I'm a new LPN (3 months) new. I have tried just about every LPN position there is except for office work in my short time. Employed Per Diem everywhere.
I left a great job in a totally different career and I had hoped to make a difference by being a nurse.
I knew the pay would decrease a lot, but never knew the back breaking work it entails.
The responsibility of a human life, passing meds, meds, meds, with no time for a pee, a sip of water or just to get off your feet for 5 minutes.... somehow, I find that abusive and cruel and more importantly.... low pay for the amount of work to be done, the infections and disease we face everyday.
I had my first day alone in an LTC after 3 days of training. I was put on an unfamiliar floor and barely finished my meds and treats on time. The night shift nurses were totally rude and nasty, they asked what kind of training I got. Well, I told them I will not be back in the morning. I cannot deal with rudeness after I gave it my best try.
Not sure why this is such a low paid field. Not even sure why nurses don't want other to succeed into helping them out.
I have not found my niche and perhaps this was the wrong career for me to pursue
I am totally discouraged....
If anyone has suggestions, I'd really appreciate it... kind of need some ideas or a booster shot
$27/hourly represents $54,000 yearly if one works 40 hours per week. $54,000 exceeds the average household income in the United States, including the two-income households.
This is darned good money for an LPN with a diploma or certificate that took 9 to 14 months to earn. Many people with master's degrees wish they could earn this salary.
Moreover, the lives of the frail elderly are not valued in American society. Certain groups of people (the aged, the developmentally disabled, the mentally ill, the obese, the poor, alcoholics, drug addicts, ex convicts, the chronically ill, migrant farmworkers) are ascribed a lower value by society as a whole. Thus, nursing specialties such as LTC/SNF, addictions, psych, corrections, dialysis, developmental disabilities nursing, and migrant community health are often seen as undesirable, even by others in healthcare.
So when you discuss carrying someone's life in your hands, the cold reality is that the lives of most LTC residents are viewed as expendable by many facets of our social fabric. The proof is in the pudding: Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates are too low to fund adequate staffing in the LTC/SNF setting. Who conjured up these reimbursement rates? A government who does not really care about the aged...
This is not a representation of nursing everywhere, but it is a common complaint.
If you have an undesirable staff nursing job as an LPN, the only true way out is becoming am RN. Even then, most RN staff nurse jobs can be brutal. The best quality of life nursing jobs require grad school.
$27/hourly represents $54,000 yearly if one works 40 hours per week. $54,000 exceeds the average household income in the United States, including the two-income households.
This is darned good money for an LPN with a diploma or certificate that took 9 to 14 months to earn. Many people with master's degrees wish they could earn this salary.
Moreover, the lives of the frail elderly are not valued in American society. Certain groups of people (the aged, the developmentally disabled, the mentally ill, the obese, the poor, alcoholics, drug addicts, ex convicts, the chronically ill, migrant farmworkers) are ascribed a lower value by society as a whole. Thus, nursing specialties such as LTC/SNF, addictions, psych, corrections, dialysis, developmental disabilities nursing, and migrant community health are often seen as undesirable, even by others in healthcare.
So when you discuss carrying someone's life in your hands, the cold reality is that the lives of most LTC residents are viewed as expendable by many facets of our social fabric. The proof is in the pudding: Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates are too low to fund adequate staffing in the LTC/SNF setting. Who conjured up these reimbursement rates? A government who does not really care about the aged...
Sad but true....how society views these groups here...
Sadly Holly, that is the consequence of working in LTC. Nurses are over-worked and it's awful. I would suggest going to work for an agency in different capacities. I currently work as a school nurse and on the weekends as a corrections nurse. I love both. The school pay is far from being great though. I have a husband so that allows me the flexibility financially. Don't let working in LTC deter you.
What you are experiencing will never stop no matter where you go.. Be it in LTC or Acute. This IS nursing.
Your reaction to the reality of nursing is honest and true and trust me when I say this--- if you didn't respond this way to your experiences, there would be something wrong with you.
Someone has suggested going back to school to become an RN; and while this might improve your interpersonal experiences because of the ranking system within health care, the job that both LPNs and RNs do are identical except for a few tasks that are outside of the LPN scope of practice..
