I am a LPN, Florida licensed that is currently living in Indiana because I am trying to relocate to FL. I have family down there and we decided to try to move after I graduated. I CANNOT FIND A JOB!!! FL lists all these LPN jobs, nice and dandy.............until you graduate and apply and they tell you that 1 year experience is needed! WHAT???? How are LPN recent grads supposed to get experience?? The hospitals don't want you, "WE ONLY HIRE RN's" they say. Where are we supposed to go??? I am so darn angry right now I can scream. Well I did scream!!!! AAAHHHHHHH!!! I don't have anything against RN's but why do they not give LPN's the same chance they give RN's. Do they realize that LPN's
1)Take state boards just like RN's.
2) Pay the same $204 for the license, $15 for the CE, and $200 just to take the exam.
3) Study for the exam endlessly, take the exam, freak out, do the "trick" , feel such relief after passing!
Then just to find out the license is worthless!!!! WORTHLESS!!! I can seriously say screw nursing and mean it!!!!:angryfire
I don't know about other states but here in Va they started recruiting nurses from Asia, Europe, etc...The pay their way here, and pay their housing, etc, and their tuition! The only catch is once you pass state boards you have to work 2 yrs for the particular hospitral that payed your way. Seems small price for it all. It did fire up home land student Nurses a bit as they felt the non American ones were taking jobs away! I don't know if this is common practice now other areas in the country. I just found out my one cousins daughter that had grad college, and gone back to NY! Reason......had to work with too many aids, and infectious pts, and didn't like it! So, she is off to Rochester, or Buffalo learning to be a Dr's Aid. Her younger sister also up there studying to be a nurse! All I've heard is that there is a shortage of nurses in the US???
I am sorry that you are having a hard time finding a job, but someone mislead you. In this competitive world where more is being expected of the nurse the trend is going towards licensed RNs. LPNs unfortunately are severely limited in functioning and must be covered by an RN for many things such as orders, IV PICC medications, IV push drugs, and other tasks requiring an RN license. This can place an extra burden on already stretched nurses and often I have seen it create resentment and less than optimal working atmospheres. I am talking of the acute care hospital settings. If you really want to work at an acute care hospital consider completing the requirements for the RN license. I know it's a lot of work but in the end it will be worth it if this is your chosen field. The technological advances in health care are coming at a fast pace and more is expected of everyone in medicine and nursing. After you are done screaming, take a deep breath and think about it. Best of luck (better yet, make your own luck)
Hi. I've been an LPN in the Boston MA area for over 27 years now, and although I have a great paying job with a homecare agency, 0 hours times good money equals 0 money. I have been looking for work for about 8 months and I have never before needed to look for more than a week for a new job. So I realize you as a new grad are facing a tough time. Let me suggest you search using craigslist.com for the area of Florida you want to move to. Search healthcare jobs with LPN for a key word and you will get plenty of job offers in the results most times. I have found three jobs that interest me, and that actually interviewed me, in the past few weeks here in the Boston area.
They won't all appeal to you, but they are mostly not nursing home jobs, which for a number of reasons I wouldn't suggest for a new grad if possible to avoid. Hope this helps, and good luck. Don't curse nursing because of the lousy job market. It is hard work usually, but it still contains rewards for a person that likes helping other people.
After reading this, am really scared of no work for LPN, and I would be graduating in Janurary. Oh my god I hope I get a job to start paying my student loans:madface:
There's hope Pedro123, don't give up. I find that everyone have their opinions about the job market, and it seems to depend on if the individual is an LPN or an RN. The scope of practice for LPN's is of course considerably limited in the hospital due to the increased liabilities that hospitals face; however, if you are an LPN that work in areas such as the nursing home or dialysis the limitations are not as broad as in hospitals. Really if you think about it, and if you refer back to your LPN's scope of practice, the list is not that long. In fact, LPN's have the ability to perform some duties that would be considered "out of practice" as long as a RN or MD is present in the facility, and is immediately available if need be.
