I spoke to the teacher at the local community college today in Orange County and she said no one is hiring LVN's these days, especially not in hospitals. She said the LVN's we see at hospitals are students, not employee's. Are any LVN's working in hospitals?
Also, for the LVN's in southern CA, especially Orange County, what did you make your first year?
If the shifts are 12 hour shifts, then we are paid 8 straight hours and 4 hours of OT. 3 days on equals 36 hours. Do they allow overtime on the 4th day? If we want OT can you get it easily to make more money?
Also, is the shift differential standard everywhere you go?
Sorry for all the questions.... Just trying to figure out how I will pay for my vocational college loan...
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
They will hire MAs and treat them better it seems than LVNs, which is a Nurse, right? A Medical Asst is not a nurse, so why are they looked at better than LVNs in some instances? I am confused...anyone else? Can anyone shed light on this predicament?
MAs receive good treatment because they can perform numerous nursing-related tasks, but for significantly lower pay than a licensed nurse. MAs can assist in minor surgery, give EKGs, draw blood, obtain vital signs, sterilize medical equipment, call prescription refills into the pharmacy, assist with pap smears, obtain urine samples, and a whole slew of other things.
MAs are treated well because they are more cost-effective than LVNs/LPNs.
Specializes in L&D, peds NN, and recently outpatient..
Boy, do I want to get in on this. Here in central Va. IF there is an opening it is in LTC or as someone else stated, on nights. I was hired two years ago in labor and delivery (I thought because I had L&D background) basically to do nights and the grunt. During orientation they all thought I was a "clin III" until I told them I was an LPN. I kid you not, they would hardly speak after that.
I didn't last too long. What I learned is you can't go home again, and I did go back to my small town office job, where I actually make a difference. Yes I am getting my RN now but just because I want to. Not to do anything different. You know, they wonder why there is a nursing shortage!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here in Central PA LPN's can find a job pretty easy. Although, most hospitals are very limited on the LPN positions they have, if they have any at all. Several hospitals in the area did try the NO LPN/LVN, but they found they needed LPN/LVN's....go figure...
Specializes in L&D, peds NN, and recently outpatient..
Yea, I really DON'T get why that happened. When I passed boards (1983-spring) there were two LPN schools. One at UVA hospital and you had to test in and such,but it was FREE. The other was a two year vo-tech type school, and after two years they were both gone......I will say I went to the former and got a wonderful education,
in one year. I loved it. It loved me, we were meant for each other. Then that same year I started chipping away at my gen ed. classes for my RN......am still at it I still don't know the theory or shift to do away with LPNs. I guess it starts on the outside though. When I tell folks "I'm a nurse" 50 % will say RN or LPN? It really starts there before one even sets foot in a hospital.
From an outsider view, "one year" of nursing education does sound rather minimal - no matter how intense it is. I realize that most schools have pre-reqs that may take a year to complete (assuming full-time student status and availability of classes). Still, there are other private programs that cram all the coursework into 12 months. Maybe 1 year of full-time nursing education is enough preparation for the responsibilities of nurses. I'm sure doctors could practice safely without 8-10 years of education. And new we have PAs and NPs taking on more and more of what used to MD-only work with fewer years of training. In some countries, medicine is an undergraduate major, not something you start only after graduating with a bachelor's degree. Certainly, there are those people who no matter how poor the educational prepartion is will take personal responsibility to learn what they need to know. And there are others, despite their education, who don't seem to have a bit of common sense (including MDs, PTs, etc yes?). So the question of how much education to require is not an easy one to answer.
And LPNs, keep in mind that RNs often face the assumption that they have little training or responsibility as well from those who don't know what's going on. So there are probably others who'd be surprised to learn of the great responsibility of nurses (both RN and LPN) and then to realize that it neither requires a bachelor's degree and may be earned with just 1-2 years of nursing school (not including pre-reqs).
There's also the issue of RNs who may have been explicitly taught in school that LPNs only have the most basic of training and aren't taught the why's of nursing tasks. RNs may have been explicitly taught that they are ultimately responsible for work done by an LPN that they are working with, regardless of the fact that LPNs have their own license. With 50% less nursing education (1 yr for LPN 2 yr for RN for most programs, just looking at nursing content), it's not too hard to see why an RN might assume that an LPN is a 50% nurse - or more accurately 50% prepared compared to RNs. Meanwhile, LPNs may have been taught that they have just as much resonsibility as RNs and know just as much as RNs (at least in regards to useful info). LPNs may perhaps even had it implied to them by instructors that RNs think they know so much more but are sorely mistaken.
Regardless of the reality, then, you're going to run across nurses, both RNs and LPNs who come to nursing with misconceptions and assumptions about the others. No matter how many nurses come to learn more about the reality, new nurses are being graduated with these continuing misconceptions and assumptions that we all have to deal with again and again.
Specializes in L&D, peds NN, and recently outpatient..
I like what the last two poster pointed out. Often times as well it's what you are learning in orientation. Each speciality has their own set of standards, etc. For example, in my office, the MA who does things when I am not there( a whole other issue) uses an allergy syringe(the one with needle already attatched) for adminsitering MMRs the kids. This is SO not good on many levels. The MD is fine with it and I am not. Needless to say document, document!
There are hundreds of opportunitys for LPN/LVN in Washington State.
Infact the company I work for noticed they were having a hard time retaining experienced LPN's and had to drastically change their hiring pratices. Our union stepped in and the current employees were comenstated for the new hiring pratices. The end result for me was
a $4.00 raise this year. Trust me I did not believe it until I got the paycheck to prove it. Like most jobs employers want to keep you at 40 hours and less. Because of the endless nursing shortages it is easy to find additional hours if you are looking. Its on you. Your reputation as a hard worker and your patient/customer service. We have limited positions in our hospitals but that changes as yearly. There are lots of jobs in clinical and urgent care settings. Which has kept me in 12 years as an LPN only working Long term care for a six month stretch.
I choose to stay out of long term care because I want to work mostly
days. I'm also smart enough to realize that is where the real liability in nursing lies. I have worked in Family Pratice, Intermal Med, Rheumatology, OB/GYN, Endocrine and Urgent Care settings. I need to get my RN frankly.
I spoke to the teacher at the local community college today in Orange County and she said no one is hiring LVN's these days, especially not in hospitals. She said the LVN's we see at hospitals are students, not employee's. Are any LVN's working in hospitals?
Also, for the LVN's in southern CA, especially Orange County, what did you make your first year?
If the shifts are 12 hour shifts, then we are paid 8 straight hours and 4 hours of OT. 3 days on equals 36 hours. Do they allow overtime on the 4th day? If we want OT can you get it easily to make more money?
Also, is the shift differential standard everywhere you go?
Sorry for all the questions.... Just trying to figure out how I will pay for my vocational college loan...
Oh how true...as soon as you say you are a nurse...the first response seems to be...RN?
I'm only a few classes away from my RN....it's sad, I've met some wonderful LPN's that I would let take care of me over some of the RN's I've met...I believe a bit of it at hospitals is that they feel they can send an RN anywhere...as they may feel limited on where they can send an LPN....I feel that LPN's do have a place in the medical field...and some are just as good, if not better than some RN's....
i live in nor cal, and most LVN's work at skilled nursing facilities, assisted living homes, or do home health care. the veterans home of cal in yountville employs quite a few LVN's :)
I frequent the employment websites and noticed that a couple of hospitals in the general area had job openings for LVNs with the stipulation that they be actively in the process of obtaining their RN license as a condition of hire. I've also noticed that there are some hospitals that do hire LVNs but that they look for those who already have acute care experience. I relocated to find employment and find it harder and harder to get steady work as an LVN. I don't like being forced to upgrade my education and title when that is nearly impossible. If there were an abundant number of open seats in RN programs, then ok, get the RN or don't complain. But in my instance, it is almost impossible to go to RN school and at my age, I really don't want to jump through those hoops again. Unfortunately I still have to work so this is an issue with me.
Boy, do I want to get in on this. Here in central Va. IF there is an opening it is in LTC or as someone else stated, on nights. I was hired two years ago in labor and delivery (I thought because I had L&D background) basically to do nights and the grunt. During orientation they all thought I was a "clin III" until I told them I was an LPN. I kid you not, they would hardly speak after that. 
TheCommuter, BSN, RN
102 Articles; 27,612 Posts
MAs are treated well because they are more cost-effective than LVNs/LPNs.