I actually think LPNs are paid way above what they have been trained to do when compared to RNs as evidenced by the fact that LPNs are in class for only 12-14 MONTHS whereas RNs today study for 4 YEARS! The pay difference between the two designations is not enough to justify an RN's need to have two or three more years of education.
Bottom line: If you value family, friends, love, having a life, then get out of nursing because it will ultimately leave you crippled, addicted to SOMETHING, and hating humanity.
Making a difference is what we all thought we would be doing going into nursing, but the sad reality is this--we are merely maintaining the status quo of today's health care milieu where the elderly are neglected even while in LTC r/t understaffed situations, and patients in acute are likely to contract superbugs while in hospital because of the lack of cleanliness due mostly to the fact that the cleaning staff could not care less about their job even if they tried!
Years ago, you could have eaten off the floor of any hospital in my area; but today, if you touch a surface and then scratch an eye, you're likely infected..
Happy Mother's Day!!!
The LVN program may be 12-14 months (mine was 12 straight months with no summer break!) But I guess you forgot to consider the prerequisites, as you have to seemed to include with your RN schooling of 4 years. Plus Most RN programs get the summer off. I had a LOT of pre-reqs and one of them was also a CNA cert. I'm in California now, but when I was in Texas I was able to hang IVs and flush PICC lines. I'm not able to do that now. I have a bachelors in another field, but I make more as an LVN. Please don't compare the pay and say we are overpaid as LVNs. You just said our tasks are almost identical! Anywho, as many people have said, there are more job opportunities as an RN. I start my RN bridge this summer and will be happy to get out of LTC.
"Someone has suggested going back to school to become an RN; and while this might improve your interpersonal experiences because of the ranking system within health care, the job that both LPNs and RNs do are identical except for a few tasks that are outside of the LPN scope of practice..
I actually think LPNs are paid way above what they have been trained to do when compared to RNs as evidenced by the fact that LPNs are in class for only 12-14 MONTHS whereas RNs today study for 4 YEARS! The pay difference between the two designations is not enough to justify an RN's need to have two or three more years of education."
End quote
Did you really just state RN/LPN do basically the same thing..which is true..only 4 things RN's do, LPN's cannot..and then go on to state LPN's are overpaid? Nursing is an on going learning experience..be it from clinical experience..or books..some LPN's can run circles around RN's..and vice versa..can't say I really get where you are coming from with this statement
LPN stands for Low Paid Nurse . An LPN does almost everything an RN does. RNs make more money but have a harder job, such as being responsible for their actions and the actions of those that are working for them - especially in nursing homes. They also give meds that LPNs are not licensed to give. (Other differences in job descriptions are too involved for this conversation). I don't understand why RNs and LPN tend to "eat their young" but I've seen it a lot in my 30 years.
Any career field in the U.S. has a wag gap between men and women. Men usually make about 30 - 40% more then women for the exact same job. Although I haven't found that same kind of gap between the sexes in nurse. Experience, amount of education (even if it doesn't make the nurse have better skills or improved patient care), off shift work, holiday work, etc. can increase you pay. Where you live also affects you pay rate. I worked in Texas when I first started and the janitor made more per hour then I did. I moved to NC and instantly made $6 an hour more. Then I moved to PA and made $4 an hour less and a fresh out-of-school Occupational Therapy Assistance made $10,000 more a year then I did, even though I had 20 years of experience and worked in ICU.
If we came into nursing to get rich we didn't last long. You have to really want to be a nurse and care for the patients from you heart, not your pocketbook, to stay in the career. You are so fresh out of school and there will be a time when you find the job that fits you well, although I wouldn't be bouncing around from job to job. It has been my experience that too many employers in a short period of time limits you hiring prospects. Give the next job a year. Get to know people and understand where they are coming from. Maybe the cranky nurses have similar frustrations as you and handle them poorly.
Really disappointing you have had such a bad experience. I have been an LPN for 16 years. I love it! I have made I have worked in many different areas of nursing. I traveled all over the United States for 5 years and have now ended up and ADON of a skilled nursing hospital. Unfortunately you will run in to rude people coworkers, patients and families. After only 3 months as a nurse it is hard. Don't quit, give it another chance! As in any career when a new employee comes in others will feel threatened and try to show you they run the place. They will get over it if you give it a chance!
