dermnrs66

I have been a LPN for 17 years. I have worked in 4 states, currently in New Hampdhire. My first job out of school was a "charge nurse" (actually ONLY nurse) 11-7 on a 52 bed skilled care unit in the county nursing home. I had 3-4 CNA for the shift. Those women taught me invaluable lessons in hand's on care not to mention time management. I did meds, treatments, trach, tube feedings, caths you name it. Next I went to Florida did 4 years acute care med/surge started iv, did med pushes,PCA telemetry, 10-12 pts per nurse on the 7p-7ashift. I loved it. Spent 2 years in New Jersey doing home care for a lovely woman who happened to be a C4 quadrapelegic. she required skilled care 12midnight to 8am. On to New Hampshire, temped in long term care, and ended up in a clinic setting Internal Medicine.Went to Maine spent 4 years in a clinic setting Internal med and pulmonology. 2 years ago I returned home to NH and am very happy in a dermatology office. I am team leader, but refuse to give up my direct patient contact. (I fit the administrative stuff in around our schedule). I work with 1 MD 1 NP and 2 MA. 8-5 40 hrs a week. I do telephone triage, patient ed, Teach Enbrel administration, patch testing, MED testing and adminster phototherapy. I assist in biopsies, (shaves, punches, EDC ,curretage, and excisions) I have a wonderful group to work with, a supportive organization (Dartmouth HItchcock) and excellent benefits. I have found my niche, but the experience along the way in different areas has been amazing. What a ride. Good thing about being a nurse. Get your basic experience first, and you can explore all kinds of areas!!

I have read every posting, and yes I too have met my share of uninformed RNs, ARNP and public. I believe that is the problem. People in general, as well as RNs and Advanced practitioners just don't know what we can do. Depending on our state, we can do many things. Some states are very restrictive, some more liberal. I don't think people outside the LPN/LVN community really know what , or who we are. WE ARE QUALIFIED CAPABLE NURSES. I can honestly say that 3 days out of 5 I go home knowing that I made a difference in somebody's life. The pay ain't great, but the reward is so much better. I am content where I am professionally, until some uninformed individual verbalizes a slight against my abilities. Then, yes I question, should I go back to school to get that piece of paper that says I can do, what I am already doing. I am blessed enough to have people within my organisation remind me frequently what an outstanding job I am doing. I work with an amazing MD and a NP who started out as a LPN frm the same school I graduated from. Not everyone is as lucky. I understand the frustration, but maybe we need to focus on educating the rest of the medical community as far as what we are capable of both legally and by performance. We know what we do, we know our own value, so maybe we need to let every one else in on this well kept industry secret!!

This discussion is EXACTLY how I located this web site. Searching through the various states for scope of practice guidelines for LPN?LVN. I attended a Dermatology Nurses Association convention in Washington DC last week. I attended a LPN forum where the biggest topic was "why are LPNs working in dermatology and members of the association not able to sit for the certification exam and be recognized for the advanced level of skill" the answer, because we are not RNs. Then began a convoluted explanation of how to be certified, we needed to develope a task force, compile scopes of practice for all the states, request permission to develope a course, write exam questions and obtain approval by the certification board to have our own exam- oh, and we have to find funding of course. Keep in mind the duties of the LPN and RN within the dermatologic office in our area of the country anyway- is exactly the same. In fact we don't hire RNs. There seems to be a definate issue-not with all RNs but I have to tell you the majority of the ones I met in DC. I felt as if they were afraid to lose some type of superiority of LPNs and medical assistants. Truth is, we would probably have a higher percentage of passing scores on the exam, since we are the ones doing all the hands on and patient education let alone meeting with the pharm reps to discuss product/medication updates. well, it may be a long battle, but I think it is one well worth it to unite LPN/LVN nationally with standards of practice. Who knows, maybe we'll wvwn educate a few "Real Nurses" along the way.