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Discussion

being recognized as a RN in the hospital

i currently work at a clinic that was purchased just a little over a month ago by the hospital that i just happen to get a job at as a new grad. i just found out that my license is active on tuesday meaning i passed the nclex that i took on the third. so legally i am a rn but according to the hospital i am still a lpn at the clinic and will be so until the end of my residency yet in three weeks when the residency starts i will be a rn in residency at the hospital. let me step back in to the clinic to work any type of shift before the end of my residency i will be a lpn. i don't get it!!!! i understand how residency applies to the hospital but as a lpn i do everything that a rn does at the clinic except ivs which in the past 9 months i have only seen 2 situations that required a iv. i have worked plenty of shifts on my own without a rn and have not needed to contact a rn during that time and felt i did a great job.

so why can they not look at my situation and reconsider and recognize me as a rn at the clinic. there is a cna that transferred up to ma during this switch and they are not making her do the required residency that is normally done. is this normal to not consider a new grad rn as a rn until after the residency program.

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Dunno about your state, but I would think it would be the same... In NYS, once the state says you are an RN you are an RN. The clinic can tell you you are still an LPN all they want, but when push comes to shove, your patient care responsibilities nad reactions to the patient at the state level are expected to be that of an RN. This means, should the proverbial **** hit the fan, you are a licensed RN and will be expected to perform at that level, and be RESPONSIBLE at that level for the patients you care for. I asked a similar question while in school myself, as we had many LPN's getting their RN's. Once they are qualified and licensed in that degree, they carry the RN responsibility and are expected to perform at that level. For example, if you are caring for a patient and they need an IVP med and you do not give it, you could be held responisible as it is within your scope of practice. No matter what your hospital *wants* you to do, you are a licensed RN and the responsibility, I would expect, would at that scope of practice level.

I'm guessing they want to call you an LPN so they can pay you as an LPN? I agree with the above answer, once you're licensed as an RN, you are an RN. My old job we had nurses that the day they came up on the computer as an RN, they immediately went on the schedule as eligible to do charge. The hospital can pay you as a LPN and call you LPN, but I bet if they were in a jam, they'd want you working as a RN.

  • Experts

You are going to be held to a higher standard, but they are not required to pay you the RN salary since you are under an agreement with them for a certain amount of time. And it does not matter who owns the clinic, but the contract for a specfic length of time or agreement that you have with them.

And on a technicality, if they change your title over to that of the RN now, they are required to put you thru an RN orientation program, you cannot just show up to work as an RN and expect to begin that role without any training. Whether or not one starts IVs has to do with your state, and not the title specfically.

By law, they do not have to automatically upgrade your pay and as you mentioned, you were doing a residency there so you had some type of agreement in place when you started. Even if the clinic was not purchased by the hospital, this would still hold true with the old owners or someone different. They are under no obligation to do anything different until this contract is complete and finished.

  • Experts

I would have a very good read on your BON for their policies and procedures, and you will find much on this topic already there.

  • Experts
Dunno about your state, but I would think it would be the same... In NYS, once the state says you are an RN you are an RN. The clinic can tell you you are still an LPN all they want, but when push comes to shove, your patient care responsibilities nad reactions to the patient at the state level are expected to be that of an RN. This means, should the proverbial **** hit the fan, you are a licensed RN and will be expected to perform at that level, and be RESPONSIBLE at that level for the patients you care for. I asked a similar question while in school myself, as we had many LPN's getting their RN's. Once they are qualified and licensed in that degree, they carry the RN responsibility and are expected to perform at that level. For example, if you are caring for a patient and they need an IVP med and you do not give it, you could be held responisible as it is within your scope of practice. No matter what your hospital *wants* you to do, you are a licensed RN and the responsibility, I would expect, would at that scope of practice level.

Sorry, but giving an IV med that one has never given, or has been trained with, does not fit what you are describing. Same way that when one completes the ACLS program, they are not permitted to intubate or start a central line, even if they were shown once how to do it. Just having the RN after one's name does not automatically change things if the person does not have the training for it. And there are many drugs that are only given in the ICU and under certain specific conditions and they are not just pushed by any RN.

Or it could also cause the nurse a great deal of harm with their license.

  • Author

i agree that i am being held at a higher standard now that i have my rn and will act as a rn if the situation occurs.

i am just really surprised that i am not being recognized in any fashion of my accomplishments. even to the point that i don't know if i can put rn behind my name at the clinic. yes the pay increase would be really nice as i am losing a significant amount and that is what the issue started out to be. yet it has now come down to the fact that i have worked four years to get my rn and i have to now wait another three weeks to be recognized as such.

it's very difficult and i did not expect to feel this way. but as a recent grad just one month out, putting all my time and the effects that school had on my life personally...i figured it was going to be different. some of this may be due to the fact that the previous owners were more involved and it felt like a family now it's oh sorry this is the standard response that we are to supply when this question is asked, no consideration for your specific situation.

Sorry, but giving an IV med that one has never given, or has been trained with, does not fit what you are describing. Same way that when one completes the ACLS program, they are not permitted to intubate or start a central line, even if they were shown once how to do it. Just having the RN after one's name does not automatically change things if the person does not have the training for it. And there are many drugs that are only given in the ICU and under certain specific conditions and they are not just pushed by any RN.

Or it could also cause the nurse a great deal of harm with their license.

Well, of course! There are exceptions to every rule. I would like to believe that the bulk of the readers understood my post in the basic sense as it was intended. :twocents:

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