RNs in LTC

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:) Hi I am an RN and work as a staff nurse in a SNF in FL. Has anybody heard that facilities are looking to hire LPNs and not RNs for staff positions?

I can see where zippy would be offended by DG5's post. I'm not sure but I'd like to believe she did not mean for it to come off that way. But something in the wording and tone of her post, words like LPN's are there to "assist and compliment the RN" were offensive to me as well. We work hard for our educations just as everyone else. I went to nursing school with 3 children and a husband who was less than supportive as well as working full time and I'm sure you worked just as hard. I have RN's coming to me all the time asking questions of me or asking for MY assistance. There is nothing we cannot do that an RN can do with the exception of hanging blood or blood components. We're all nurses and we are in this together. Please, let's have respect for each other. I appreciate RN's for the job you do and CNA's or PCT's for the job they do. It takes a TEAM and that means all of us working together. Love each other and remember we all came into this world the same way. ;)

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I'm a per diem nurse at a veteran's home, and as far as I can see, the management positions are reserved for RNs (DON, ADON, staff development, unit managers, shift supervisors) but as far as floor nurses go, they can be either RNs or LPNs. There are no LPN schools in our area so consequently most are two-year RNs (lots of ADN schools around).

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amen nursefeelgood! yes , we all work hard to acheive the same result......quaility care! i'm glad i wasnt the only one to take it the wrong way.

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In my facility the RNs are, for the majority, in management. We only have 1 prn RN that works the floor. All our charge nurses are LPNs and they are all fantastic! We all work as a team. I feel my job as Supervisor is to run the desk, do the admits and discharges, call the docs when they ask me to and basically help them so that they can concentrate on running their halls. They just don't have time to do it all! It doesn't matter to us who has what degree.

We have such a small RN staff. Right now only myself on the weekends and the day shift Supervisor during the weeks. We do have a 3-11 Super coming in 2 weeks to replace me since I changed to weekends and boy are we excited!! They have all worked their tails off to get it all done on that shift since I left it.

There is just too much work to be done, too many patients that need us all to worry about who is what type of nurse.

They respect my position and I totally respect theirs.

They had a good laff at my expense yesterday (lol the dogs). The doc ordered Qbid LA for a pt. The nurse on the hall says "wen, she's allready on that regularly". I look in her chart and say "no, shes on mucinex". They alllllll say "wen thats the SAME thing". I'm all like, NO it aint, its a diff med. Yall know how it is when you are CONVINCED you know something? lol I just KNEW Qbid was not mucinex. God, I'm such a goober, lol. So when they prove it to me with the PDA, they were laffin so hard at me they were about to cry. They were laffing saying "woohoooooooo the supervisor was WRONG!!" Of course I made them all swear on everything holy they would never tell since I am NEVER wrong :chuckle . The whole situation was funny but also showed what a good team we are. We had a new nurse working too. (new out of school and new to our facility). She asked me "did that make you mad?" We all busted out laffing at her then. I told her "no way! and NOW you know you CAN tell me anything lol even when I am wrong".

I didn't mean to digress and get off topic. I thought it was a good example of our team work.

The reason that we have very few RNs is that we have less than 99 patients and are only required to have 8 consecutive RN hours per day.

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why wont your facility hire one of the lpns for that suprvisor position? there are plenty of lpns in management positions.

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Iam an rn in ltc in canada We have an rn on each floor on my shift with 2 lpns(each floor has 99 residents) Our lpns are not allowed to take drs orders in my facility so you have to have rns. we also have a superviser who is over all in charge of the building. Other facilities have gone to lpns with just one rn and they are having trouble keeping their one rn. I work with super lpns and wouldn't change them for the world. Our union keeps telling us to make sure we keep our nursing duties and not let them be deligated to other clasifications. Any one else finding this? Hope you were safe in that last hurricane Iam glad all we get is snow storms!

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all i can say is thank god i live and work where i do ! an lpn that cant take md orders? omg thats almost barbaric lol......... what on earth are they allowed to do?

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why wont your facility hire one of the lpns for that suprvisor position? there are plenty of lpns in management positions.

it's not that they won't hire them zip. actually, our night shift super is an lpn. and he does a great job.

i've had an lpn supervisor at another facility (2 actually) and we worked very well together. i totally understand when don says her rns don't want to manage. ive been there myself. when i worked with my lpn supervisors, we werent rn/lpn, we were charge nurse/supervisor. we both had a job to do and worked together to make sure our patients were taken care of.

zip...does it matter what degree someone holds? i'm feeling a bit defensive by the tone of your post so if i am wrong, please allow me to apologize upfront. but why does it matter? it isn't reflective of what kind of nurse someone is.

