Transition from LPN to RN

[Georgia peach RN]

Ok so I have only been an RN for just a few months, I was an LPN for more than 10 yrs. My delimma is I feel like I am placed in situations that most new RN are not placed in. I do have good strong clinical skills but as far as team leading and charge nurse responsiblities I am very insecure and feel I am expected to be able to do this no problem. So is this normal? Does this happen to others? or am I just taking this a little too seriously? I feel like I am shaking in my boots at times, I feel like I have an enormous amount of responsiblity and very little orientation for the responsiblity. Most Clinical situations I can handle its the situations that deal with pts family complaining, staff not doing what they should, and trying to help the staff that really need me vs. the staff who want to take advantage of my kindness. Not sure how to handle this. Is this normal to feel this way? I kind of feel like Ive been thrown to the wolves at times.

[missnurse01, MSN, RN]

No I felt the same way. You should not be a team leader or charge nurse until you have a few years of experience. Ask to back down to staff nurse.

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

Do you work herein Georgia? Not that it matters, though. I encountered a nurse who had only 6 months of total nursing experience when the manager made her do charge on a med/surg floor. 6 months!!! I have 24 years LPN and 3 years RN med /surg and was forced to do charge on a cardiac floor when everybody else was floated in after the entire staff except me, had called in. I am not a cardiac nurse. Never cared for that area of nursing. And I might add, to this day, the only orientation that I've received to my new role as RN is, "oh you've been a nurse for a long time, you'll be fine". It is unfortunate but sometimes it seems that managers only look at credentials even when the body attached to those credentials are lacking in experience. I really hate those sink-or-swim orientations. So, the only difference that I've found in RN vs LPN other than the pay, is the initiating/revising of care plans. As far as professionalism, I was held to the same high standards when I was an LPN. Lots of times, the patients thought the LPN was the more skilled nurse because of the tasks we did and , get this, because my title had more letters than the RN. LOL! The whole experience makes you ask why all the you're-just-an-LPN attitudes because on this side of the tracks, there are the same attitudes, only with the slight change of BSN looking down on the ADN.

At the risk of sounding like one of those insensitive managers, you WILL be fine. Just stick to what is legal and interject compassion towards others in your justification of your response until you find yourself a more suitable position. That's what I did.....I started working a PRN position elsewhere 7 months before my relocation contract came to an end. I was hoping that things would get better before THE day to move on arrived, but it didn't. I had a very rigid, tunnel-visioned manager. So I moved on. I hope things get better for you. Remember, your strength lies in your experience. More doors will open after you gain that one-year-as-an-RN experience. Good luck.