WA Nurses

Hi all,

Posted this in the LPN section, then noticed that we have state specific forums too :).

Any RN's or LPN's that could answer my questions?

I used to live in WA (before I became a nurse) and am moving back in a couple of months. I was scouting out the hospitals online and was disapointed to see few if any LPN job postings in the Seattle/Olympia areas. I have worked as an LPN in Arkansas for the last six years and have always worked in a hospital (Med/Surg, Psych, CCU, M/S ICU, ER) pretty much anywhere I wanted to (I job hopped alot, usually stayed a year at each employer).

I

I'm getting the feeling that I have been spoiled by AR's nursing shortage. How are things in WA for an experienced LPN? Have most WA hospitals phased out LPN's, the reason I ask is because I have been to over a dozen hospital websites and only see job postings for RN's. This scares me

LPN's in AR have alot of independence, the majority of hospitals I have worked out employ primary care nursing, versus team. How do most WA hospitals utilize their LPN's, I'm not a big fan of team nursing but I guess I could tolerate it until I furthered my education.

LTC isn't an option for me, just isn't my thing. Am I going to have a hard time getting a job in a hospital, or stand alone psych hospital (my preference). I may change my plans to relocate to the Pac NW if so. I'm making pretty good money now, and its nice knowing I can walk and be employed the next day.

I'm planning on fast tracking once I get settled, is there a long waiting list in the nursing schools in that area?

Thanks in advance for any info .

Here in AR I could get a job in any hospital I wanted in as long as it took me to fill out the application (except Childrens in Little Rock, they don't use LPN's). I could also pick and choose which unit I wanted to work, granted alot of hospitals out here don't use LPN's in the critical care/Trauma areas but some do, and all except one (Childrens) use LPN's in their other care areas (med/surg, ortho, oncology, cardiac etc.). If I was between full time jobs, or just didn't feel like working full time I could pick up agency shifts with one phone call.

I can't speak for Seattle/Tacoma, but here in Spokane, Sacred Heart just laid off 88 LPN's, which is almost all of them. From what I have seen, about the only place LPN's are being utilized is in nursing homes and doctors' offices. I don't even think that Deaconess, Holy Family, and Valley hospital are using many.

This is going on all over the country, as hospitals realize that LPN's are not cost effective, as RN's have to be responsible for the LPN's patients as well as their own. Personally, I think that the LPN's time has come and gone, and the entire career field needs to be eliminated, along with diploma and ADN programs. The are all dinosaurs in the 21st century. They do nothing but cheapen and drag down the entire profession, making us all look like blue collar trailer trash. Physical Therapy ASSISTANTS, require a TWO YEAR ASSOCIATES DEGREE as entry into practice, and Physical Therapists are going to a DOCTORATE AS ENTRY INTO PRACTICE. The are leaving RN's in their dust as they continue to outstrip nurses in pay, respect, prestrige, etc. Need is say any more. My suggestion to you is to go back and get your BSN.

Linda RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

I guess if your in it for the prestige, you picked the wrong career, thanks for the relevant info though.

At our hospital about 7 years ago, the LPN's were given a choice of leaving, or becoming glorified NA's. And administration why they all left. IMHO, it was a huge mistake. The LPN who worked with our mom-baby couplets could run rings around us all, and that included the BSNs, by the way.

I certainly hope the profession, which includes ALL RN's, manages to overcome the elitist and just plain snotty attitude of some. JMHO

I honestly don't know what's going on in other hospitals. Much of what happens in nursing cycles as if on a pendulum. I sincerely hope you find a satisfactory position as an LPN. Personally, I would welcome a good one to our team again. Good luck.

Thanks tntrn,

Life is too short to get caught up in title drama

I'm afraid WA has phased out LPN's in their hospitals as a rule (which I'm fine with by the way). I enjoy my job as a member of the health care TEAM in a hospital setting so I guess I will stay where I am until I can further my education (which I'm doing not because I don't like my current duties, but because the areas I enjoy working in are pretty RN exclusive).

I guess if your in it for the prestige, you picked the wrong career, thanks for the relevant info though.

I went into nursing because I wanted to be a nurse, but also because, at the time I was making career decisions in the early 1970's, the only careers open to women were secretarial, teaching, or nursing.

I found out very quickly after graduating from my NY diploma nursing program in 1975, that nurses were at the bottom of the food chain, and ?coincidently, had the lowest level of education of other health care professionals. I resolved to go back to school as soon as I was able, and earned my BSN after I moved to California in 1979.

I see nothing wrong with expecting respect, apppreciation, and a paycheck commensurate with the education, responsibiity, risk of injury in our duties, and the inconvenience of a typical nurses schedule (nights, rotating shifts, weekends holidays, etc.), to myself and my family to work as a bedside nurse. Other health care professionals have that, and then some. Why should nursing be any differant? The back bone of the American Health care system? As I said, when I was choosing careers there was not alot available to women, or I would have chosen something else, as many young people today ARE DOING.