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no southern i wasnt trying to offend you or anyone, i apologize if i had.....and, i couldnt agree more that titles mean nothing. i'm tired of reading thru posts that to me seem as if they are lpn-bashing. ive had more then one rn come up to me and ask " well why are u a supervisor?"

my reply is always ..."well why didnt u apply for it?" lol in my area there really isnt a big difference what lpns can or cant do vs rns...i think im more surprised then anything on how lpns are treated so differently across the country ...........:)

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Wendy, First of all let me say you sound like a great supervisor to have. I don't get the impression from your post that you in any way feel above anyone else. BTW where in the south are you? I'm in 'Bama myself. I think zippy was more referring to the attitudes in general that we see so often on this board and in the workplace. I would have to agree that in other areas of the world I am surprised at how little respect LPN's seem to receive. It's as if we are only useful there to remove impactions and push meds. :eek: Gosh, I couldn't tell you how often I get .."LPN? What is that?" "OH so you aren't a 'real' nurse." I now work night shift in occupational health so there is no other nurse in the building other than myself at night. Our nurse manager, an RN, schedules appointments, orders supplies, and deals with work comp. issues. She's a great person and a wonderful, dear friend to me. We depend on each other in so many ways. There is no way she has time to handle all the work comp caseloads, or I the billing, evening, and night shift claims. We work in a large plant, so we share them. I have enormous respect for RN's. In fact I'd love to go back and get my RN. Perhaps, that will be possible soon. For now though it just isn't in the cards. Anyways, before I ramble too much, let me just say...zippy I know how you feel and wendy you are cool in my book. Hope you all have a great week. :wink2:

____________________

Charlotte

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Specializes in Geriatric/ Home Care.

Just from moving from IN to OH I have noticed the different feelings toward RN/LPN job positions. In the facility I left our ADON was an LPN. No one thought anything about the LPN part, it was the fact that when she was on call and you had to call her out of a bar to get help...and you werent at all comfortable with the advise given. Other facilities in In I worked under an LPN and was very happy and learned many things from them that I didnt learn as an RN in school.

Then I moved to OH............I only have 2 facilities to compare from this area but I think the ending is the same. The first facility we had an even mixture of LPN/RN positions. I was evening charge nurse but...I really needed and appreciated the experience and help from the LPNs who were floor nurses. On my days off anLPN filled in my position. When I left the facility....she applied for the position and was given it. She was/and is an excellent nurse ! Now to the downside....my current facility....

When I started there they had RN's in the building, one who I was replacing. RN's were not tolerated well outside of the DON position. Everytime was hired...she was given such a hard time, she left. The LPN's always blamed it on RN-itis. That Rn's were to good to carry a floor position. The end result is that our local hospital stopped sending us patients. We didnt have the skills to care for the patients coming out. Our LPN's refused IV training classes. They did want thqat kind of responsibility. Needless to say working on call 24/7 and working every weekend didnt last long with the few RN's we did have. A few of the LPN's went to take the IV classes but whether its a law or a company requirement we still needed RN's to run certain antibiotics, which we were getting quite a few of. Care was going downhill and no one watched over the STNA's. The company has made a drastic change and is now filling positions with RN's. They have gone as far to layoff an LPN this week and replace her with an RN.

Anywho......I think the whole point of my story is.....It isnt the RN/LPN title that makes the difference. Its the nurse herself. If you can do the job, and do it well you deserve the job, regardless of title. If you cant do the job...move over, your being replaced.

Nursenan

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amen to your last statement nursenan......well said! those lpns are the ones who give all lpns a bad name....:angryfire here in mass. an lpn can start, stop and remove pher.ivs, but not place or remove midline, ect...monitor midline, centrals give med iv but not push ! we cant hang blood but can monitor...can hang iv abt no matter the type......... i do believe that its whatever the facilities decide in the policy books...i know my facility will not deal with any iv narcotics........that is just the policy and not a matter of rn vs lpn....... ive worked with an lpn as a adon...( she was better then the don lol).... like i said i think all the roles that an lpn can be depends upon the state and most of all the facility you work for.........:)

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