They've Gotten Rid of All Their LPNs...

[iluvdetroit]

I am an RN. The largest hospital system in my area just recently decided to get rid of all of their LPNs at all of their facilities--no exceptions, they were all just let go within the past two months, reasoning being that "there is no longer any place for them in the workplace". Besides the fact that I don't agree with this statement or the firing of so many skillful, experienced nurses who added so much to the patient care, I don't understand something else about this: it hasn't resulted in any new RN positions. Even this system's largest hospital only has less than ten open RN positions listed on their website. To my way of thinking, each patient needs a nurse. Since LPNs were allowed to take patients with the RN overseeing them, an RN and an LPN would together have a team of 11-13 patients on a typical inpatient Med/Surg unit. If all of the LPNs are suddenly gone and no new RNs are hired, who picks up the slack? That same RN can't just take all 11-13 patients by herself, and according to this hospital system's staffing policy, that would never happen, as non-critical care nurses are only allowed 5-7 patients apiece, max. Any thoughts? I just feel terrible for the LPNs who were let go. I have known LPNs in my career who were much better nurses than a lot of RNs that I have worked with.

[lindarn]

Amen!! But no, it's not the same health system, as the system I am talking about only has a few small facilities in Michigan, with all of their big facilities in Ohio. Do you know what else they are doing? Phasing out the unit secretaries! Holy cow! What would we do without unit secretaries? So now it's getting to the point where RNs (and the same number of RNs as before, apparently) are going to be doing ALL of the nursing care AND all of their admission paperwork, processing orders, etc.? What is seriously up with this???? I had an interview with this particular healthcare system this past week and I am anxiously awaiting a call, one way or the other. Sadly, at this point, I don't know if I want the job anymore or not, even though we could really use the money. I am not looking forward to doing the work that three or four people used to do...and we were really busy then, so what must it be like now? Ughh...

Does anyone ask the "geniuses", who come up with these nit wit ideas, what THEY ARE GIVING UP FOR THE SAKE 0F THE ALMIGHTY BUDGET?? Why is patient care taking the cuts and not the dead weight who contribute NOTHING TO PATIENT CARE?? I see a grand oppurtunity for a Letter to the Editor signed by all of the nuirsing staff. JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

[linzz]

I love your posts, lindarn. They are like a breath of fresh air. You are so right that money is the bottom line. My father is a Chartered Accountant and I can tell you for certain that money is the absolute main concern.

I wonder if the next step will be to reduce the RN's to the absolute minimum that they can get away with. With the remaining nurses that are left there, they will be run ragged and patient care will suffer and the inevitable outcome of poor care will soon be obvious.

[iluvdetroit]

I love your posts, lindarn. They are like a breath of fresh air. You are so right that money is the bottom line. My father is a Chartered Accountant and I can tell you for certain that money is the absolute main concern.

I wonder if the next step will be to reduce the RN's to the absolute minimum that they can get away with. With the remaining nurses that are left there, they will be run ragged and patient care will suffer and the inevitable outcome of poor care will soon be obvious.

One outcome of which will be RNs getting sued because we are taking on too much responsibility which sets us up for making preventable mistakes because we are stretched too thin. This could be the beginning of a really ugly period in the nursing profession.

[caliotter3]

yes they fired all the LPN's where i work and hired new grad RN's .. pretty sad feel like it's a great loss for the hospital ...oh and they just let the CNA's go , they gave us less patients... they have had no trouble staffing all RN's because of all the new grads looking for jobs.. my manager said she had 25 applications for RN's alone...

Don't know whether to think this is a good outcome for new grad RNs or a poor outcome for LPNs and CNAs who were let go, not to mention the patients who are the recipients of the consequences.

[iluvdetroit]

Don't know whether to think this is a good outcome for new grad RNs or a poor outcome for LPNs and CNAs who were let go, not to mention the patients who are the recipients of the consequences.

Exactly. As a new grad many years ago, I remember learning a ton from the long term LPNs on my unit. They were beyond competent and really helped me, as a brand new nurse with no experience, to get my bearings. I can't imagine having to start out without nurses like that on the unit.

[caliotter3]

When it comes to not having a job, whether just let go, fired, or not able to find a job, I don't know if it makes a difference if one is a CNA, LPN, or RN. Unemployed is unemployed. There are some fantastic stories about what transpired at a facility that laid off workers that I used to work at. One of the better stories was the nurse manager chasing about five newly hired, and newly quit, CNAs into the parking lot when they left at assignment time in the morning. For some strange reason they had no desire to take care of 20 or more residents. The nurse manager threatened to report their certificates to the state and they kept on walking to their cars. You can only make people work in environments that are unsafe to the extent they are willing to take the abuse. After that, they will refuse and then, like in this case, you have the haggard RNs trying to pass breakfast trays at the same time they are doing their AM med pass.