I do not understand why nursing continues to be dominated by women, and in some times, men, but in smaller numbers, who have what I have termed to be the, "Saint Martyr Mary Syndrome". I hope that I don't have to explain. It has kept nursing at the bottom of the food chain, even into the 21st century. If nurses don't collectively work to improve our level of education, pay, working conditions, respect, worth to the community, and to the health care system, I fear that in my lifetime, nursing will become an extinct profession. We continue to allow others to define our profession and our professional practice. Young nurses will continue hemorraging out of the profession shortly after graduating, and hospitals will just keep bringing in more foreign nurses, dumbing down, and de- professionalizing our professional practice. I see few, if any nurses who are willing to stick their necks out to make and insist on the changes that are necessary. Our nursing "leaders" sure don't want to.

I left nursing three years ago, and now exclusivley do legal nurse consulting. How refreshing to charge triple digit hourly wages, and have my education, knowledge, expertise, and experience rewarded. I decide my wage scale and perks that other professionals enjoy, and I just sit back and watch nursing move in a path of self- destruction. I am giving myself a $20.00 an hour pay raise in February. This is when Sacred Heart nurses got a 5% raise, negated by a 20% increase in their medical benefits, and Deaconness had a 9% pay cut 2 years ago. And no one wants to change anything to make it better. I do not apologize for the money I earn. I have earned it, and I certainly don't feel guilty. If more nurses felt the way I do, we wouldn't be in the sad state of affairs that we are in now. One should not feel guilty about wanting wages that are earned by our education, the amount of work that we do and our importance in health care. There is something terribly wrong with people who are willing to continue with the dysfunctional way our profession functions. They are the problem!

I am sorry that you feel that there is something wrong with wanting professional wages, working condtions, respect, and a certain amount of prestige, and it is sad that so many nurses so de-value themselves and our profession, and that they view my attitude as sacrilegous. I will not be there to put up with the worsening conditions, rotten pay, and benefits and be forced to give sub standard care to patients who deserve so much better.

Linda, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

I went into nursing because I wanted to be a nurse, but also because, at the time I was making career decisions in the early 1970's, the only careers open to women were secretarial, teaching, or nursing.

I found out very quickly after graduating from my NY diploma nursing program in 1975, that nurses were at the bottom of the food chain, and ?coincidently, had the lowest level of education of other health care professionals. I resolved to go back to school as soon as I was able, and earned my BSN after I moved to California in 1979.

I see nothing wrong with expecting respect, apppreciation, and a paycheck commensurate with the education, responsibiity, risk of injury in our duties, and the inconvenience of a typical nurses schedule (nights, rotating shifts, weekends holidays, etc.), to myself and my family to work as a bedside nurse. Other health care professionals have that, and then some. Why should nursing be any differant? The back bone of the American Health care system? As I said, when I was choosing careers there was not alot available to women, or I would have chosen something else, as many young people today ARE DOING.

I do not understand why nursing continues to be dominated by women, and in some times, men, but in smaller numbers, who have what I have termed to be the, "Saint Martyr Mary Syndrome". I hope that I don't have to explain. It has kept nursing at the bottom of the food chain, even into the 21st century. If nurses don't collectively work to improve our level of education, pay, working conditions, respect, worth to the community, and to the health care system, I fear that in my lifetime, nursing will become an extinct profession. We continue to allow others to define our profession and our professional practice. Young nurses will continue hemorraging out of the profession shortly after graduating, and hospitals will just keep bringing in more foreign nurses, dumbing down, and de- professionalizing our professional practice. I see few, if any nurses who are willing to stick their necks out to make and insist on the changes that are necessary. Our nursing "leaders" sure don't want to.

I left nursing three years ago, and now exclusivley do legal nurse consulting. How refreshing to charge triple digit hourly wages, and have my education, knowledge, expertise, and experience rewarded. I decide my wage scale and perks that other professionals enjoy, and I just sit back and watch nursing move in a path of self- destruction. I am giving myself a $20.00 an hour pay raise in February. This is when Sacred Heart nurses got a 5% raise, negated by a 20% increase in their medical benefits, and Deaconness had a 9% pay cut 2 years ago. And no one wants to change anything to make it better. I do not apologize for the money I earn. I have earned it, and I certainly don't feel guilty. If more nurses felt the way I do, we wouldn't be in the sad state of affairs that we are in now. One should not feel guilty about wanting wages that are earned by our education, the amount of work that we do and our importance in health care. There is something terribly wrong with people who are willing to continue with the dysfunctional way our profession functions. They are the problem!

I am sorry that you feel that there is something wrong with wanting professional wages, working condtions, respect, and a certain amount of prestige, and it is sad that so many nurses so de-value themselves and our profession, and that they view my attitude as sacrilegous. I will not be there to put up with the worsening conditions, rotten pay, and benefits and be forced to give sub standard care to patients who deserve so much better.

Linda, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

Do you know that the LPN programme I took was a two year programme? I have an Associates Degree in English Literature. RN programmes up here (all BScN by the way) are backed up for two or three years.

Our Licenses in Canada require us to be responsible for OUR patients. We carry our own liability insurance and do not report to RN's.

Most of the acute units I've worked on had a Charge Nurse(RN), two to three RN's working the floor and three or four LPN's working the floor. LPN's work as the charge nurses on most LTC units with one RN for two or three floors.

Trailer trash? I think statements like that reflect an individuals attitude, not their education.

LPN's up here are acknowledged to be cost effective. While there are not as many positions for LPN's as their are RN's, the hospitals I've worked in have valued us, and NEVER treated us as 2nd class nurses.

Maybe a career change was in order.