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I personally didn’t go back for 3 years, just because I wasn’t mentally prepared to do the school thing again. But after doing my prerequisites I was able to start the bridge at the start of the next class my college had. So from the end of my prereqs to the start of the bridge was about 4 months. At the hospital I was going to work at, I was going to make about $8 more an hour. But in the place that I worked as an LPN, I only got a $2/hr raise for getting my RN. I’m working in home health right now and I’m making $1/hr more than I made as a LTC LPN. So basically in my experience, you do get paid a lot more if you’re in a hospital setting. If you plan on going to a nursing home, home health, etc, I wouldn’t expect a big pay raise from what you’d make as an LPN.

My mom started as an LPN too. She graduated 20 years ago and at that time people were saying LPNs were phased out. They’ve been saying it for 20+ years, it’s yet to happen and I don’t think it ever will.

I once had a similar situation. I’d given morphine as ordered, the patient died through the night, and the oncoming nurse said something along the lines of me being the angel of death and killing them. I talked to my mom who has been a nurse for almost 20 years because I was beside myself. she said “would you want to live like that? Would you want help and comfort? Or would you like to go slowly, painfully, and wishing you had a way to help you?” put everything in perspective and I’ve never thought twice about morphine orders since.

And I agree with this. LPNs (some of them) are always going to tell you to stop at LPN whether it be out of insecurity of their choices or genuine love of their job. There are pros and cons to both. Do what you think is right for YOU.

RN here that started as an LPN. I’m not trying to discourage you and I’m by no means saying not to get your RN. Get that RN, get that money you worked for, open up all those endless job opportunities. I think being an LPN first is GREAT experience and a great way to learn. I was happier as an LPN. As an RN, I feel like I just have the title to have nonsense, paperwork, and responsibility thrown on me. Starting as an LPN gives you time and the chance to learn the how’s, what’s, and whys behind things. LPNs are important parts of the team and there are so many that can “run circles” around the RNs for lack of better words. Just like there are some LPNs that make you question how and why they managed to get a license. Same goes for RNs. What I’m saying is title does not indicate skill or knowledge. The thing with LPNs is that you’re not expected to walk into your first day knowing everything. As soon as you have your RN, you find yourself in the middle of a bunch of messes you were never trained for solely out of expectation that since you have that title you know what you’re doing. Regardless of school time, you still need adequate training and support, which I feel like you get more of as an LPN. Right after I got my RN, I was thrown into a supervisor spot that I’d trained 30 minutes for. As an LPN, I had a mandatory 3 weeks training. Again, this is just my experience. But I loved my years as an LPN. And don’t let anyone give you that crap about LPNs being phased out. One look at indeed shows me that there are more jobs open for LPNs than RNs. Mostly because they’re cheaper, but still, where I live, LPN pay is dang good. edited to add: the year of LPN was HARD. Like 30x harder than my RN bridge. But it gives you a good idea of what you’re in for. I thought I knew what I was signing up for when I was in nursing school and a CNA. Nope. Being an LPN first, you’ve only got a year invested and you can decide where to go from there after you’ve seen what you’re dealing with.