I'm an LPN, and the only limitations that I have come across in the areas in which I have worked are restrictions pertaining to IV pushes and/or Assessments/Care planning. Oftentimes, people get the "actual" limitations mixed up with "facility specific" limitations. The below information is what I gathered a while back when I completed my IV certification course.
Good luck, and don't let anyone discourage you, because you're an LPN. I read posts all the time on this website where RNs are having difficulty finding employment, and are "limited" as well when they are new graduates trying to enter the hospital setting. Choose what's best for you.
Some of the things that I found to be "outside the Scope of Practice" for LPN's are:
- initiate blood & blood products
- initiate or administer cancer chemotherapy
- initiate plasma expanders
- initiate or administer investigational drugs
- mix IV solutions
- IV pushes, except heparin flushes & saline flushes
look for nurse internships, too. I don't know if they're usually RN's , but that's how I got in the OR specialty..by doing a internship. I know they've got them for OB, ICU, TELE, etc. So search for those..
What is a nurse intern? Is that like being a CNA, or is something liking being preceptored?
hi everybody! i just have to say i graudate in december for LPN and from what ive been reading i am not looking forward to my job search... i currently go to school in nj and was thinking about relocating to florida. does anyone out there know if this job shortage is more isolated to a certain part of florida or is it pretty much statewide?... and is there any state out there that doesnt seem to be effected by the current economy? cuz i know the poickings are pretty slim in new jersey (even though every clinical site we go to they say they hire LPN'S on a regular but not many grads from my school have been hired much - not sure if that is the job market or just my school)
Go back to school and get your RN. The law limits what you can do as an LPN for good reason. You don't have the education to supervise, delegate, or work as a team leader, therefore your LPN degree is not valuable...suck it up and go back to school.
I know that doesn't help your anger and frustration....but it is what it is....you don't have the skills or the education that is in demand in this awful economy....so work on it. Get that RN while there are scholarship money for unemployed women from the stimulus money out there.
Wow! Pretty harsh words there. Stating that a chosen career has no value and the education is lousy sure isn't very supportive of the many intelligent, highly skilled LPN's that I know are out there. May I ask what you have against LPN'S?
Don't feel so bad. I am an RN/BSN in Florida and recently lost a hospice job (for ridiculous reasons!) and now just got a nursing home job with lots and lots of looking. The hospitals will only hire you if you have some years experience in that particular job, and I mean PARTICULAR job. They will not hire anyone without particular experience, which I think is crazy. I have 14 years experince in nursing and it is tough for me to get interviews let alone jobs.
Can I ask you where do you live? Because if you hardly got the job with 14 years exp. I live in Miami and I will start the program in Aug 2009:cry:
Where are we suppose get the exp if nodoby give us the opportunity?
Hello. Yes I live in Avon Park. Which is part of the problem. There are no large cities around here. I am 50 miles from Lakeland. 90 miles from Tampa and Orlando. I can't relocate at the present time. Jobs are posted in hospitals, however I have no recent acute care experience and they will not consider me. I feel lucky to have found the job I just started, however it is with a troubled LTC. I think part of the reason they hired me is I was an RN. Mostly LPNs at this facility. I think you will be in much better shape in Miami. I intend to relocate to Tampa or Orlando in the future when I can. Bigger the city the greater the nursing opportunity.
leenie123
25 Posts
I don't know about other states but here in Va they started recruiting nurses from Asia, Europe, etc...The pay their way here, and pay their housing, etc, and their tuition! The only catch is once you pass state boards you have to work 2 yrs for the particular hospitral that payed your way. Seems small price for it all. It did fire up home land student Nurses a bit as they felt the non American ones were taking jobs away! I don't know if this is common practice now other areas in the country. I just found out my one cousins daughter that had grad college, and gone back to NY! Reason......had to work with too many aids, and infectious pts, and didn't like it! So, she is off to Rochester, or Buffalo learning to be a Dr's Aid. Her younger sister also up there studying to be a nurse! All I've heard is that there is a shortage of nurses in the US???