No support or respect

amoLucia · Nov 1, 2012

It wasn't until I was employed in LTC that I realized the importance of LPNs to the healthcare industry and nursing profession. I had never experienced the full scope of their committment to pt care and the skills and knowledge they possess. My first few years out of nsg school were in hospitals where LPNs WERE considered secondary to RNs. After working with so many LPNs and learning from them, I've come to appreciate their practice. I would trust so many of them with me & mine first before some other nurses I've known.

But something does concern me about LPNs. So many of them denigrate themselves and I read it time and time again in the posts here on AN. Many frequently minimalize their practice; it's like they're short-changing themselves. If you don't appreciate yourself, how can you expect others to do so???

With maturity, I see many LPNs become strong and secure in themselves, much like any newbie grows with experience in time. But this occurs on an individual level. OP does hit the mark that on the larger organizational scale , the recognition level is much less. I can't speak for Canada, but the US is much the same IMHO.

It's such a shame that nsg so divides itself into different classes, ie RN vs LPN, acute care vs LTC, BSN vs ADN/dip, etc etc etc. Boy, we could be so awesome if we could just be one!!!!

But it does bother me when I read or hear an LPN down-talking herself (guys incl). If you can't be positive about yourself, at least, don't negate yourself. You have my support and respect.

T-Bird78 · Nov 1, 2012

We do try to be positive and we know that we rock and our roll is important, but when we hear so many people say "JUST a LPN" and ask why we're not bridging over to get our RN, it takes the wind out of our sail. I'm a LPN and it's great for me because I need regular office hours and know RNs are mainly in hospitals. My own mom asks me all the time when I'm getting my RN because I can make better money and get better jobs. I had a preceptor in nursing school tell me that LPN stands for Low Paid Nurse--real encouraging. All the LPNs I've worked with (and for) have been great and we all are awesome and love what we do, but we have people belittling us and our choice to "just be a LPN." There was even a thread on here from someone who was going to get her LPN license but was afraid that she'd be seen as a quitter and a failure for not getting her RN! It's hard to overcome the attitude that we are lower-class nurses because the initials after our name are different.

I know I'm awesome, I just wish employers would give me a chance to show it!! Desperately need an office job!!

T-Bird78 · Nov 1, 2012

As for the OP, no office I've worked in even acknowledged nurse appreciation week, let alone did anything for us, so I hear you.

StudentNurseKitteh · Nov 2, 2012

I am just finishing up LVN program (9 more weeks!) and even one of our instructors (RN, OR nurse) belittled LVNs and working in LTC as "you're not a real nurse - you need to bridge to RN ASAP and work in a hospital". No respect even from our teacher (whose salary we are paying......)

kabfighter · Nov 2, 2012

Haters gonna hate...

Do what you do to the best of your ability, be proud of it, get paid, and ignore what everyone else has to say (or not say). The LPNs I work with on my med-surg floor are great, and there really isn't any divide between RNs and LPNs as we do the same work for the most part. I think a lot of RNs have a lot of insecurity in their own position, and tend to pass it along the line. My state's BON doesn't even allow RNs to fill LPN positions, since they are of the mindset that LPNs and RNs both fulfill necessary roles and that LPNs are not 'half an RN' or any such thing.

OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN · Nov 2, 2012

Same thing happens often in the US. All you hear is praise for the RN. I hate this. LPNs are nurses too. I wish there were no such thing as RN or LPN. I wish there were only LNs(Licensed nurses.) These credentials only seem to divide lpns and rns.

And, yes I used to be a LPN.

OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN · Nov 2, 2012

I am just finishing up LVN program (9 more weeks!) and even one of our instructors (RN, OR nurse) belittled LVNs and working in LTC as "you're not a real nurse - you need to bridge to RN ASAP and work in a hospital". No respect even from our teacher (whose salary we are paying......)

Yes, I would have reported her. No you can't report everyone in the real world, however she needs to learn to be professional.

HazelLPN, LPN · Nov 2, 2012

I am just finishing up LVN program (9 more weeks!) and even one of our instructors (RN, OR nurse) belittled LVNs and working in LTC as "you're not a real nurse - you need to bridge to RN ASAP and work in a hospital". No respect even from our teacher (whose salary we are paying......)

Oh, nursing professors are probably the worst offenders, especially the ones who havent' been at the bedside in several decades.

Long story short, I returned to school for my BSN after 30 years in practice as an LPN and was appauled at what nursing professors said about LPNs. I can tell you that I learned a few new things in school for my RN, but it pales in comparason to what I learned on the job as an LPN. I never finished the BSN as life got in the way and remain an LPN to this day.

I remember when we were taught to respect each other when we were in school. You never ever called another nurse by her first name, it was "Miss" or "Mrs". You were taught to respect everyone on the floor. Now, I think the opposite is taught. I think that BSN grads are told that they are superior by their instructors. That superiority complex does not last long however, when that veteran LPN or diploma educated RN saves their rear end for the first time because the "critical reasoning" that they were told they learned was actually no more then memorization

vintage_RN, BSN, RN · Nov 2, 2012

Oh, nursing professors are probably the worst offenders, especially the ones who havent' been at the bedside in several decades.
Long story short, I returned to school for my BSN after 30 years in practice as an LPN and was appauled at what nursing professors said about LPNs. I can tell you that I learned a few new things in school for my RN, but it pales in comparason to what I learned on the job as an LPN. I never finished the BSN as life got in the way and remain an LPN to this day.
I remember when we were taught to respect each other when we were in school. You never ever called another nurse by her first name, it was "Miss" or "Mrs". You were taught to respect everyone on the floor. Now, I think the opposite is taught. I think that BSN grads are told that they are superior by their instructors. That superiority complex does not last long however, when that veteran LPN or diploma educated RN saves their rear end for the first time because the "critical reasoning" that they were told they learned was actually no more then memorization

RN students are definitely told by their professors that they are superior. I have a friend who is in second year of a BSN program and her placement is in the OR. I told her that that was really exciting and that I hope I get a placement in the OR...she said "Oh, well I dont think PN students really get to do stuff like that.." And she has said this about many different things that I have said I was excited about...skills etc. Then she said to me "To be honest I have no clue what a PN is suppose to do."

Even in the hospitals of my city they have this campaign where they have billboards and posters all over with pictures of nurses and it says "Registered Nurses make the difference." Big slap in the face to the 1000s of RPNs who work in my city's hospitals.

Fiona59 · Nov 2, 2012

Andrea, those billboards are funded by the RN professional associations and their unions. We've been through a similar campaign out here in Alberta. It usually happens around their contract bargaining times. A couple of years back the provincial college of registered psychiatric nurses and CLPNA both complained about them.

Ultimately, it comes down to most patients don't know who cares for them until they read the name tag.

BScN students have become more arrogant since the degree only route became the only route to becoming an nurse. My best bud at work is a diploma RN class of 2005 and she gets attitude from the new hires who think they are superior nurses.

All that we have observed in Alberta is the fact that the RN students seem to have the minimum time on practical experience. If the guidlines say 100 hours they do 100 hours. There don't seem to be the long days that we put in back at the turn of the century. I remember spending seven full weeks in LTC alone. My friend remember being there five days a week. Now students tell us their placements are two or three days a week.

Oh, and LPNs are most definitely in the OR. Who does your friend think OR Techs are? Again it is RN organization propoganda that they are the only nurses in the OR.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Nov 3, 2012

To be fair, I'm betting there's a sizable chunk of the population that isn't even aware LPNs exist. When was the last time you heard the LPN position mentioned in popular culture? To most people there are just "nurses" who are all "RNs".