Not prepared after bridge program

Hands4Helping · Jun 22

I recently graduated (1 month ago) from an LPN-RN bridge program. I was an LPN for over 20 years. When I graduated LPN school, hospitals were not hiring LPNs. I worked in a long-term care facility, in which I learned a lot in bedside care. From there, I worked home health adults, and eventually pediatrics. I have been working in this area for the last 11 years. My company mostly assigns peds with trachs and/or feeding tubes. I'm very proficient in what I do. However, I don't feel that my bridge program prepared me as an RN, especially in acute care. We really didn't do much of anything in pharmacology, incompatible drugs, IV's, nothing in Maternity, and 2 weeks in telemetry. I feel like I should work in a hospital to hone my skills, but I'm afraid of not being competent enough to care for several acute patients at one time. I felt more knowledgeable out of LPN school, as we went into depth on certain things. But, that was 20 years ago, and I haven't worked in an are to utilize that knowledge and skills in over 10 years. I can continue in the role Im currently in, or move into management within my company, but that's not helping me grow as a nurse. I'm not sure what I need to do.