards say we are not qualified to perform.

Your state board says that LPN's are not qualified to do assessments, delegation and critical thinking????

What the heck do they let you do? No matter which setting I end up working in (acute care, LTC, clinic etc), I will be performing all three of those. Without them, it sounds like a CNA with a license. And I don't mean that as a disrespect to those LPN's, I'm knocking those state boards!!!

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"They" have -- they're called "LPN to RN bridge programs," and they're all over the place. :)

I don't think that's what the poster was getting at.

Although on this board I've seen people mention how they learned "so much" going from LPN to RN, the vast majority I've actually worked with on a daily basis who have done the LPN to RN bridge programs had the same complaints about much repetition of material and a lot of time spent in med/surg type clinical rotations getting graded on the same things they do at work every day as LPN/LVN's.

Now LPN/LVN's who don't have hospital experience, that may be another story. But I personally believe that time in clinicals could be much better spent than checking off LPN to RN students on drawing up insulin, inserting foleys, or hanging IV piggy-backs. Talk about repetition.

I'm not saying that I favor LPN/LVN's challenging the RN boards without more formal education or that programs like Excelsior are the perfect answer either, but from what I've seen working at teaching hospitals in several states over the years, LPN/LVN to RN "bridge" programs in general need to be totally revamped.

The programs should be structured more toward the actual learning needs of these unique students instead of trying to give them a one semester "bridge" course and then trying to integrate them with generic ADN students during the second year.

Second year generic ADN students and LPN/LVN to RN students are apples and oranges with completely different learning needs. They should not be taught in the same classroom.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Progressive Tele.

One of the biggest complaints I have is having foreign nurses coming over here and working. I love diversity at work, but we are taking nurses from other countries that need them too. But the draw of working in the US is too great to pass up. I currently work with some Filipo nurses who tried for 4 yrs to get picked up to come to the US.. I found out they are only making $18/hr. This is a lot more then what they were making in thier own country, but a LOT less then what new grad RN make...

The obvious answer to that is no, considering they have no nursing education. Having said that, if our educators feel it is appropriate and safe to create a certification program enabling CNA's to perform the licensed duty of passing medications; why can they not create a curriculum whereby LPN's can become certified in assessment, delegation, and critical thinking; as these are the tasks most of our State Practice Boards say we are not qualified to perform.

Why do hospitals pay upwards of 10,000 dollars to hire a foreign RN, when they can spend this money on certification and mentor programs to bring back the experienced LPN, and the "team nursing" concept back to acute care?

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