Message from an RN to LVNs

Maybe so, but the push was on by admins who were slowly falling for the 'Business Mode' and 'RN's only', to get LPN's out of the hospitals many, many years ago. Too bad, really, not just for the LPN's but also for their co-worker RN's and Aides, and mostly for the patients!

LPNs/LVNs are able to do just about as much as a RN but in every state they are looked down upon which is obvious by comparing the difference in pay. There is at least $20 - $30 difference, sometimes an even greater gap in pay. There is less of a gap between CNA/MA and LPN/LVN. Many times I have been told I wasn't even a nurse.? This needs to be changed. 

Well now having an ADN isn’t enough and newer nurses are being required to obtain a BSN.  In response to the sentiment that LVNs aren’t respected as nurses, I encourage you to “know your stuff”, and let your work speak for itself.
 

Show up in your charting, your documented interventions and follow-up.  Listen to videos on the diseases you see most frequently and understand the disease processes, complications and expected interventions, and show your thoroughness in your documentation.

I worked in LTC and there was zero education provided to me.  I know all LVNs don’t work in LTCs but most do.  I know you come out of school with a wealth of information and ready and able to perform, but LTC can quickly dull this sharpness by grossly overwhelming LVNs and RNs.  We learn how to work the heck out of an impossible situation but lose a lot of knowledge  because caring for too many people becomes very task oriented.