What do/did you say when...

lpn2rnMay2005 · Oct 29, 2004

I've been an LPN for almost 8 years now. Trust me, the comments like, "Why don't you go back to school to be a real nurse" and "Why didn't you just become an RN?" were NOT the motivation I needed to actually start my BSN program. The idiot RN DON I worked under who didn't know her @#$ from a hole in the ground was the PERFECT motivation to go back to school!

When someone asks that stupid question, say to them, "Well, I wanted to be the best nurse I could be. Being an LPN first allows me to understand the whole spectrum of nursing, not just the fluff they teach you in RN school." I promise that will shut those nay-sayers up.

BTW, the best nurses I've worked with or for were LPN's first. :)

akcarmean, LPN · Oct 30, 2004

I know what you mean. I can just imagine what responses I am going to get now that I am going back for my RN, BSN. My responses varied but my favorite was asking them if they wanted to financial and mentally support my husband and children. Of course not so mind your own business. Just do what you want and how you want to. It's your life. Good luck Angelia

kesneysmom · Nov 7, 2004

what have you said when people say why don't you just be an rn? i've been telling friends/family that i am returning to college and should start my lpn program in jan. not everyone, but most always ask. so i feel like i have to explain how i'm not able to put 3 years into this right now etc etc husband etc. i don't mean to offend anyone i guess i understand why they ask but it's getting really old:stone so what have you said? :)

i told people that i wanted to be absolutely sure about being a nurse before i put alot of money and years into it. i was 18 when i became an lpn now at 26 i have decide to get my r.n. i would never trade the knowledge i gained by becoming an lpn first. my husband is an rn and between seeing me as a nurse and working with lpns he wished he had taken that path. it is so much more hands on then rn school this is based totally on my husbands experiance and what he has told me. i hope to find out for myself. :rolleyes:

Dixiedi · Nov 7, 2004

Well, let me see................ When I went to school I was working as a CNA in a LTC and loved it. But I decided to go to school for LPN , my mom is one too and in reality, an LPN can do everything an RN can do, in KY except for hang blood and some paper work. So why go on? When I was in school I worked like 1-2 days a week went to school full time, was a mom and wife and my hubby got layed off right in the middle of my 2nd semester. I too would like to go back and get my RN but I need to do it online and can't really find any programs that I can afford right now and quitting work and going full time is not an option.

Excellent answer. I hear so many younguns say you CAN find an RN program that will work for you. Yep, I suppose there's one out there someplace, but darned if I can find it. Get a loan? Excuse me, loans have to be repaid. for the 5$ more on the hour that I would make, it's not worth the effort just to hang blood and be a "charge nurse" in my hospital.

I graduated LPN school in 1977 when there was far less diference between LPN and RN (the hospital where i went to LPN school had an LPN head nurse in the ER). Now, hanging blood and being in charge just aren't worth repaying a large loan and taking high school and nursing fundamental classes all over again because it's been so long since I graduated.

I love my job, what more could a person ask for in this life?

VirgoNurse912 · Nov 8, 2004

I've had that question thrown my way after I became a LPN ( 8 years now) People would ask, so now you are going to go back and study for your RN right?

My answer- yes when you go back and become a brain surgeron. I rattle all that entails with school and studing, explaining that being in class is physcial but it doesn't stop there, there is study time and I being a wife and mother have other obligations. My patients love me for 'being their nurse', not the intitals after my name.

Fiona59 · Nov 8, 2004

The last two posters are so right!!

I read so many on here that go on about starting as an LPN and working through to Masters.

I'd love to run a poll in five years and see how many actually follow through. My thought is if they want it (RN) so badly, just go there first. LPN spots are getting hard to come by in some areas, should they really be plugged up with "well, I'm only doing this so I can become an RN" wannabees.

I'm not slamming people with dreams and ambitions, just saying think about people and their ideals before telling us all about your dreams.

Why not do ur LPN, get an educaton degree and come back as an instructor? How many bad instructors did we all have because they were RN's, BScN's, MN's but not one of them had an education degree in their subject?

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Nov 8, 2004

I'd love to run a poll in five years and see how many actually follow through. My thought is if they want it (RN) so badly, just go there first. LPN spots are getting hard to come by in some areas, should they really be plugged up with "well, I'm only doing this so I can become an RN" wannabees.?

Five years; it'll take longer for me to get to an MSN program. Yes, i want the RN badly, wanted the LPN even more and got it, but i prefer not to be up to my eyes in debt, if i can avoid it. I graduated LPN debt free by setting up a payment plan through the school. As an LPN, my hospital will giving me a full financial ride through college, so i will, yet again, finish school debt free. It was not an option for me to just go to RN school first, it wasn't that simple. I wanted to be an LPN, and i want to be an RN, simple as that.

