What direction should I go? I'm really torn and need real guidance/advice...Lpn or RN?

caliotter3 · Aug 8, 2015

Finish the LPN program and you will have provided yourself with a Plan B in case the RN goal does not work out, a path to get into an LPN to RN program in case you do not get admitted into an RN program from the get go, and a means to earn money while you are in RN school as long as you don't swamp yourself. If you leave now, you will have nothing to show for your hard work if you can not get into RN school or if something goes wrong before you are comfortably working as an RN. That's my advice.

AdultPsychRN · Aug 8, 2015

I completed my first year of school and took the NCLEX-PN. I spent the second year ("RN school") working as a LPN and gaining great experience while completing my ADN. I am now working on my BSN online. I guess it really depends on what you want to do with nursing whether you should be a LPN or RN and how flexible your schedule for school can be while working on your RN. In nursing homes especially it may seem like LPNs do the same things as RNs, but the scope of practice is very different. LPNs care for stable patients and "collect data." RNs care for unstable patients and perform nursing assessments. Just like you said, RNs can do some tasks that LPNs can't i.e. hang blood, start IVs (some states LPNs can) and give IV meds, insert NG tubes, etc. LPNs are utilized more in long-term care and clinics. Very few hospitals use LPNs anymore. RN clinic jobs are not as common as LPN ones. Because RNs carry more responsibilities than LPNs, they are paid higher wages. I guess I would recommend asking yourself what you want to do with nursing and it might help you make your decision.

Leonardsmom,LPN · Aug 8, 2015

Finish the LPN program and you will have provided yourself with a Plan B in case the RN goal does not work out, a path to get into an LPN to RN program in case you do not get admitted into an RN program from the get go, and a means to earn money while you are in RN school as long as you don't swamp yourself. If you leave now, you will have nothing to show for your hard work if you can not get into RN school or if something goes wrong before you are comfortably working as an RN. That's my advice.

This, you are already in a LPN program if it was me I would continue to finish it. Once you have completed the program you and have gotten your LPN you can than look for other programs that would allow you to bridge to your RN. If you were to stop now, you would have nothing to show for the work that you have already done, and no guarantee that you would be able to get into an RN program right away.

direw0lf, BSN · Aug 8, 2015

I have learned that LPN's can pretty much do all of the things RN'S can do, except for stuff like hanging blood etc....

The most important differences, as I understood them to be, are that RN's have the accountability, do the full assessments, careplans, more delegation responsibilities, and more critical thinking, besides management. (Well actually I had heard someone on here say they were an LPN who managed in a nursing home)

I just say this because I didn't want you to go for an RN thinking it was just like an LPN besides a few skills.

If it were me, I would do what is both economically best and fastest. Usually LPN programs seem expensive to me. (Around here it's $15,000 no financial aid). So to not use that would be a deterrent to finishing your LPN imo? Not that colleges and the supplies for an RN programs aren't expensive. If you know of a good LPN-RN bridge program and cost factors out about the same as if you left LPN school and started the RN college, that's not a bad route.

I was going to go to an LPN vocational school because I wanted to start that fall and here at my university I had to wait a year. I decided to wait because of the cost and that I knew without a doubt I wanted the RN and it's probably easier this way in terms of course load because I got the year of prereqs out of the way without any clinical or nursing classes yet, plus can take extra classes. If you switched to a nursing program for this fall, you'd take your sciences and gen eds for a year. I prefer that way unless someone knows they will work as an LPN while perusing the RN just my opinion though. I know LPN would be super experience and give a great edge. It would be hard for me to work as an LPN while in full time RN classes though.

P.S. I just saw your CNA credentials with your name, sorry. Wow that I didn't pick that up when you said "my co-workers are RN's and LPN's" !!

I guess you know everything I wrote then. I wouldn't think you'd need the LPN for experience then. I would go straight for RN. But best wishes whatever you decide!

J3w3lz88 · Aug 9, 2015

Hi, I say either way you go is good, you can finish the LPN program and then do the bridge to become an RN and maybe work if you have the time or need to as an LPN, and if you go straight to an RN well that's 2years minimum so it will be less time (1 to 2 semesters earlier). However, I do suggest not to get out of the LPN program until they accept you in an RN program, because then you will have to wait and loose time, just a thought let me know how it goes.... Good Luck!

Jules A, MSN · Aug 9, 2015

The most important differences, as I understood them to be, are that RN's have the accountability, do the full assessments, careplans, more delegation responsibilities, and more critical thinking, besides management. (Well actually I had heard someone on here say they were an LPN who managed in a nursing home)
I just say this because I didn't want you to go for an RN thinking it was just like an LPN besides a few skills.

