Pay increase after bridging?

[General E. Speaking, RN]

For those who have bridged (specifically if you stayed at the same facility), I'm just curious about the difference from LVN to RN. I am also wondering did they somehow count your LVN years towards RN years?

I have 16 yrs LVN experience and can't really get a straight answer from my sup. Haven't gone to HR yet- maybe they would have a solid answer.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I am not only doing it for the money but also for more opportunities...:)

Good, because that's where you going to find you satisfaction it sounds like. Good luck.

[IdahoGirl]

I have bridged over from LPN to RN and remain working in the same facility. I did receive more pay than a new RN grad, they took into account my years of expeirence as an LPN. I required this and if not I would go elswhere. LPNs are nurses that function just like RNs and I was not willing to throw that all away. I will always respect and look up to my fellow nurse the LPN for their expertise and knowledge in the field of nursing. It is a shame that many hospitals do not value their service and that we are forced into going back to school to prove ourselves as nurses and become RNs. I do not know any more now than I did before honestly. The only difference is now I call myself RN instead of LPN and I receive more pay.

[mentalhealthman]

In my facility the compensation for an RN is different than an LPN. I'm talking about bennies. RN's get more vacation and can carry over more vacation from year to year. Not sure how they compensate financially. They do have what they call a "Boarding Process". That is where they take all your experience, school records, letters of recommendation, etc. into account and come up with a salary. It looks like each facility has different policies.

[fry.girl]

I am a new LPN. I was told by my Nurse Manager that if I complete my RN my base pay will increase by $8/hr and that if it takes me 2 years to finish then my 2 years of LPN experience will count as 1 year of RN experience, so my pay would increase even more.

[IdahoGirl]

Congrats to you Cheri on becoming a new LPN. I was an LPN before becoming an RN and the experience I gained while working as an LPN has been very valuable to me.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Often RNs get some perks that other staff don't.

As a fairly new LVN I can say that this is so true.

About two weeks ago I attended a meeting that was conducted by HR about signing up for the 401k program at one of my jobs. The HR manager approached me and said, "I'm sorry, but the company 401k plan is only open to RNs."

That didn't make a great deal of sense to me because I have a lot of disposable income to invest into a company-sponsored retirement plan. I'm young without any children and my house is completely paid for with no mortgage payments. My point is that RNs do receive perks that other staff members never get to experience.

[General E. Speaking, RN, RN]

"I'm sorry, but the company 401k plan is only open to RNs."

that sux! :angryfire

[DONN]

l

[michelle95]

A couple of nursing homes that I applied at after getting my RN would not give me extra for having 6 years of LPN experience. However, the last hospital I worked at gave me gave me 3 years of RN experience for the 6 LPN years....and I worked on a telemetry floor....I had never worked "acute care" at that point. Worked on a rehab and a couple of nursing homes as an LPN but not acute care. You would think that since LTC was my thing that I would have gotten more.

Go figure.

The hospital that I currently work at also gave me extra for LPN experience....even though I have never worked on periop.

[RN34TX]

When I finished my RN in 2003, I was making $22/hour as an LVN and was at top pay for LVN's.

My RN pay was $24/hr (same hospital and med/surg unit as my LVN position) and this was including credit for my LVN experience. The new grad RN's (who weren't prior LVN's) made a few dollars an hour less.

This was at a big hospital in downtown Dallas.

Another well-known hospital in Dallas (supposedly a top-notch Dallas trauma center) down the street did not offer me credit for LVN experience and offered me $19/hour.

Of course I turned that one down.

[RN34TX]

Hardly seems worth it. One of my co-workers was doing Excelsior and dropped after she was nearly finished, because she's maxed out as an LPN where we work, and she found out she'd make new gard pay, on the same unit she's worked 20 years. Not quite fair. The problem is she's stuck in this position. The RN might not have given her much more money but would have given her more opportunities in other areas, or to quit if she felt like it. She's only in her mid-40s and has a long while to work.

You have to look beyond the salary and to what do you want the RN to do for you. Often RNs get some perks that other staff don't. They recently raised the night shift diff where I work for RNs only. At Duke RNs got an extra week of vacation that other staff didn't. There's a wider variety of positions open to RNs, in some areas. I know our ER, ICU's, intermediate units, L&D don't hire LPNs. But it depends on where you live. In some areas opportunities for LPNs are wide open.

Good luck in whatever you do.

This is so incredibly true and so many people just don't get it.

You need to look beyond your salary alone.

When I was shopping for my first RN job, many positions offered little more (and sometimes even less) in terms of pay compared to what I made as an experienced LVN.

Luckily my hospital as an LVN gave me credit for my LVN experience when determining my RN wage.

But even if it hadn't, it would still be worth it because I was at the top of the pay scale for LVN's, thus no room for financial growth.

In addition, I no longer had to grab an RN to hang a bag of blood or some other nursing tasks that were "RN only."

Also, my list of possibilities of employment increased dramatically. As an LVN, there were few, and often no positions at all in many areas such as critical care or recovery room which is where I'm at now.

Your post reminded me of being a young CNA who just graduated from LVN school. My CNA colleagues snubbed me because I wouldn't be making much more than they made as CNA's.

Of course they had all been CNA's for 10-20 years, were topped out on the CNA pay scale, and took the higher pay in lieu of benefits option, thus leading to the pay comparable to a new LVN.

They only looked at hourly wage in terms of gaining anything.

Big mistake.

[DDL,RN]

I was an LPN (15.00/hr) for a year before getting my RN. New grads start at 22.00 and I got a whopping 33 cents additional for my year of LPN experience. But, it was better than the 35 cents I got when going from phlebotomist to nurse. Now I'll be using all that lovely increase to get out of the financial abyss that 5 years of school has wrought.