Wanna know what an LPN license can get you?

[nekozuki]

People used to ask me why I "settled" and went to a vocational school to become an LPN, instead of going to a traditional college and becoming a "real nurse." I always had a list of potential answers running through my mind when that happened:

✔️ I do the exact same thing an RN does at my job with absolutely no variation.

✔️ I train both new grad RN's and BSN's, and have discovered that in my field, experience and competence are more valuable than the initials at the end of my name.

✔️ I work with babies, which is pretty damn cool (turns out I like them better than many adults).

✔️ I have an incredibly flexible schedule that allows me to continue my education.

✔️ The pay is much, much better than when I was the drive-thru girl at Taco Bell.

✔️ I took on 11 months of school and no debt to make sure nursing was what I wanted, rather than 2-3 years and a boatload of loans.

✔️ This Microbiology test isn't hard. My six-month old vent-dependent patient went into respiratory distress last night, and I guided them through it. That was tough. I eat micro exams for breakfast!

✔️ Vocational school helped me develop study/homework skills, so that when I entered traditional college, I got easy A's.

✔️ In Honors classes revolving around theory, I could speak about practical application in real life situations.

✔️ When scholarship time rolled around, I wasn't simply a student who wished to change the world. I was already actively changing the world.

So many students apply to awards because of who they want to be, whereas I could apply because of who I already am. When I had to write numerous essays, personal statements, and narratives about myself and my future dreams, I had so many compelling stories to tell about my job as an LPN. When asked about community service, volunteer work, or past experience performing good deeds for others, I got the opportunity to explain how such things weren't simply extracurriculars to me, but rather an integral part of my day to day life as an LPN.

Those people who used to ask me why I "settled" and went to a vocational school to become an LPN, instead of going to a traditional college and becoming a "real nurse?" These days, I don't need to tell them anything. Because I was awarded $124,500 dollars to complete my bachelor's degree, and $200,000 dollars for any graduate school I choose. Not because I was a traditional student (I came from one of those schools, a vocational school for people who weren't "good enough" for regular college). Not because I did well in high school (I dropped out at 15). Not because I was cookie cutter (I've got a dirty mouth, a sarcastic streak a mile wide, and I wear jeans and red converse to business casual events). Not because I had special advantages (as an older student, I had to fight for every opportunity, knock on many doors, and annoy professors into letting me take on special projects). I received all of this because of my work as an LPN and the way it made me stand out among other students when I transitioned back into traditional college.

So don't let anyone tell you this is a road for people who "settle" or don't have what it takes to hack it at a "real" college. You have no idea where an LPN license will lead you, or the impact you will have on the world because of it.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

For $325,000 in money, I'd buy a house in cash and get a degree in pottery. I am kidding. OR....not.....wink wink

I was very fortunate to be an LPN during a time where smaller, community hospitals used us as bedside nurses. Not so much anymore. The lay offs intense. There are tons of things and LPN can do, but primary nursing is not usually one of them.

And they call it "mentoring" as opposed to training RN's to do anything. The equal scope of every state I know of is that LPN's can not clinically direct RN's. And just putting it out there that if in fact your pedi patient had gone the other direction (and thank goodness that was not the case) it would have been on you for practicing outside of your scope. No nurse regardless of degree is God.

And if you can work it, work it--use everything as your advantage for furthering your education. There are lots of things as an LPN you can do too. So depending on where you are in life, LPN can be fulfilling as a stop point/career choice.

Remember as well that it is not always wise to go a straight shot into NP. There is significant theory and evidence based practice work that only can be experienced as an employed RN. Which is essentially what is a foundation in which an NP is based. Otherwise, get the clinical hours and become a PA.

I am all for expression and freedom thereof. And you can wave your favorite flag of self expression any day of the week. However, business casual is usually about business. And as awesome as I believe red converse can be, not at a business function. I am just that old school that I believe that dress = respect. And the intrigue that one puts out should be on their content of character and not funky clothing choices, inappropriate to the task at hand. The way of the world is that most hospitals have strict dress codes. That the expectation is to adhere to.

It is ok to be an LPN. It is ok to have had an alternate education to get you to a goal. It is wonderful to have specific goals. New LPN students should be inspired. You can choose to do any number of things, and LPN is a good way to either have an amazing job that is one's career choice, or as a stepping stone to something else. I need to note here that for those among us who are struggling through traditional high school (and I know you are out there!!) a vocational high school is also a way to take pre-LPN courses of study.

OP, however well meaning, your article comes across as over the top, wholly unrealistic, and some sort of ego stroking/self esteem issued jargon. That I have to say if you are practicing to the level you proclaim, opens you up to a whole lot of liability for relishing in the grey and not so grey areas of scope. I hope you find what you are looking for, and wish you the best in your career.

[APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP]

All's an LPN ever got me was a smaller paycheck and a requirement to change my task-scope based upon where I was employed at the time.

