LPN to RN starting over or will LPN skills be useful for RN program

pickledpepperRN · Jun 13, 2003

I found the experience as an LVN helped a lot.

The RN program was not a difficult as LVN. Less clinical, more classwork.

Have you finished prerequisites? If so you should have more time than the LVN program. It is easier to learn the theory than just the surface knowlege like my LVN program taught. Not as hard but still it is important not to get behind.

If you will be taking classes other than nursing try to not work if at all possible. That way you will have a little time to yourself

The biggest change to me was the responsibility and need to be assertive. No RN to tell you what to do or as back up. YOU will be the last nursing advocate for your patients.

Some LVNs do that anyway, but it is very different when the buck stops with you.

mattsmom81 · Jun 14, 2003

Of course it will be useful...your basic nursing knowledge will be there already, giving you some background and leaving you time to concentrate on advanced concepts and things new to you. Good luck...many of us here were LPN's first. :)

CseMgr1, ASN, RN · Jun 15, 2003

Originally posted by mattsmom81
Of course it will be useful...your basic nursing knowledge will be there already, giving you some background and leaving you time to concentrate on advanced concepts and things new to you. Good luck...many of us here were LPN's first. :)

Exactomondo. I was an L.P.N. for seven years before I entered the R.N. program, and the experience was invaluable. Good luck!

nialloh, RN · Jun 15, 2003

The school I went to did both RN and LPN classes. What I noticed was the amount of work the LPN has to do. They are in school for one year instead of two, but for the full year. The RN class get breaks. I had LPN's in my class and they still had to do most of what I did. The prerequisites are not the same, although you might be able to clep some classes.

The other thing is getting a job as an LPN. I'm in NJ, and my LPN friends tell me it's much harder to get a job as LPN vs RN. The school I went to is part of the hospital I work in. The school teaches 15 - 30 LPN's a year, and hire none of them. The RN class get snapped up.

The last thing is LPN, while different from RN, is a great way to get experience. Some of my class mates didn't have 2-3 years or the money for school, so did LPN, and worked their way to RN.

I wish you luck with your choice, and hope all works out. :)

Niall

dosamigos76, RN · Jun 15, 2003

Our Community College uses the "ladder program". You have to have all of your prerequisites out of the way before you can enter the program. At the end of the first year of the nursing program you take the NCLEX-PN and then at the end of the second year you test for the NCLEX-RN.

Cheryl

nowplayingEDRN · Jun 15, 2003

While useful for exposure and experience....I know that I went to nursing school with a few LPNs and the instructors always told them, "I know you are an LPN but you need to lay that aside and learn to think and act like an RN." They seemed to get challenged more and their (pardon the expression) balls busted more my the instructors than the rest of the class. I work with an LPN right now that is going thru RN classes and he said that he has found it beneficial to keep his mouth quiet about the fact that he is an LPN. He said that by asking questions and not trying to act like he had knowledge and experience (although he admits it is very hard) he found he did quite well. What ever your choice and what ever you do, I wish you the very best of luck.

mattsmom81 · Jun 16, 2003

Untamed spirit, I don't think the LPN knowledge base is what causes them to have problems in RN school...its the attitude they portray. If they have a chip on their shoulder they tend to have problems.

Which is true just about anywhere in life.

schoolrn · Jun 16, 2003

I was an LPN before I became an Rn and it made it so much easier. I took a bridge program to get my ADN and it only took half as long. Then I took non nursing prereqs while I worked as an RN and that way I only have nursing courses left to get my BSN and I can do all of it online because of my background.I did find that most of the LPN's were treated differently by the instructors-we were actually told on the first day of clinicals that we would be expected to "excel" after all we all had already been licensed once and we should be able to prove that we had retained our prior knowledge-even though most of the stuff was as new to us as to any oter student in the class.

nowplayingEDRN · Jun 16, 2003

Mattsmom81...

I wasn't sure I worded what I wanted to say right and you spit it out perfectly what I was trying to say! :) Thanks for the clarification.....a cocky, know-it-all attitude will get you nowhere. Thanks again for helping me to clarify.

AllieElizAbeth · Jun 16, 2003

Thank you for all the help. I'll probably do RN. I'm just worried about trying pass the nursing entrance test. I hate doing time test because I have little bit of learning disability. How can I get a nursing entrance study guide?

kasper1980LPN · May 9, 2007

I have to say I agree with this. I am an LPN in RN school currently and my instructor is very hard on my and my friend who is an LPN as well. We are the only 2 who know the majority of what she asks about but she still critisizes our responces and us on our evaluations. For my 2nd semester on ward I am keeping my mouth shut. I will never tell another instructor what my previous experience is. They are just harder on you.

I can also say that I have not been able to find a job as an LPN either. That is why I moved onward to RN school.