tamnurse2

I went to LPN school out of high school(graduated 1984). I worked as an LPN for 10 years in acute care settings. I did everything an RN would do and worked in critical care areas. I was one of those LPN's who took extra classes, became IV certified, EKG interpretation and IV medication certification. I admit there were many RN's and managers who treated me as less a nurse, but there were many who valued my experience and knowledge. I went back to school LPN-RN program and have been an RN for 15 years. I feel I have been a nurse for over 20 years but when calculating my experience managers and HR at hospitals give me credit for RN only! They do not take into account the 10 years of LPN experience at all even though most was working in hospitals in critical care areas and doing the same job as the RN. Let me add that I have worked in 6 different states in large hospitals and small community hospitals. I am now less than a year away from obtaining my BSN and hope to continue after that for my NP certification. I believe the LPN instruction and education I had was valuable in my work today. I agree with a lot of others who state that LPN clinicals were much more intense and better preparred me for the actual work in caring for patients. I learned a lot from other LPN's and nursing assistants. I would encourage others interested in nursing to go for their RN degree, but also think LPN school is a good start. As a footnote, there was talk of phasing out LPN's when I went to school. There was also a push for RN's to all have 4 year degrees when I was in that program. I don't think this possible with the shortage of nurses in many areas. We have been reading that the shortage is less than it was, but, I believe, with the advancing age of the average nurse this will again be a critical problem in the future.

Saint Vincents in Manhattan, also 13 shifts per month, NYSNA also

Times are tough for everyone right now, nurses are not immune to lay off or downsizing but, the prospects are not as bad as in other fields. I am an experienced nurse, work critical care and still, after 20 years, love what I do. If you are considering nursing for the money or having a job I would say find another area. If you want to be a nurse, and make a difference and sometimes work very hard for negative outcome..be a nurse!

You are going to have to take classes, history and electives for an RN-BSN program and since your goal is OT why not go for that now instead of an advanced degree in nursing?