"Just an LPN"....does anyone else get discouraged?

Nurses LPN/LVN

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Hello nurses!

I have been discouraged lately...I feel like I am constantly fighting off the stigma of being "just an LPN." When people ask what I do, I always say I am a nurse....they then want to know if that means "RN" and of course what hospital do I work at???!!!!! I work in a clinic and have been an LPN for several years. UGGGHHH!!! Anyone else have this challenge?

Denise

Thanks guys! God bless you all.

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but unfortunately, you're a little off base :uhoh21:. cnas & mas no doubt are vital people within the healthcare industry; but they aren't licensed nurses! please don't further confuse the "lay people" who come here to read this bb. the general public is already confused enough :chuckle.

only lpns/lvns & rns hold licenses to practice as nurses ;)

cheers!

moe

i never saw her say that cna's an ma's were licensed nurses. she said that they were nurse. i am a cna and i'm as much of a nurse as an lpn or rn. maybe you didn't get the point. as someone else said a "nurse" is a person who does just that nurses and cares for people. period. now there are different types of "nurses" yes, but we are still nurses never the less. and the last time i checked cna's = certified nurse assistants or certified nurse aides, which are licensed by the stated. i take this just as i take people saying just an lpn. another way to put other people down for their profession. i may not nurse in the same manner as an lpn, or an rn, but i nurse just as much, which makes me a nurse, no matter my title. that is what this whole thread is about; nurse being belittled because of the type of nursing that they practice.

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Okay just so this will be clear I will post the definition of a NURSE:

1. A person educated and trained to care for the sick or disabled.

2. To serve as a nurse for: nursed the patient back to health.

As I said before, a nurse is a nurse period. A person who nurse a person is a nurse, period. No matter what the state says. Now the state controls the scope of a "NURSE", in a medical environment, yes. But can they decide who is and who is not a "NURSE", no. For instance the state says that NURSES, categorized as CNA do the grunt work of nursing. The state says that "NURSES", categorized as LPNS , can lets say start an IV, but can't maintain it. The state says that "NURSE" categorized, as RN's can what, take phone orders from a medical doctor. When I was a child my mother was a "NURSE", even though she has always worked in the white collar world, she "NURSED" me when I had the chicken pox, when I had a cold, ect, ect.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
I take this just as I take people saying just an LPN. Another way to put other people down for their profession
.

I do not say that as a put-down, i say that because it is in accordance with my state board. Only and RN or an LPN can call themselves "nurse". Being a CNA does not make someone a "nurse". This is not an insult, this is law. CNA stand for Certified Nursing Assistant.

For a CNA to be called a nurse is the same as a PA being called a Dr. They may perform some similar tasks, but they are not interchangable.

which makes me a nurse, no matter my title

Check with your state board. If a CNA is as much of a nurse as an LPN and an RN is, then why even have RNs and LPNs?

A dictionary definition isn't reason enough to tell someone they're a nurse, when in fact, they are not an LPN or an RN.

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i do not say that as a put-down, i say that because it is in accordance with my state board. only and rn or an lpn can call themselves "nurse". being a cna does not make someone a "nurse". this is not an insult, this is law. cna stand for certified nursing assistant.

for a cna to be called a nurse is the same as a pa being called a dr. they may perform some similar tasks, but they are not interchangable.

check with your state board. if a cna is as much of a nurse as an lpn and an rn is, then why even have rns and lpns?

a dictionary definition isn't reason enough to tell someone they're a nurse, when in fact, they are not an lpn or an rn.

as i said a nurse is a person who nurses someone, period. now if you want to say what the medical community as a whole may consider a nurse well fine. but a state board, does not a will never, be able to decide what a nurse really is, simply because nurse were around long before state boards, and laws defining scope of practice were. so while it may be true that i am not a licensed practical nurse, or a registered nurse, i am stil a nurse. and that is just one of my many titles. one might say that a student is only a person who is enrolled in some type of school, when a student may very well a person who has the love of studying and educating themselves. i know what the state board says a nurse is, and at the same time i know exactly what a nurse is.

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Specializes in Home Health Care,LTC.

Do what's in your heart. If you are content with being an LPN tell them that I love my job and wouldn't trade it for the world and leave it at that.

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as a PCT/CNA and nursing student, I often find myself in the position either at work(hospital) or at school where someone will look at me and call me "nurse", assuming I am b/c I am in scrubs i guess.

I always make it very clear to these people, be it family members or pts or whomever that I am the STUDENT nurse or the nursing ASSISTANT (depending on my function that day lol), not the NURSE. Then usually I ask them what their room number is and direct them to the nurse for that room (considering usually their ?s are about meds).

I believe in my state it is ILLEGAL to call yourself a nurse/pass yourself off as a nurse if you are not liscensed. I may perform some of the duties of 'nursing a person back to health (feeding, bathing, offering fluids etc.)' but i would NEVER misrepresent myself as the nurse.

It is scary to think that there are people who do this : / It is dangerous.

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NURSE is a protected title in the two provinces I held a license. You have to have a nurses education to earn it.

Families in LTC call everyone nurse and the NA's never made an effort to tell them otherwise. Even had a few who stated "well, in my country I was a nurse". The point is they had no valid credentials for the province they were working in, could not do wound care, assess or medicate the patient.

Heck, if I don't renew and pay for my license on a yearly basis I can't call myself a nurse....

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
I believe in my state it is ILLEGAL to call yourself a nurse/pass yourself off as a nurse if you are not liscensed. I may perform some of the duties of 'nursing a person back to health (feeding, bathing, offering fluids etc.)' but i would NEVER misrepresent myself as the nurse.

Well said.

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Specializes in Home Health, Primary Care.
as a PCT/CNA and nursing student, I often find myself in the position either at work(hospital) or at school where someone will look at me and call me "nurse", assuming I am b/c I am in scrubs i guess.

I always make it very clear to these people, be it family members or pts or whomever that I am the STUDENT nurse or the nursing ASSISTANT (depending on my function that day lol), not the NURSE. Then usually I ask them what their room number is and direct them to the nurse for that room (considering usually their ?s are about meds).

I believe in my state it is ILLEGAL to call yourself a nurse/pass yourself off as a nurse if you are not liscensed. I may perform some of the duties of 'nursing a person back to health (feeding, bathing, offering fluids etc.)' but i would NEVER misrepresent myself as the nurse.

It is scary to think that there are people who do this : / It is dangerous.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

but now, with an associate degree, i have people ask me if i'm a two or a four year r.n. - aaaarrrggh! i wonder if people do that to m.d.'s - ya know, "oh, are you a neurosurgeon - or just a dermatologist? :rotfl:

i don't think people mean it in a mean way - they just don't think before they speak. but it does show how little the general public knows about the roles of all nurses.

when i graduated with my associates degree (rn), people would always say to me, 'oh, you're an lpn. you can't be an rn with only 2 yrs of school'. it was very frustrating, lay people telling me what i am. after all, they knew better than me.

then if i mentioned i was going back to school, it almost confirmed it to everyone that i wans't really an rn. i really don't like to mention to some that i am still in school (msn), because people hear what they want to hear. it's all about the public's perception and education. it's just very annoying.

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There will always be those who tell us we are "just an LPN", or "just a nurse". Some people seem to savor trying to make others feel bad about themselves. Often they have no concept of what a nurse does. :(

Right now I work in a physician office and my job title requires an LPN. I would have to find a different job within the clinic or find a different place to work were I to go back for my RN degree. I love my job and am very happy where I am, so no plans.

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