needing some advice

Trauma Columnist · Dec 31, 2006

Aw Mike a man after my own heart. I'm a pre-hospital RN in IL (yes, its a real license) and volunteer. The pay for paramedics is abysmal at least in my area. So - I would say that no your LPN experience basically doesn't count towards experience as an RN. (I too was an LPN before I did the ADN program).

My advice and please feel free to reject it, is that since you are going back to school anyway, just do the LPN to BSN. Saves a lot of time and energy down the road. Believe me, I did the LPN to ADN to BSN to MSN to post-MSN and while I like my opportunities now, I wish that I had done the LPN to BSN option.

Good luck.

mikeLPN2RN · Dec 31, 2006

well i am a few months into the program now so a little late for that:) . could kick myself for putting off going back to school for so long but back on the right track now arg... all that wasted time. I agree with you that EMT's are very under paid at all levels . thats why i became a LPN :). i guess a BSN would probably do more for me than becoming a paramedic. i just always liked the sound of being a RN-Paramedic. hmmm guess there is nothing stopping me from doing both.

Trauma Columnist · Dec 31, 2006

Nope nothing at all. The RN is not impressive to the paramedics. You get judged on your street sense, not your credentials. I have the respect of the paramedics in the street because they know me in the streets.

LadyNASDAQ · Jan 1, 2007

Hey guys and gals
First off I would like to say this site rocks and I am so glad i found it. =) now on to my questions. I have been a LPN for 10 years and was looking into traveling as a LPN but I got into a LPN to RN bridge program. (it was a hard choice to go to school and not just travel as a LPN ) so now I am trying to decide what to do after I graduate. Will my experience as a LPN count or will i need to get experience as a RN? I was considering working in a ER / ICU after I graduate and going back to get my BSN or possibly becoming a paramedic during that time ( if i need to get experience as a RN). I was a basic EMT before I became a LPN and loved it. any thoughts or input would be appreciated.

I was a LPN for a few years and then became a RN. I've been a Nurse for 28 yrs. You should get 2 yrs. under your belt w/your RN. It isn't the same license. If I were you, I would go for an ICU course and don't look back. Do staff for 2 yrs and then you're ready to fly. Just trust me because I know it worked extremely well for me.:balloons:

mikeLPN2RN · Jan 2, 2007

thanks

getting input for people that have been there is very helpfull. hehe guess i am just chomping at the bit to get out there and do some traveling :monkeydance:

gitterbug · Jan 2, 2007

Hi Mike,

I agree that you need some rxperience as an RN before doing the travel nurse thing. I wish you luck and great adventures with travel nursing. BTW, one of my favorite nurses was an LPN named Mike, he was awsome!

You sound a lot like him, so I am sure your future will be bright.

ratchetrn · Jan 6, 2007

Well lets see...I was an LPN for 10 years. I have been an RN for 6 years. Everywhere I have worked has given me 1/2 credit. So, in other words, I have 10 years LPN experience for which I get 5 years credit. I have 6 years LPN, so the translation means that I make way more money than most places are willing to pay me and am now traveling to make the kind of money I think I am worth!!! hee hee hee!! Big huge challenge to get what you are worth!! Play your cards right, get your ewxperience and do what you want to. $$ isn't always all there is to consider, nut you still gotta eat!! right?

Ayrman · Jan 13, 2007

Nope nothing at all. The RN is not impressive to the paramedics. You get judged on your street sense, not your credentials. I have the respect of the paramedics in the street because they know me in the streets.

Speaking as a (former, still credentialed) Paramedic and now RN you are correct. Iowa has a nurse exception rule, which allows RN's to function as an Intermediate, Paramedic or Paramedic-Specialist with medical director approval.

During 10 years as a hospital-based EMS service director I never had a single nurse who tried the exception work out. An RN is not a Paramedic and vice-versa. Nursing teaches you nothing about trauma kinematics, working a dirty code surrounded by hungry hogs, balancing care with the need to first extricate the patient from the tangled remains of their vehicle, etc. Their ACLS skills were good and they were routinely used as extra qualified hands for tPA transfers, etc. But when it came to primary emergency response the differences showed.

The mindsets are different; not quite but almost alien in many respects. It is probably easier for a medic to earn the respect of the ER staff than it is for an RN to earn the respect of the medics when they transfer to the field.

I did EMS for 26 years; I have been practicing nursing as first as LPN (earned during to early 80's but never used) and now as an RN for about 2-1/2 years - or 4 years total in active nursing. The Paramedic cert might help a bit in the ER when it comes to understanding why what was done, etc, and in a few systems there is a need for qualified pre-hospital, or even inter-hospital (think critical care transfers) RN's. But thinking, as mikelpn2rn has mused, that an RN will further your career as a Paramedic, just isn't in the cards. Such dual licensure is for a highly specialized situation insofar as finding decent employment that will make the most of the skills mix.

Would I dissuade anyone from pursueing same? I would not. In my case it was forced on me by dint of a line-of-duty accident that left me physically unable to resume my previous career. I reactivated the LPN license, found a position with the first employer who would even deem to interview me (new grads had more experience, as I found out) and went back to school later that year. That said I'm still looking for a situation that will allow me to practice in both areas.

Ayrman

KyRNBSN · Jan 13, 2007

Agree, Look into the high demand areas in traveling, Any of the ICU'S, CCU's, CVICU, Dialysis, Oncology, PICU, NICU. These all get better pay, more offers and are always in high demand. Also ER. I wish I had known all that 14 years ago when I first got into nursing and it would have saved a lot of time for me! Also, keep things like your CEN or ICU specialty ceritifcations current.. ACLS, BSLS, NALs, PALS et al. Its all to your benefit.