New LPN and no jobs available.

Jo Dirt · Oct 19, 2004

I know how you feel when you call an agency/potential employer and hear 'we require 6 months - 1 year experience'. When I asked one, 'well, where do I get that experience?' I was told, 'go work in a nursing home'. That situation holds nothing for me, my experience doing LTC during clinicals was that the LPN's were pill-pushers, and nothing more. (Maybe this is different where some of you LTC LPN's work, but it wasn't where I was).

You are exactly correct when you refer to LTC LPN's as "pill pushers."

When my shift starts it is a pill-passing marathon. Some of the nurses wear blisters on their fingers opening those little pill packets. The pill load in many LTC facilities is absolutely RIDICULOUS. Certain doctors have "reputations." You know who has what patient by how many meds. they have. I have ranted and raved before because the pill cart literally was filled to the brim and then the pharmacy shows up that night with another load and there is just nowhere to put the medicines in the cart so I just stick a note on them and put them in the med. room. You wonder how many of those meds. are really necessary (my guess is that half could be eliminated and then some). One doctor at this facility has a reputation for being very conservative with the meds., most of his patients get from 1 to maybe 4 or 5 pills a day...and his patients are the healthiest ones!

Anyway, I could rant and rave all day on this topic. This is what I do not like about LTC.:angryfire

flasandy42 · Apr 15, 2006

>>>

can't do admissions or can't sign them? in my previous hospital we still did the admissions and the rn signed them off...or they wouldn't get done at all since we usually had only one, or sometimes two, rns on the floor. i had done my own admissions for the last 35 years until a few years ago when they decided we weren't capable. i also hung tpn, gave certain iv push meds like reglan and other non-narcotics, set up and took care of heparin drips, tpn, epidurals and pcas. we checked blood with an rn and monitored and d/c'd it. the only thing we couldn't do was spike it....how dumb. i don't know how many times i had to show an rn how to put a filter for blood on our chemo pts. we called doctors and took orders. i was always told that if the hospital trained us to do these things it was legal. i floated to icu and nicu but basically took care of the easier pts who were ready to go back to the floors. i never had to have an rn sign my notes. i never had a vent pt. though....and didn't want one. i just think they are wasting a lot of talent by doing away with lpns, but it's becoming more and more common and harder to find a hospital job. since i worked for 25 years in the same hospital i didn't know what was going on...lol. i'm just glad i'm retired because nursing has changed so much for the worse the last 40 years. it's sad where nursing has gone. i do home health care now and love it. and i do still call the doctors for orders.

linzz · Feb 27, 2007

I realize that this thread is old. The thing is, that nothing has changed. Here in Ontario, Canada, many hospitals are hiring few LPN's. I would never have taken this course if I had known. I have not even been able to find a part time LTC (not retirement) job. I can't take casual because I have to arrange child care and can't do it with no notice. I now feel that I need to get my RN just to keep working at something nursing related. Where I live is very anti LPN, in fact we have two general hospitals and one of them has not hired an LPN in over five years and the other hires about 10 a year that are not acutally being bumped from other areas. Uggh!:angryfire

allantiques4me · Feb 27, 2007

Actually, wound care nursing is about a whole lot more than "changing dressings". Just my two cents!

OMG I was a Wound care nurse for a long time I loved and miss it!!THey Got rid of that position D/T funding cuts at the facility I was at.I would love to do that again. Anyone know of any positions in N/E Ohio??Let me know please.

NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN · Mar 2, 2007

I said that particular wound care nurse position was prn. Plus I said I need to earn a living. I want to utilize my skills like assessments, injections, meds, nursing dx, IV monitors, tube feedings, blood draws and IV's, utilizing a stethoscope, becoming familiar with various medical situations, you know nurse stuff. Med-surg, ER or ICU would be ideal for me. If wound care is more than changing dressings, then educate me. I'm going from what the HR lady said after I asked her what kind of job it was. Even so, wound care is not for me!!
ladybay

In the long term care setting in California you will come across residents with tube feedings....you will also come across residents with IV monitors, using your stethoscope (you will use that when you do neuro checks)... blood drawing, not really because they do have Lab Techs who come in and do that....You will also do injections and check Blood Sugar....Assessments, not really sure if LVN's do that in the long term care setting, if they do then it's signed off by the Nursing Supervisor (RN)....someone correct me if I'm wrong....Good Luck and I hope you find the job that you want

brendamyheart · Mar 4, 2007

You can do all of these things and more in a sub-acute/rehab unit in a LTC facility.

