RPN vs RN

Published

I was wondering what your thoughts are.

When I graduated high school I enrolled in the nursing program and had to discontinue my studies because of the difficulty of the program and unfortunately not so great studying habits. Now, 4 years later I have made the decision to enrol back into nursing however I'm unsure weather I should go for the 2 year or 4 year program?

Will the first 2 years of both programs be at the same difficulty level?

Is the RN profession a much better outcome as oppose to the RPN profession?

Is it worth spending 2 years studying RPN when those two years can be put towards RN studies? Would you apply for the nursing practitioner program or the RN program and why?

As you can see I'm in a lot of doubt and any help would be great.

Thanks

Up Vote Up Vote ×

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.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Ok first of all, they aren't different professions, they are both nurses.Secondly an RPN isn't a Nurse Practitioner, it's a Registered Practical Nurse. NP is a step beyond BSN.

When you initially started nursing school what kind of program was it? RPN or RN? Both are equally difficult. BSN studies the same material generally as RPN but in more depth.No one can tell you which path to pick. That is a personal choice and depends on your goals and which one suits your situation.I am an RPN and perfectly content to be one.There is very little difference between my scope of practice and that of the RNs I work with.I have no desire to be in charge or in management so RPN suits me just fine.You may feel differently.There is no "better" path to being a nurse, they are just two different options.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank you guys!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

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.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Where I work RPNs are in the ER and L & D.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

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.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

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.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Our floors are the same.2 RNs and about 4 PNs and a couple of PSWs. Apparently they have decided we can hang blood as well.My PICC line class included how to draw blood from a PICC. I was a bit freaked out by that.I asked one of my PN freinds andf she said she does it quite frequently.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

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....

Up Vote Up Vote ×

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

Up Vote Up Vote ×

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.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion