i don't want my post to be the venue for an LPN-RN debate...this is just my opinion about the topic...
i understand that not EVERYBODY want to be an RN and that NOT everyone stays as an LPN...different situations calls for a different approach...we as nurses should be bonded and not debate amongst ourselves of who has the best career...it's hard enough explaining to the lay person what we do and how important we are and not "just nurses"...that we don't need to badmouth each other...
undefined I know this is a very old thread, but I just have to comment here. I know that this is a debate that will never end and the RN vs LPN will never see eye to eye.
Yes, the RN goes to school longer........you take some classes that have nothing to do with nursing and waste about 2 years of 'knowledge' and spend aprox. the last year of school doing clinicals......where you really don't do much 'hands on'. The LPN goes to school for 12-18 months and studies nothing but nursing and about 70% of school is spent in clinicals.....I've done both. I can truthfully say that I learned more during LPN studies.
Disagree is you will............and I know that some of you will...........great nation we have isn't it???
You can learn all you want sitting in a classroom, but until you get your hiney out on that floor and doing patient care, you really don't have a clear picture of true nursing......now before some of you go biting off my head, this is 'MY' opinion here, ok??
I work in Rehab (ortho) medicine and the patient load, assignments, care is divided between RN and LPN.......not in aquity of patients, but in numbers only. 15 patients & 3 nurses (1 RN 2 LPN...2 RN 1 LPN...) we all get 5 patients each. Sometimes if the numbers don't work out a even amount, the poor LPN gets 'stuck' with the greater # of patients. The difference, at times is mearly the pay. The RN usually gets double what the LPN gets and yet the LPN is expected to carry the heavier load.
We don't get our LPN's the credit they deserve...or the pay. Some of my 'fellow' RN's are very poorly trained, they can't draw labs, start IV's and some have never put a foley in. One didn't know how to hang blood and our LPN, even tho' she legally can't, had to talk the RN through this........I think this is sad.
Go ahead and brag about your degree or how 'better' you are, but my opinion is this.........a nurse is a nurse is a nurse. It takes SPECIAL people to place themselves in a situation to care for others, console others, comfort others, and commend every last NURSE who has their heart in it 100%. Shame on you who think there IS a difference. If your in pain and request medication to ease that pain, do you really think that the pills will work any better or faster if a RN gives them to you vs a LPN???
We don't get our LPN's the credit they deserve...or the pay. Some of my 'fellow' RN's are very poorly trained, they can't draw labs, start IV's and some have never put a foley in. One didn't know how to hang blood and our LPN, even tho' she legally can't, had to talk the RN through this........I think this is sad.
I'm not fond of fighting on message boards so I won't. I will say that I find your comments about RNs disturbing. You seem to want 'the debate' to end but your message belies that fact.
I have nothing against LPNs and but I think you have something against RNs and that is a shame. BTW, I do start IVs, draw blood, and put in foleys. Are those things "nursing" related? I guess so but tasks never did define the nurse did they.
healingtouchRN...I do agree with you that there is a huge difference between RN and LPN as far as studies go,but I know plenty of LPN's who work in critical care.
I do too. In fact, when I worked in a hospital, the only way I knew if my fellow nurses were RN's or LVN's was to look at their name badge. We all did the same work. The only differences I ever saw was that an RN had to start a blood transfusion, and an LVN can't do chemo. We are all important and should be proud of the initials behind our names, whatever they may be.
undefined I know this is a very old thread, but I just have to comment here. I know that this is a debate that will never end and the RN vs LPN will never see eye to eye.
Yes, the RN goes to school longer........you take some classes that have nothing to do with nursing and waste about 2 years of 'knowledge' and spend aprox. the last year of school doing clinicals......where you really don't do much 'hands on'. The LPN goes to school for 12-18 months and studies nothing but nursing and about 70% of school is spent in clinicals.....I've done both. I can truthfully say that I learned more during LPN studies.
Disagree is you will............and I know that some of you will...........great nation we have isn't it???
You can learn all you want sitting in a classroom, but until you get your hiney out on that floor and doing patient care, you really don't have a clear picture of true nursing......now before some of you go biting off my head, this is 'MY' opinion here, ok??
I work in Rehab (ortho) medicine and the patient load, assignments, care is divided between RN and LPN.......not in aquity of patients, but in numbers only. 15 patients & 3 nurses (1 RN 2 LPN...2 RN 1 LPN...) we all get 5 patients each. Sometimes if the numbers don't work out a even amount, the poor LPN gets 'stuck' with the greater # of patients. The difference, at times is mearly the pay. The RN usually gets double what the LPN gets and yet the LPN is expected to carry the heavier load.
We don't get our LPN's the credit they deserve...or the pay. Some of my 'fellow' RN's are very poorly trained, they can't draw labs, start IV's and some have never put a foley in. One didn't know how to hang blood and our LPN, even tho' she legally can't, had to talk the RN through this........I think this is sad.
Go ahead and brag about your degree or how 'better' you are, but my opinion is this.........a nurse is a nurse is a nurse. It takes SPECIAL people to place themselves in a situation to care for others, console others, comfort others, and commend every last NURSE who has their heart in it 100%. Shame on you who think there IS a difference. If your in pain and request medication to ease that pain, do you really think that the pills will work any better or faster if a RN gives them to you vs a LPN???
