RPN vs RN

I became a RPN and after 6 months applied for the RN program. If you can do it just go straight for RN. I have been an RN for 10 years now and after working as both can honestly say RN will open many more doors.

Thank you guys!

I agree that in certain areas there is not a lot of difference between what RN's and RPN's do. Aside from management, if you might some day want to work ICU , ER, or the delivery suite or public health then RN would be the way to go. You must also consider the difference in pay which can be substantial. Not only the hourly rate but shift premiums and health coverage come into play in determining the financial benefits. I am not saying that money should be the reason for choosing a profession but you need to consider your future needs.

If you would be happy working on a general med/surg floor or in a nursing home and make about , well at this time, $15.00-$20.00 less an hour the RPN program would be quicker and cheaper to complete.

Here there is usually 1 RPN/shift in the ER and she/he does a lot of the grunt work. There are RPN's in obstetrics looking after postpartum, but not looking after labouring mothers and not in the delivery suite.

I think a lot of this depends on which province you are working in. Alberta utilizes LPNs to full scope of practice and it depends on which hospital you are in as to where you find LPNs (our RPNs are kept mainly on Psych units because they are Psych Nurses).

Recently, I've been hearing of LPNs dropping out of the Athabasca RN programme (the only one available to us) because of several things. AHS is changing the staffing ratio, opening up yet more opportunities to us. Every vacant position is being looked at to see if the appropriate nurse is holding the job. This resulted in a huge change in the day surgery wards. RNs are just becoming too expensive here, their union is pricing them out of work. There will always be units due to acuity that require higher RN/LPN ratios but the trend is to utilize staff to full scope of practice. There is a joke on my unit. "What's the difference between and RN and LPN?, $13/hr and the RN gets to be charge". We have worked safely with a Charge RN, a second RN on the floor and four LPNs. The need for multiple RNs just isn't there. We don't hang blood or travisol, no IV cytotoxics. The patients don't know who is looking after them unless they read our badges closely.

I work for a oncology unit for AHS, our unit is totally different, most of our patient are post op, only some of them the acuity are high, more than half the acuity are not so high, but every shift, we have 7 to 8 RNs, 2 to 3 LPNs, 3 NAs, Lpn basically do admission and discharge pt, it seems they will rule out Lpn, I don't understand how can the manager do the cost control? There are lots if skill they don't let Lpn do it, for example, once patient have PICC, them only RN are allowed to look after this patient, I think by this way, the RN can get more shifts....

Haven't you had the PICC course yet? Up here in Edmonton we were all forced to attend it!

In calgary hospital, every unit is different, in our unit, manager and educator just make lots of rules to limit LPN practice scope, I believe they will never let LPN touch central line, that's I said they try to rule out Lpn.

I'm doing my clinical rotation on an adult medical unit right now and there's very little difference. I honestly don't know who is an RN or RPN unless I ask. The only differences I've seen is that there is an observation/step down room and they only assign RN's to that room...all the pts in there are hooked up to tele and monitors. But other than that I see no difference, and everyone works together...there is no "hierarchy" or attitudes...except by the new grad RN's that get hired on the unit...and they get told real fast to get off their high horse!

I've given meds/flushed/drawn blood through PICC lines. I work alongside an RPN every week who has assessed and flushed central lines, hung all IV meds, hung all blood products, done everything with the PICCs, drawn blood, started IVs...and the list goes on.

I've been on other units though that are very restrictive. My rotation last semester didn't even let RPN's hang IV fluids...and this was in the same hospital system...