One place I could do A, and B, but not C.

Another place, I could only do B, and neither A nor C.

Yet another place, I would have to tag after the RN to get the RN to do A before I was allowed to do B or C.

It was a rigmarole that I happily left behind when I bridged to RN.

[ambr46]

Who awards that kind of scholorship money?

[ambr46]

Someone is really tooting their own horn

[ambr46]

Are you sure you weren't awarded 325,000 in student loans?

[ambr46]

When I was an LVN I used to think there wasn't much difference between LVN and RN...until I became an RN.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Sorry, just not buying much of this.

I am happy you are satisfied with your career path but I don't believe a lot of what you said in your article.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

Thujone said:

You can tell there are a lot of people with no working experience on here. More often then not when a nurse does a job they do not use their full scope of practice which is why the OP is able to do the exact same job as the RNs she works with. She wouldn't be able to go into most hospitals and be a staff nurse because the vast majority of hospitals only want BSN nurses these days. Also, she couldn't go into certain areas of nursing like critical care, for example.

You are incorrect. The majority of hospitals do not only want BSN nurses. The hospital I did my very clinical at has lots of LPN nurses. But there are things they cannot do that the ASN or BSN nurses can do. You stating that most people must not have working experience so we are wrong when you yourself are stating incorrect things? She could very well go and be a staff nurse here in my local hospital, just the scope of practice is different. And what do you mean a nurse does not often use their full scope of practice? What many of us are stating is that there is a difference. In my state a LPN is not allowed to do an assessment. A RN is constantly doing assessments. Whether it's a head to toe or a focused, they pretty much do it every shift, many times. Your statement makes no sense.

Every area of the country is different. I also think that maybe you don't understand the difference in the scopes of practice between a RN and LPN. And I think my statement about being careful about practicing outside her scope of practice is legit.

[ambr46]

SmilingBluEyes said:

Sorry, just not buying much of this.

I am happy you are satisfied with your career path but I don't believe a lot of what you said in your article.

Yep it seems pretty inflated

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

I'm calling bogus on much of this article. The scholarship money alone makes me question the whole thing. How is she being awarded all this money for graduate school if she's not even an RN yet? I've applied for scholarships and no, I've never seen that. The only time I've ever seen a large sum awarded was for say a high schooler to get a full ride because of their grades or athletics for a 4 year program. That's when I've seen them awarded that far in advance in that high of a dollar amount. But with some the OP's statements, I don't believe she has done stellar in the prereqs or even taken them.

What is this microbiology test you talk about? Micro for me was a semester class that had many tests, labs, projects, and a final. There was no micro/nursing school entrance test. There is no once single micro test that you need to pass. Did you not have any prereqs for your LPN program?

I worked with some awesome LPNs on a medsurg floor in my clinical rotation. They taught me bunches. I thanked them for all of the awesome things they taught me as a student during my short time there. But there were things the RNs had to do. They all worked great together as a team. Everybody did their job.

I'm just wondering why is the OP even going back to obtain her RN? If her job is the same, and she is training apparently all the new hires, why even go back?

I'm highly even doubting this person is a nurse. I think it's someone who is getting slack about wanting to go and become a LPN. Nobody should ever make anybody feel inferior about their career choice or the path they are taking to get there. But that doesn't mean you come on the internet and spout inaccuracies to make yourself feel better. You can get on to make yourself feel better, just make sure you are posting accurate information. It makes your story more credible.

[RiaWndrful]

Hello. Brand new here, mostly lurking haven't even started prereq's for the BSN but...

I wanted to respond to the accusations regarding the scholarship money. It is entirely possible for someone to get that much or more. One of my close girlfriends spent a good three months applying to every private scholarship she was eligible before we started grad school (non-nursing). She was awarded over 400k when the entire program was less than 30k. She did buy a house with the excess, and a Mercedes and focused on school. I took out loans and worked as a grad teaching assistant while praying to pass my comps. Now heading into this new direction I plan on using her methods to do what she did. I've no clue if what the OP was saying is true or not about the differences of LPN and RN however, at the very least her mentioning the award money hopefully encourages others to apply for scholarships like its a full time job.

[LPNtoRNin2016OH, LPN]

This could have been a really good article but instead it just seems like you have a case of the butt hurts. I am glad I became and LPN first, there is NO way I would have done as well in my now RN bridge program if I would have gone through straight RN school. While my everyday nursing job in LTC is nearly the same as the RN, our scope isn't.

The problem with being an LPN is that much our field, outside of LTC, hardly considers us nurses even though that was the title given to us when we passed our NCLEX PN.

That said now that I am in RN school, I see how much we did NOT learn in LPN school. I feel like there should be a restructuring of the LPN role....eliminating the LPN title and combine with PCT of sorts...like a med tech but more critical thinking behind the why you are giving it....