Roozeyk

Are there units that still have one to one nurse/patient ratios, or have they long gone to the wayside?

oops..duplicate post...sorry

:w00t::w00t:48 years old...have been an LPN for 27 years (holy cow)..currently attending the first semester of a Bridge Program...hope to graduate December 2010.. Currently work as an LPN in a Level II Trauma ER every Saturday & Sunday, 12 hour shifts. Married, 3 grown children and 1 Grandson, and one very spoiled miniature schnauzer. Wishing everyone the best of luck with all their educational endeavors! :wink2:

I'm 48..just started the Bridge Program a couple of weeks ago...got braces on my teeth this past summer...so God willing, by Dec '10..I'll graduate from college, get my braces off and then I'll have to go back to acting like an adult. :paw:

After 20 years of experience as an LPN in a various number of areas/specialties...here in MO, the pay is around 10-13 in clinics, 15-17 in Home Health, 12-18 in Hospitals (plus shift diff, and 15-25% + option). Temp agencies might pay more. In Phoenix, AZ. area LPN's can make anywhere from 15-45 an hour, depending on experience, specialty and shift. The 45 came from a staffing agency.

I worked in a small town hosptial too a few years back, and as an LPN, I did everything the RN's did (with the exception of pushing IV meds). I did L&D (actually delivered one baby that decided to come on out before the doctor got there..he got stuck in the office trying to remove a buried Norplant....member those??), Newborn and Level II Nursery, Postpartum and post op GYN care. I went to C-Sections to receive babies. We had surgical staff 24/7 so I did not to any assisting with the surgery part. Everyone licensed person that worked on the unit had to rotate through each section of the department until they could interchange at a moments notice without any problems. After a few years of doing this, the census got low and when your working 12 hour shifts, we were losing hours left and right and I transferred to an OB/GYN Clinic, it's interesting to kind of see how everything starts and then how it ends up. Womens Health is a very interesting area. I now do ER Nursing as an LPN and am trying to finish my RN degree, which I then think I want to do Urgent Care work as the hours are a little better.

All I can say is, if you are an LPN/LVN for more than 5 years, then there is no such thing as an LPN-RN one year bridge program, and I wish the programs would just say that up front when they are advertising and talking about their programs. "Oh you get credit for your work history as an LPN"..ha..ha ha..ha ha ha...want some mayo with that bologna?!:chuckle I've been an LPN for 26 years and all I've gotten so far with the programs is spending all year including summers doing prereqs :typing for the courses that are "outdated because they are more than 5 years old" or b/c this program requires, nutrition, but this one doesn't..this one requires..microbiology within the last 5 years...but this one will take it, but you have to take religion instead, this one requires public speaking but this one doesn't...good grief..what a ruckus! Oh and by the way..we give credit to the LPN's that recently graduated from our PN program, graduates from other PN programs will be considered on an individual basis, but the PN's from our program are going to get extra admission points. I know it's my own fault for not just going straight through to RN as soon as I got done with LPN or started an RN program to begin with...but I feel like there is some kind of resentment for trying to go back later to obtain it. oh and... you can't take this course until you take that course and you can't take that course until you take this other course..they must go in a sequence you know....sooooo frustrating!! OK, thanks for letting me gripe...and I'll just keep plugging away. Best of Luck to every "experienced LPN beyond the 5 year mark" and to all LPN's period!!

Thanks for the post! awesome!

3 years ago when I lived in Phoenix, AZ there were some LPN's making 43/hr. They were working weekend/night shift/high risk areas through an agency. It was probably without any bennies. Where I currently work, you can opt out of all the bennies for an "accelerated" pay of 22 an hour, with over 15 years experience, in a hospital setting.:paw:

I've been an LPN for 26 years...here is my advice to you...if you have the time and the means...just do the RN and be done...that way say 5-10 years down the road...you burn out on hospice...there will be many more doors of opportunity open to you, and the salary for RN is a little more secure than for LPN. Us LPN's? we're good peeps, but I encourage you to just dig in and go for the RN. I'm 47 and trying my best to work through all the prereqs needed for the ASN program, b/c all my LPN courses are "older". Best of luck to you! :paw:

I'm not so sure I believe all the hype about there being a nursing shortage or the medical field is going to see a shortage of a bazillion qualified nurses over the next 5 years and on and on and on..........if this were really true, why wouldn't the state boards of nursing or the powers that be...make it so...LPN's with say X amount of years active experience, be allowed to just take the core ASN program and not make them go through all the stupid money making prereqs that most have nothing to do with being a nurse. I have been an LPN for 26 years, I work in an ER, the only thing the RN's do different that I don't do is push IV meds and infuse blood....I'm taking those stupid prereq classes because I have to, but I would be so willing to make the same application necessary to an RN program and go through the nursing program and take the NCLEX..........so to me if they aren't going to do anything to accomodate the bazillion qualified LPN's to get through RN programs quicker..then they can shut up about the so called shortage. I mean several years ago they grandfathered in LPN's..and I"m not even asking for that..just a little shortcut. I'm so frustrated b/c I started attending college for prereqs....well...I can't take Physiology until I take Chemistry..I can't take Chemistry until I take Math 110, can't take Math 110 until I take Math 050....what a crock. In 26 years, I've yet to have a patient ask me how I scored in Algebra! They don't care about that, they want to know if you can take care of them. And the real learning comes when you get out of school and get into the job. Heck, by the time I get done with all the prereqs and get accepted into a program and get done with that...I'll be almost ready to retire!

Is there a special certification that LPN's can take to be able to push IV meds?

Cox Hospital in Springfield, MO. has a program, it doesn't pay for your whole schooling but it helps a little, and you work for them in return. Also check out the Missouri Forgiveness Loan Program, you can get some info from the state board of nursing, they allow so much money for schooling, and then you have to serve in an underprivilaged county in the state for payback.

OK, now.....why, would you give up a 75,000 a year job to become an LPN?

After you complete all your courses and pass the CPNE, but have not yet taken state board exam, are you considered a GN and can practice as one until you take the exam and find out if you pass or not? Nurses from traditional RN programs are allowed to work this way until results of their state board exams are back.