That is right. Look into it. Yo may be surprised.

sandytambo · Mar 5, 2007

I am a new LPN and love the ads for "Entry Level" but needs at least one year experience! How can you get experience if no one hires you! I am lucky that Davita did hire me and hope to be able to hone enough skills to retuen to school,get my RN and get into nephrology.My school fed me a bunch of you know what and blew lots of smoke up my *&^# and assured me that with the "nursing shortage" I would be snapped right into a job!No hospital will touch me and all LTC centers are all prn. But I can always go back to waiting tables!LOL Pays the same!!:)

linzz · Mar 5, 2007

I hear you Santam, same deal here in certain parts of Canada. My school got me too. Few hospital jobs here and LTC is all prn. If this keeps up, I vote to shut down the LPN programs.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Mar 5, 2007

Heh. I use all of my LPN skills in LTC. Daily.

And wound care is intriguing.

As to LPN's working anywhere other than doctor's offices and LTC's, deal with it. The only LPN's I know with cool hospital jobs have been there long enough that they were there when LPN's were still being hired in such capacities. That's why I'm pursuing my RN.

katherine100, LPN · Nov 18, 2008

I live in Tulsa and just received my license 2 weeks ago. The hospitals around here are not hiring LPNs but they were when I started school. I'm a nurse tech at my hospital and human resources wants to move towards an all RN staff, thanks to Wellsprings coming in and revamping hospital policies. :angryfire I even make more money (with shift diff) than a new grad LPN at my hospital. I want to leave my job sooo bad. The only hospital that did have a position was for a prn wound care nurse. I find it sad to resort to changing dressings after all I've learned in school. Where is a newbie to get some hospital experience? I even contacted various places like home health, hospices, dialysis and agency, nothing. Agencies require 6-12 months med-surg experience. I'd hate to lose those hard earned nursing skills by going to a nursing home. Before I can even think of RN school, I need to start working as a nurse, get some skills and make decent money first. I want to utilize some critical nursing skills like med-surg but if no one gives me a chance, what can I do? I can't move out of state with a house and husband (who has a couple of surgeries pending). its frustrating.
ladybay

Sounds like you need to go to a full scope nursing home for 6 mos then go to agency. Too bad you werent in CA or the east coast. Some hospitals out here have opened up positions for LPNs. Good luck.

sayitgirl · Nov 19, 2008

I live on the east coast, and I was an LPN for ten years before returning back to school to get my RN. There are some hospitals that will hire LPNs' but the positions are limited. It is becoming the norm for hospitals to exclusively hire registered nurses. LPN's usually can only work on units or with patients that are stable. The RN has to monitor their work, this is part of the reason why hospitals are leading to wards hiring them over LPN's. It is part of the nurse practice act, that practical nurses have limited scope in the hospital. The pay is not even very much, I believe the starting salary for LPN's in the hospital on the east coast is about $13 versus $17- 19 in the long term care setting. It only goes up when you work for an agency, there the salary ranges in the $20's and $30's which is equivalent to a registered nurses' salary in some facilities. You are going to have to return back to school to see a difference in your pay and job opportunities. That will not change no matter what state you work in. This is something that they should teach practical nursing students so that they can be prepared for the challenges that they will face after graduation.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Nov 19, 2008

Sounds like you need to go to a full scope nursing home for 6 mos then go to agency. Too bad you werent in CA or the east coast. Some hospitals out here have opened up positions for LPNs. Good luck.

Since the original poster created this discussion in May 2004, over 4 years ago, we can safely assume that (1) he/she is most likely an experienced LPN by now and (2) he/she probably received an answer to this particular question several years ago. :)