The fact that you worked multiple jobs in 3 months and seriously never came back to a job because you can't handle "rudeness" sounds like a YOU problem more than a NURSE problem. I've dealt with TONS of rude, I have psych patients that have hit (hard). But I love it regardless . I'm an lpn and I make over 30 dollars an hour, as much as most of my RN friends. ..though obviously your potential for growth increases as an RN, BSN, MSN etc. With that attitude I don't think you'd find any more fulfillment as an RN. Maybe try working for an insurance company, or get some billing and coding experience or certificates and combine those with clinical experience to do case work. Do some close self examination and good luck
What you are experiencing will never stop no matter where you go.. Be it in LTC or Acute. This IS nursing.
Your reaction to the reality of nursing is honest and true and trust me when I say this--- if you didn't respond this way to your experiences, there would be something wrong with you.
Someone has suggested going back to school to become an RN; and while this might improve your interpersonal experiences because of the ranking system within health care, the job that both LPNs and RNs do are identical except for a few tasks that are outside of the LPN scope of practice..
I actually think LPNs are paid way above what they have been trained to do when compared to RNs as evidenced by the fact that LPNs are in class for only 12-14 MONTHS whereas RNs today study for 4 YEARS! The pay difference between the two designations is not enough to justify an RN's need to have two or three more years of education.
Bottom line: If you value family, friends, love, having a life, then get out of nursing because it will ultimately leave you crippled, addicted to SOMETHING, and hating humanity.
Making a difference is what we all thought we would be doing going into nursing, but the sad reality is this--we are merely maintaining the status quo of today's health care milieu where the elderly are neglected even while in LTC r/t understaffed situations, and patients in acute are likely to contract superbugs while in hospital because of the lack of cleanliness due mostly to the fact that the cleaning staff could not care less about their job even if they tried!
Years ago, you could have eaten off the floor of any hospital in my area; but today, if you touch a surface and then scratch an eye, you're likely infected..
Happy Mother's Day!!!
Lpn's are 12-14 months and MOST rn's are 4 years? My LPN was 18 months and the overwhelming majority of RN'S are 24 months, not 4 years. So saying we're undereducared and overpaid compared to RN'S is ridiculous. I hope the BSN'S are being paid quite a but more for all their extra coursework.
Suck it up. Do your job, get recognized and move forward with experience. Don't worry about other people, let them be miserable! I worked in LTC for 2 years, now I have a great job at an infusion center.
Well I am hearing the same complaints from nurses as I did years ago. I remember the first day of nursing school in 1996, my instructor told us ' if you are here for the money leave class now '. I never truly believed her, but years later I realize how wise she was. I also felt like quitting nursing school probably a hundred times, but my instructors said we will make a nurse out of you no matter what! Lol! Now, after years of practice and still much to learn, I can say serving others through nursing is one of the best decisions I have made in my life and the most rewarding. I honor the elderly and simply adore working for them. Maybe I am just a soft hearted person, but being a nurse has given me the opportunity to meet all kinds of people and somehow make a difference in their lives for the better. I get to hold patients' hands when they pass away, cry and hug their family members, and have the job to lesson others' pain. I can only do this because I am a nurse.
I have learned in my short 16 years of nursing that life is truly just a vapor, and I have a chance everyday to do good for others- plus get paid for it! What a bonus! We have all became way too materialistic these days I believe, and we need to get back to the old ideals of nursing.
I love being a nurse and learn something new everyday. What great opportunities we have and what an honor to hold our positions.
Mock me if you will, I know some will, but it seems that my attitude of encouragement and positivity has gotten me far and not many complain about working with me. [emoji3]
Love all you dedicated nurses and Happy Nurses Week (a little late)
. An LPN does almost everything an RN does. RNs make more money but have a harder job, such as being responsible for their actions and the actions of those that are working for them - especially in nursing homes. They also give meds that LPNs are not licensed to give. (Other differences in job descriptions are too involved for this conversation). I don't understand why RNs and LPN tend to "eat their young" but I've seen it a lot in my 30 years.
LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN
8,429 Posts
Well said.