I'm not slamming people with dreams and ambitions, just saying think about people and their ideals before telling us all about your dreams.?

I did, and i have all of my life, and it's a combined reason on why it took me 8 years to start school, being a CNA first. Was i denying another CNA in the process by being an LPN wannabe? And i ask that, coming from an area (believe it or not) that wasn't hurting for CNA help.

Why not do ur LPN, get an educaton degree and come back as an instructor? How many bad instructors did we all have because they were RN's, BScN's, MN's but not one of them had an education degree in their subject?

Because the majority of instructor jobs are part-time positions, yet full-time work and stress, and a lot of people can't live off of it, especially the pay.

HisTreasure, BSN, RN · Nov 8, 2004

As currently an LPN student I have heard that a lot. "Why are you wasting a whole year to become an LPN when in one more year you could be a real nurse?" REAL NURSE? So, uh, the state of NY puts the N after the LP just because it looks pretty? Gosh that ticks me off!

belliakin · Nov 9, 2004

I'm going to be graduating in Dec. from LPN school. I'm so nervous about the nclex. I know you all have been asked so many times whats the best way to study. But I really need the advice, and support. Its been a very long road for me.

tina

VirgoNurse912 · Nov 10, 2004

As currently an LPN student I have heard that a lot. "Why are you wasting a whole year to become an LPN when in one more year you could be a real nurse?" REAL NURSE? So, uh, the state of NY puts the N after the LP just because it looks pretty? Gosh that ticks me off!

not to make fun of RN's because I'm the only lpn in my group of friends. But at work we called the RN's the ' real nurses'

sasha2lady · Jul 29, 2009

I started at my facility in housekeeping and I had no idea what a cna was til one of the day shift cnas started talking to me about it....she told me how to go about getting into cna work so while i was in high school (my sr year) i went to the college at night for cna class. when i graduated hs i switched depts and worked as a cna til i was 22. I had no choice but to work when i graduated hs..my mom and stepdad were getting divorced b/c he chose to run off with another woman and didnt pay the bills...so my mom was losing everything...the house...her savings, everything...so I worked as a cna and bought a mobile home for us to live in. then I met my now hubby...and he stayed on me til i went back to school....for my lpn. I went to college for a total of 3 yrs...WITHOUT any kind of public assistance...no grants, no scholarships, no nothing...straight out of my pocket.....for all of it....and in 2006 I graduated with honors from the lpn program. I always wanted to be a nurse or a teacher. I chose nursing after working as a cna for all those years. I liked being an aide but i too could no longer afford to live off that microscopic paycheck...I had plans and dreams..I wanted to buy a HOUSE of my own, I wanted to eventually have a child, I wanted to be able to buy groceries,....so....being an lpn has allowed me to do that. The week before I took my boards I found out that I was pregnant...so in 2007 my son was born and I bought a house of my own and let my mom have the other one. I looked at the cost of getting my RN and i cannot afford it now..probably never. 22000 a semester...yes....semester not a year or 2 yrs...I actually have no real desire to be an RN...I like what i do now minus the politics of it . The doctor over the LTC facility I work at has asked me several times why I dont go for my RN so that I can be The don....Fact is...I wouldnt have that job. I would have no trouble with the schooling for RN if it wasnt for the cost. I couldnt get a penny of financial aide when i made 9 bucks an hour...so i have no doubt that Id still be turned down now..with what i make....I couldnt get fin aid when i made 5.65/hr working 15 hrs every 2 wks. The scopes are different for lpn and rn but in my case....it works out for me b/c the things they can do are the things Id hate doing....i wouldnt want to be in an office in front of a computer doing care plans and being on conference calls all day...and i wouldnt want to be the one to take out a picc line or do invitro fertilization on someone. Those things just dont appeal to me personally. i think lpns are just as useful as an RN ...sometimes more. In LTC the lpn is the right hand person to the families most of the time...when they have ?'s...who do they come to? their mom/ dad's nurse....which is usually an LPN.

Syobe77 · Jul 30, 2009

A lot of people don't see the financial side of going to school. I just finished LVN program and now I am in debt from school loans and credit card loans. Without anybody to support and cover my expenses I have to work and go to school both full time. Sleeping only few hours a day or not having sleep at all, imagine doing that until you finish RN program, that will be a lot. I always tell anybody that ask me that question that if they will cover my all my expenses and pay my old loans, "Hey I am up for the RN program now!!!".