LPN working in a PCT position

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Specializes in ED, Rehab, LTC.

I'm a new grad. LPN and I took my first job in a nursing home with a bad reputation, due to lack of options, which did not work out for me. The only other relative position I can find is an experienced PCT (patient care tech)... I never worked as an aid but I have done a lot of it in nursing school. There are some other skills required for the position like phlebotomy and EKG and I have completed part of the RN program. So I think I would be qualified and I've had some experience in these areas. My dilemma is working as a Tech when I'm licensed to work as a nurse. I will take a huge pay cut (probably like $10.00 per hour less than I am making now), but the position is in a specialty area I would like to work in some day as an RN. I would never get the opportunity to work there as an LPN. So will this look bad when I apply to my first RN position (In a different facility)?? I know working as an LPN could contribute to my level of experience but could not working as an LPN hurt me??

What do you think?

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Specializes in geriatrics-LTC/clinics/med surg/psych.

:monkeydance: congrats on becoming a nurse!!:balloons: Now it's time for you to make tough decisions regarding your nursing career. IMO YOU NEED TO FIND AN LVN POSITION!! There's nothing wrong with wanting to work in a hospital setting on a unit where you're interested in working some day as an rn. But...why would you want to do xtra back breaking work and get paid less.:nono: patient care techs/AIDES are the hospitals low budget fix to the LVN PROBLEM!!! Depending on the facility your duties will vary, but it sounds like this hospital pct's are phlebotomist/cna's.Pct's at that hospital should get paid more if that's the case.Personally I would become resentful:angryfire knowing that the hospital wouldn't respect the nursing training I received.Just imagine all the other pct's (and maybe some nurses)standing around saying to themselves" Isnt she a lvn?why is she working as an aide?,I know I would never take an aide job once I got my nursing license!!! I not trying to say that's what would happen(although I have a friend whose also an lvn and she made the mistake of taking a med aide position after graduating lvn school, and she always overheard lvn's and aides bad mouthing her behind her back!!) Focus on finding a NURSING position that's right for you.

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Specializes in ED, Rehab, LTC.

niteshiftlvn,

Thanks for your response. The more I think about it, the sillier (spelling?) it sounds. I've worked to hard to take a step back. I just wish I had more options. Maybe I'm chickening out.. lol. Thanks again.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Legally you may not be able to work as a tech since you are already a nurse. That is what I ran into when I wanted to apply for some student nurse internships while working toward my RN. My BON won't let us work below our scope of practice. Check with them before you decide. Good luck.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

The more you expose yourself to nursing as an LPN, the better you can apply yourself to the RN position, I would believe. You would be working closer to the RNs, making nursing decisions, using critical thinking and doing most of their skills. And, you'll get a chance to see if you really want to be a nurse at all. I had a friend that worked as an LPN for two years with the plan to become an RN, and suddenly, she changed her mind and received a business degree instead. I'd try and pursue a job as a nurse...that is what you worked hard for.

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Specializes in Hemodialysis.

PCT as in a dialysis tech?? Thats what I do, and thats my current job title..

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Up here a Dialysis Tech has to hold a PN license. The only non-licensed personnel are Service Aides who prep the machines and stock the supplies. The only patient contact they can have is answer bells and advise the RN or PN that the patient needs something.

From what I've seen on the boards PCT's are NA's who are allowed to perform some skills (foleys, minor dsg changes).

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Med-Surg..

I think it really is a lousy position you are in. Some areas, it seems in both Canada and the U.S. seem to either have great jobs for LPN's or a lot of really lousy ones. I would do as the other poster "Jules A" said and check with your BON, because your BON may indeed have issues with an LPN working as an aide, and at the very least you may be held to LPN standards, even in a tech position. Being held to LPN standards for tech pay may grind you down after a while. Good luck.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I think it really is a lousy position you are in. Some areas, it seems in both Canada and the U.S. seem to either have great jobs for LPN's or a lot of really lousy ones. I would do as the other poster "Jules A" said and check with your BON, because your BON may indeed have issues with an LPN working as an aide, and at the very least you may be held to LPN standards, even in a tech position. Being held to LPN standards for tech pay may grind you down after a while. Good luck.

This is a serious consideration to ponder because I had a professor that mentioned this same thing when I was in school. She keeps both licenses active and she told me that once, she worked as an LPN, but was asked to function as an RN with LPN pay. She told me that even if you work in the lower license, if charges are brought before you, you will be held liable to the higher license, because you were trained, passed the boards, and are supposed to know better. IOW, if you made an error, you may lose both licenses depending on the decision made by the BON in your state.

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