At least in my experience other than having lesser employment opportunities being a LPN was pretty much just like being a RN with only a few restrictions.

To all new nursing students please be aware of what is being fed to you. Something unfortunate I experienced is that at each wrung on the nursing ladder there seems to be an air of superiority whether it be LPN to RN, ADN to BSN, BSN to MSN.

It sickens me to think of the money I spent on courses that largely amounted to "now that you are a blah blah nurse you are so much more important than the lowly LPNs, ADNs etc." My personal wish is that we tighten up our true clinical skills and drop some of the nursing fluff in our education experiences.

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Aug 9, 2015

Follow the advice of the great Yogi - "when you come to a fork in the road, take it".

direw0lf, BSN · Aug 9, 2015

To all new nursing students please be aware of what is being fed to you. Something unfortunate I experienced is that at each wrung on the nursing ladder there seems to be an air of superiority whether it be LPN to RN, ADN to BSN, BSN to MSN.
It sickens me to think of the money I spent on courses that largely amounted to "now that you are a blah blah nurse you are so much more important than the lowly LPNs, ADNs etc." My personal wish is that we tighten up our true clinical skills and drop some of the nursing fluff in our education experiences.

I tried hard to remain sensitive in my reply to this that lpns and cnas or other so called support staff members sometimes feel that rns act superior because I'm sure many do.

In the class I just had though the differences really were stressed in the way I described and most of it was about who is accountable which we were told is the rn.

Maybe in the real world there isn't a difference but a few skills? I wonder though and not wondering because I want to be superior but why don't hospitals just hire more lpns then because they could pay them less why are hospitals decreasing lpns? I know the magnet status but it still doesn't make sense. (But neither does mandatory overtime make sense to me when the hospital gets higher mortality rates and errors you'd think they'd save money by not having that).

My teacher even told us that the ANA wants education required for nursing to be bsn only.

I definitely don't want to suggest all the time in school and hard work was less in any way. At the same time I think though I also don't want to feel like my bsn was pointless.

I have a lot to learn in school yet I just know already though that I'm going to be appreciating every nurse and aid working with me though because I know how hard they have to work and aren't paid as much as rns.

muirite · Aug 9, 2015

I would finish LPN now. You have already started and some ADN/BSN program will see that you didn't finish and will not accept you. Where I live the question (not in a good way) you have previous nursing school credit.

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Aug 9, 2015

At least in my experience other than having lesser employment opportunities being a LPN was pretty much just like being a RN with only a few restrictions.
To all new nursing students please be aware of what is being fed to you. Something unfortunate I experienced is that at each wrung on the nursing ladder there seems to be an air of superiority whether it be LPN to RN, ADN to BSN, BSN to MSN.
It sickens me to think of the money I spent on courses that largely amounted to "now that you are a blah blah nurse you are so much more important than the lowly LPNs, ADNs etc." My personal wish is that we tighten up our true clinical skills and drop some of the nursing fluff in our education experiences.

JulesA, I have seen you post several things like this. You are reading way to much into what other people post. This poster was clarifying the difference between a LPN and a RN. A LPN cannot do assessments amongst other things depending on which state you are in. Also the pay is about $10 an hour difference. Nobody is putting down the LPN or saying they are not nurses. I have no idea why you are so sensitive about this subject. But the fact of the matter is, the scope of practice is different. The OP was wondering what to do, and she was getting some good advice on the difference. Nobody, was trying to be superior what-so-ever. I apologized to you the other day because you were offended by me recommending to someone who had failed out of a BSN program to try a LPN program. You tried to say I was saying that the program was easier, which I was not. I was saying it because they are not as impacted and the OP of that thread would maybe have a better chance of getting into it as she had done well in the lecture part of the RN program but had a problem in the clinical aspect. Please stop doing that.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Aug 9, 2015

Being in nursing school for the first semester I have learned that LPN's can pretty much do all of the things RN'S can do, except for stuff like hanging blood etc....

Sorry, this isn't true. I have held 4 jobs in nursing and only one of them has utilized LPNs in any way. An LPN's scope of practice is much more limited than an RN's.

The hospital I worked at (nationally ranked pediatric hospital) didn't employ a single LPN in any capacity, not even in outpatient.

School? Have to be an RN WITH a BSN per state requirements.

Clinical liaison? Have to be an RN.

The only environment I worked in that employed LPNs was home health and, even there, they're limited. Can't do any SOCs, recerts or discharges (CMS guidelines specifically say that LPNs are not qualified to do OASIS). They do straightforward follow-up visits and have to be supervised by an RN regularly. In the PDN side they may work on the same cases as RNs but only if those cases are not so complex to require only RNs. Anyone with IV push meds, for example, will be an RN only case.