Time to Make a Change for LPNS.

[amari]

Hello,

I have been an LPN for 5 years and I would very much like to start an effort to advocate for LPNs. I don't know what it's like in the state you live, but in Massachusetts, LPNs are being pushed out and not treated like "real" nurses (nevertheless, the fee to renew an LPN license is still $120- highway robbery, basically). There is no nursing shortage in Massachusetts, especially in the Boston area, where I live. The major hospitals now only accept BSNs, regardless of how much experience you have or how wonderful a nurse you are. I don't know about you, but I've worked with many BSNs who must have been born lucky to not have killed any of their patients. Anyway, I am now attempting to get into the second year of an RN program at a local community college. There are only 15 slots, according to the director of the program, which is simply not enough for the LPNs in the state who are being forced to go back to school whether they want to or not. The baffling thing, to me, is that my school at least is still running a yearly LPN program, which is ridiculously pointless, particularly in Massachusetts. My question is, why does the nursing community continually refuse to support LPNs? We are part of the workforce, usually involved in the nursing home drudgery that the high and mighty RNs can't be bothered with. Why not start programs instead that are EXCLUSIVELY LPN-to-RN?? Instead of 15 slots to fill a classroom of people who have never been nurses before, why not support LPNs in getting more education? Instead of phasing us out, help us! My life is hanging in the balance waiting to find out if I got one of those 15 slots, and I'm angry about it, to be honest. I'm a great nurse and I know it. I work on a long term care unit after 4 years of sub-acute experience (they were glad to get me off that floor despite the major asset that I was to it, just because I wasn't an RN), and I'm bored to tears. I think LPNs need to make themselves heard. Maybe if we write letters to our local schools, we can get them to stop creating useless LPN programs and START supporting the LPNs already in the workforce.

Please write me and tell me about your state and your experiences! I would be very glad to hear it.

Thank you for reading!

[Anne36, LPN]

Are you applying to the same college that you got your LPN from? Im in a ladder program right now. When I finish next April, the next program is only 12 months, but it does not start until 2014. I was led to belive that the LPN-RN is no problem to get into.

[gentlegiver, ASN, LPN, RN]

I'm in Ma. too. It is extreemly frustrating to go to apply for a seat in a "Bridge" program and find that all but 15 seats are given to people going for thier RN without ever having gone to classes for LPN. How is this a "Bridge"? It's a class for anyone. So many LPN's I know have given up on going for thier RN because they can't get into a class.

[AmyORlpn]

I'm in Oregon and I must sat it is Crazy!!! There are no bridge programs here. IU'm in the process of starting an ASN progran. I will have to redo all the classes over again because the accrediting body is not the same. It is SO frusterating to be stuck in a hole with no assistance. We do have a nursing shortage but Oregon is not doing much to fix the LPN to RN gap. The OSBN does not respond to my emails about future plans either. The community college's are so darn competitive that it is not worth the stress for me to even think about them.