LVN bridging to RN wants to know.Will past LPN/LVN experience count for RN jobs?

[live&love&heal]

I have less than a year of LPN/LVN experience and I am still looking for a job. My ultimate goal is to become an RN and I'm in the process of bridging into a program.

Does LPN/LVN nursing experience count as "work experience" once I get my RN license and apply for RN jobs? Or will it not matter because the scope of practice are different between LPN/LVN and RNs?

I'd just like to know if it makes sense for me to continue looking for a job if I am still unemployed and accepted in RN bridge program.

Thanks in advance!

[klone, MSN, RN]

Generally no. If they say they require one year of experience, they generally mean as an RN.

[JenaeRN]

Not as far as I know. I have experience in acute care as an LVN and now that I am an RN, I am being told in a lot of places that I have applied that my LVN experience doesn't count towards "nursing experience". It's frustrating because most of the LVNs I know, including me do the same work as the RNs we work with (I work in CA where the LVNs are allowed to do a lot).

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Yes and no. Some facilities will consider being an LPN as your having some nursing experience and that may help you land jobs or at least interviews. However, it's not the same as having RN experience and most places won't count it as such.

Where it could help is if you were able to get a job in an acute care facility as an LPN and then when you became an RN, applied as an internal candidate for an new grad RN job (much like going from a CNA position to an RN position). But in this market, there's no guarantees though.

[General E. Speaking, RN, RN]

My hospital counted my LVN years as half RN years. But I was working there while I bridged to RN

[Jules A, MSN]

When I started a new job as a RN they counted my LPN years as 1/2 time towards experience when they figured out my pay rate. I'd definitely keep trying to get a job because that has to look better than not having worked at all, imo.

[missdeevah, NP]

a lot of places that i've seen count lvn experience as 1/2 rn experience. for example, i had been an lvn for 2 years, and that counted as 1 year rn experience, in terms of pay.

[MyLady23]

Does that mean that if one has 2 years of LVN/LPN experience, maybe even during nursing school - after nursing school one is not counted as new grad ??? (since that seems to be the problem; to get a position without being a new grad, since there are almost no new grad programs anymore)

[WildcatFanRN, BSN, RN]

It doesn't count towards any experience, but it does count when it comes to determining your pay in my experience. When I first graduated and actually was getting interviews I was told my LPN counted 2 for 1, meaning 2 years LPN experience counted as 1 year RN as far as pay rate only. But from what I've experienced 13 years of LPN experience counts for nothing as far as actually finding a job as an RN.

[StrwbryblndRN]

Where I am LPN time counts as half, like the others have stated.

I work acute care and if you are already employed here as a LPN and you get your RN there is no training. Your job does not change. Other than one or two tasks, LPN have the same job as RN's. Pay is the big difference.

And I do find that with years of LPN as a new RN can help to get a job. They do not always consider you a new grad. At least not in my neck of the woods. I guess it depends on work history as an LPN>.

[whiskeygirl, LPN]

IME, no, it doesn't count.

[APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP]

Most Bay Area hospitals in California will not give you any credit for being and LVN, no matter how many years of experience you have working in Med/Surg and other areas of acute care in the hospital. As a matter of fact, in many instances, you will be considered for their "New Grad programs" just as if you started out as a brand new RN without any prior nursing experience whatsoever.