Maybe you don't think there is a difference because of where you work. Where I work there is a definite difference as it is only RNs that are hired.
Nursing has three entry levels. All have the same license to practice but the ones with the least training are highest in number. When the Flexner Report was issued in 1910, it caused radical change in the education model used in producing physicians. There is a lack of leadership among nurses insisting upon a one tracked education for nurses, i.e. the B.S.N.
here in the slightly thawed frozen north it is now da law that RNS must be Bachelors prepared for entry to practice....I am less than hopeful as clinical time hasn't always been the priority it should have been but I digress
I am diploma prepared RN..I went that route because I learn best hands on..lots of clinical time long consolidation intimate clinicals with excellent supportive nursing staff.
I learned from everyone...The RPN which would be an equal to the LPN...because we have a college of nurses we call ourselves registered practical nurses or registered nurses...it makes me laugh because obviously one of us is practical and the other group is obviously flighty and disorganized...
I never think of us as better ...we do entirely different jobs...the two jobs can't be compared ...we are apples and oranges. I can't go and apply to be a practical nurse, nobody would hire me, I don't have any of the right skills...I have no expertise and the learning curve is huge. For those naive RN's that think practical nursing is somehow easy....it is probably the most difficult,challenging,stressful......the famillies...I wouldn't last a day...the skill set isn't taught to RN's , it's glossed over in term one over two weeks and I can bet most of us have forgotten how to stage a decubitus ulcer( i think I have forgotten how to spell it..forget about treating or preventing it).
Feeding,skin care, ambulation,safety, hearing,speech,stroke...it goes on and on...
I can happily say I am glad to be an RN but I have never once thought I was somehow more of a nurse than any other nurse. I took this path, they chose another.
Their skills are very very different from mine because they nurse in a different world then I do and god bless them for the work they do every day because they are really good at it.
They are professionals in their area of practice. I worked in a cardiothoracic intensive care unit in kentucky with some brilliant LPN's, they were professionals in their arena...they assessed and evaluated all incisions they charted them and demontrated any gaping any drainage, they would take photos..they showed colour and odour, they dressed the wounds with incredible OR sterile technique. They would get these patients up to a chair demonstrating knowledge of swanganz catheter safety/femoral artery safety assessment. They were smart and professional and were consistently reliable...they had an arena of expertise and were as much a nurse as I was. We had different jobs we were expected to do thats all.
you take some classes that have nothing to do with nursing and waste about 2 years of 'knowledge' and spend aprox. the last year of school doing clinicals
Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.
Was is that time of the month? (For our LPN versus RN discussion?) :chuckle
Everyone play nice, please :). If you are new to the board and haven't seen one of these threads before, please rest assured that the topic has been debated and discussed at great length on numerous occasions with no resolution. It's like peace in the middle east....
Some of the very very best nurses I've known have been LPN's. What a shame some feel the need to denegrate such a fine group of nurses. LPN's you have my everlasting appreciation for all your work.
Some of the very very best nurses I've known have been LPN's. What a shame some feel the need to denegrate such a fine group of nurses. LPN's you have my everlasting appreciation for all your work.
I take responsibility for the new flare up. I'm a newby here. Thanks orrnlori for your kind words.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
some things never change....BSN versus ADN, LPN versus RN....sigh. there are SOOO many threads already on this one. The catfights always start when this stuff comes up.
NannaNurse
266 Posts
undefined I know this is a very old thread, but I just have to comment here. I know that this is a debate that will never end and the RN vs LPN will never see eye to eye.
Yes, the RN goes to school longer........you take some classes that have nothing to do with nursing and waste about 2 years of 'knowledge' and spend aprox. the last year of school doing clinicals......where you really don't do much 'hands on'. The LPN goes to school for 12-18 months and studies nothing but nursing and about 70% of school is spent in clinicals.....I've done both. I can truthfully say that I learned more during LPN studies.
Disagree is you will............and I know that some of you will...........great nation we have isn't it???
You can learn all you want sitting in a classroom, but until you get your hiney out on that floor and doing patient care, you really don't have a clear picture of true nursing......now before some of you go biting off my head, this is 'MY' opinion here, ok??
I work in Rehab (ortho) medicine and the patient load, assignments, care is divided between RN and LPN.......not in aquity of patients, but in numbers only. 15 patients & 3 nurses (1 RN 2 LPN...2 RN 1 LPN...) we all get 5 patients each. Sometimes if the numbers don't work out a even amount, the poor LPN gets 'stuck' with the greater # of patients. The difference, at times is mearly the pay. The RN usually gets double what the LPN gets and yet the LPN is expected to carry the heavier load.
We don't get our LPN's the credit they deserve...or the pay. Some of my 'fellow' RN's are very poorly trained, they can't draw labs, start IV's and some have never put a foley in. One didn't know how to hang blood and our LPN, even tho' she legally can't, had to talk the RN through this........I think this is sad.
Go ahead and brag about your degree or how 'better' you are, but my opinion is this.........a nurse is a nurse is a nurse. It takes SPECIAL people to place themselves in a situation to care for others, console others, comfort others, and commend every last NURSE who has their heart in it 100%. Shame on you who think there IS a difference. If your in pain and request medication to ease that pain, do you really think that the pills will work any better or faster if a RN gives them to you vs a LPN???