One Year Later.....

Thanks. You may be right. I had not really ever intended on going back for RN but circumstances being what they were at the time it was best for me to do this. And like I said I am glad I did now. At the same time I finished school I had to leave a job of 5 years that I loved because the doctor I worked with left and they did not have a replacement for him. So, I was essentially forced to go another direction. I hope this new position in a field that I love (ORTHO) will be a good fit for me and I will not feel like I need to change my whole career avenue.

So what do you feel the difference between RN and LPN should be? What do you feel you should be doing as an RN that you are not?

Also, while your pay right now may not have gone up, your future earning potential has greatly increased. In 5 years from now you should be making a lot more than you would if you had stayed a LPN.

I guess that is what my real issue is... What to expect. Here in my small area there is a HUGE difference between LPN and RN. I actually went on an interview in a clinic and when I asked what made this position an RN position from an LPN I was told that their policy is no LPNs can remove sutures or staples. This is because an RN has to assess the surgical wound. Well as an LPN in surgical clinics for many many years I have done both! So, I guess, I am just in a funk and really need to just go out and just go for it! I am now going to work in a hospital doing something I have never done before so maybe getting out of my old environment will be a fresh start for me. At least that is what I am hoping for.

Well it sounds like you were doing a lot more as an LPN that most, so the move up to RN was not as much of a jump in responsibility.

OP, I'm guessing no one has ever said to you, "why don't you get your RN? You're already doing the work, might as well get paid for it"? I heard that many, many times during my LPN years. There were only a few tasks that I had not done as an LPN, such as hanging critical drips. As times were different during my nursing 'coming of age' LPN years, I was doing a lot of things that the med/surg RN was doing: hanging blood, I'v pushes, inserting IVs, collecting blood from and giving meds through central lines, etc. Nothing changed except my title and the pay. Actually, one of the jobs that I've had since becoming an RN 4 years ago was an actual decrease in pay from my LPN days. Of course, that was in a different area, different shift, and a different employment status, even though the area was a more acute environment than general med/surg.

Now, I'm just searching, hoping, and waiting for that community health position to open its doors, be it health department, home health visiting nurses, or any other area involving working within the community so that I can move out of acute care nursing as my primary source of income. I absolutely do NOT and will not do clinics or doctor's offices EVER again! I will actually return to long term care (and am actually considering it because I so loved working with the elderly during my earlier years as an LPN), before returning there! Never-ending forms to complete; pulling teeth just to get the doctor to sign them after I've already searched through patients' multiple charts to find the information, degrading myself by having to cash my checks at the local liquor store (I was raised to believe that a woman should never touch alcohol nor be seen in a liquor store) because the bank's experience with the physician said the checks were not worth the paper they were printed on....never again, I say.....never!!!!

Oh, back to you. You will just have to be patient in your search for the position that really touches your heart. You may have many different experiences job-wise before that happens because it may be that the one thing that needs to be reflected on your resume for that position is not there because you've not experienced it yet. Being in possession of the RN license gives you authority to travel the yellow brick road. You probably have to ride out the right tornado first.

Well it sounds like you were doing a lot more as an LPN that most, so the move up to RN was not as much of a jump in responsibility.

^^^^Yep. When you start out 'almost' at the top, one more step up and then.....it's the now-what, I'm-here-wheres-the-party syndrome.

Oh, back to you. You will just have to be patient in your search for the position that really touches your heart. You may have many different experiences job-wise before that happens because it may be that the one thing that needs to be reflected on your resume for that position is not there because you've not experienced it yet. Being in possession of the RN license gives you authority to travel the yellow brick road. You probably have to ride out the right tornado first.

Excellent advice.

I'd give you three thumbs up, but I've only got two.