What was your firdt LPN/LVN job?

missdeevah, NP · Oct 10, 2007

24 dollars doing outpatient? out of curiosity, where is your geographic location in the us?

i had asked her the same thing. here's her response:

i am a few miles south of san francisco, so yes..california. :)

ANG_LPN · Oct 10, 2007

My first job was med/surg. I started out as the unit secretary then NA then went to school. Pay scale was 11/hr. Now I'm in LTC making 22/hr. Looking into corrections at a county jail closer to home.

Godswill · Oct 10, 2007

LTC at 14.20 a hour, but just took pay cut to go to hospital

lilysnana · Oct 12, 2007

My first, and only job, as an LPN is at a Primary Care Group. I'm making 15.81/hr, including much overtime. Thought being an office nurse would be less stressful....ya right!.

missdeevah, NP · Oct 12, 2007

ltc at 14.20 a hour, but just took pay cut to go to hospital

ltc seems rather low for an ltc...

swee2000 · Oct 14, 2007

My first and only LPN position(thus far) is at a hospital on a Med/Surg unit. I am making $16+/hr. Prior to becoming an LPN, I worked as a CNA for 2 1/2 years on the same unit. I love every day that I have been given the opportunity to work on my unit, both as a CNA and as an LPN. I also am fortunate to work with the best crew around...in my opinion, of course. They define teamwork to a "T".

As far as applying for a job at a hospital, don't doubt yourself and whether or not you can get a job there w/o having the experience behind you. However, on the flip side of the coin, I give a kind word of suggestion based off my own experience and the fact that I am currently precepting a brand-new, fresh-out-of-school LPN whose only healthcare job experience is 2 months as an LPN at a LTC facility and no CNA experience prior to that: it is more beneficial to you in the long run if you have the basic skills down IN ADDITION to the nursing part...for example, how to care for a patient who is incontinent of stool, how to reposition &/or transfer patients, how to take vitals, time management, prioritization, etc. I say this for 2 reasons: a)my orientee had never(!!) had to assist a patient with a bath, change bed linens, clean up an incontinent patient, etc. Now he has had to do it at the hospital because it is part of his job responsibilities. I don't think he was expecting this because I've been told by 2 different people who have overheard him say "I didn't know beds and baths were part of an LPNs job. At the nursing home, we just told the CNAs to go and do it". I do it everyday I work in addition to all the nursing stuff!!; b)the other reason I say this is because working in a hospital is a whole different ball-game compared to a LTC facility. Hospitals are FAST-paced environments and you have to be able to think, move, respond, see, smell, hear, etc, QUICKLY.

These are two of the biggest issues I am having with my orientee right now. Also, at least in my situation, you need to remember that the policies vary from one facility to the next in regards to what an LPN can do within the scope of their practice. Things my orientee could automatically do at the LTC facility w/o immediate approval from an RN he is finding out he can't do at the hospital. And it is turning into a big struggle for him because he thought he would be able to do more than what realistically he can. Not sure who led him astray during the prehiring process, but it goes to show you need to be completely sure you understand what you're getting yourself into before you sign on the dotted line.

Anyways, hope I didn't offend anyone. Just wanted to be bluntly honest based off what I'm going through right now as a preceptor.

mamunsey · Oct 23, 2007

LTC facility on the 3rd day after graduation, I worked there 3 yrs and loved it, my starting pay was 7.20/hour, but that was in 1996!, left there to go to a hospital for 9.20/hour, absolutely hated it (med surg/tele) wished I would have stayed at the LTC! now working in the school system in Va, 13,000/year, but worth it to be on the same schedule as my daughter!

missdeevah, NP · Oct 23, 2007

ltc facility on the 3rd day after graduation, i worked there 3 yrs and loved it, my starting pay was 7.20/hour, but that was in 1996!, left there to go to a hospital for 9.20/hour, absolutely hated it (med surg/tele) wished i would have stayed at the ltc! now working in the school system in va, 13,000/year, but worth it to be on the same schedule as my daughter!

is this full time or part time in the school system?

catlynLPN · Oct 23, 2007

My fisrt job was at Long Beach Community Hospital in Long Beach, Ca.

It's not the community hospital anymore. I think they sold or combined with another hospital.

I can't even remember how much I was paid....it was soooo long ago.

Probably around 3 or 4 dollars per hour. It was in the 70's.

I floated from floor to floor. Got some good experience, but I've never worked in a hospital since.

mamunsey · Oct 24, 2007

Monday through Friday 8am-2pm, holidays, snow days, and summers off. I son't have to pay for childcare!

sharona97, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2007

My first LPN job was on a telemetry floor. No CNA's, walls between the ICU pt's being shiped up to the 9th floor to make room in their department and I think I made $7.50/hr in 1986. Yuck.

Ashera, LPN · Oct 24, 2007

Health South Rehab in Austin - 2003 - 15-18 hr. Good learning hospital - horrid pt ratios - bad morale - overworked angry nurses - rapid upper level turnover - rapid turnover of DON's - but - I made it a year and afer that felt I could almost work anywhere! Didn't know how bad it was at the time -

Hope it's better now!