i hear the basis for people not wanting to be a LPN or rather wanting to be a RN is "hospitals are phasing out LPNs" or " hospitals dont hire LPNs"..... my question is whats so good about a hospital in the first place?
I get the impression people think those that dont work in a hospital = dumb/not so smart as hospital workers. You still use nursing skills/critical thinking/advocate/etc in a SNF right?
Going through RN school, particularly the NCLEX really opened my eyes to why so many RNs are so crappy to LVNs. Just woah, especially in NCLEX questions it was like LVN were CNAs who passed meds. Terrible.
I sure hate to hear about RNs being crappy to LVNs. I've been nothing but impressed with all the LVNs I've worked with.. I don't recall the NCLEX questions being so disrespectful to LVNs-- maybe not being an LVN first played a role in that?
With the healthcare changes, out patient services is going to be the area of expansion. Hospitals are going to have to expand their services to areas away from the main hospital to remain solvent. It will most likely increase competition for patients which would actually be better for them. I am actually considering working at a Dialysis Center just because of the trends of healthcare moving away from the hospital environment.
I do not how OP defines "better" but if the type of patients you want to care for are in the hospital, then that is the better place to work. I suspect OP feels that some nurses are considered better nurses if they are employed in a hospital. They are better able to care for acute care, but not chronic or many other jobs. The real point is to make the job better because you are in it.
I do not how OP defines "better" but if the type of patients you want to care for are in the hospital, then that is the better place to work. I suspect OP feels that some nurses are considered better nurses if they are employed in a hospital. They are better able to care for acute care, but not chronic or many other jobs. The real point is to make the job better because you are in it.
But that is a common myth that hospital is "better" equipped to "seeing it all"; people ARE sicker, are on vents, wound vacs, IV treatments, including Immunotherapy and Chemotherapy at home; TPNs and peritoneal dialysis in LTC, LTACs having drips and titrations,as well as trauma pts; acute and chronic issues treated at home or in LTC because of the push to decrease hospitalization and not everyone is eligible to go to an Acute Rehab facility.
I get to tighten distractors on a child with a mandibuloplasty, give long term TPN to children with short-gut syndrome; manage care for a child with a tumor that has neurologically devastated and affected the pituitary gland and vital sign center of the brain trached and vented, skin grafts and bone grafts and this is NOT in a hospital.
Community health IS the new acute care setting; it has come time that there will be no distinction between the two, and at least in my experience, it hasn't been that much difference for a great while.
Obama wanted to be the president of United States. His high school friend wanted to be a carpenter. I think it's just personal preference. It doesn't matter where you work. You can be smart or dumb or ignorant. :)
I learned so much working in the LTC as a brand new LPN. My critical thinking skills were constantly being tested. The LTC isn't privy to all the extras the hosptial is as far as doctors who are there 24/7, blood lab values, xrays etc. When one of my patients didn't seem quite right it was up to me to figure out what may or may not be the issue and go from there.
I made more money per hour as a brand new LPN in the LTC facility than the new RN's in the hospitals. And while I had 32-34 pts on my unit, I had the same patients day in and day out so I really 'knew' them. These days LTC isn't like the old age homes of days gone by. My unit alone had 5 dialysis patients, 4 G-Tube patients and patients on IV antibiotics at any given time. That patient that is still too sick/unstable to go home but is being discharged from the hospital..guess where they went..to me, the LPN in a LTC/Rehab.
Hospital jobs aren't the end all, be all. It all depends on each person's preferences. Some have future goals that require actue care in the hospital experience. Others, have no need for it and go in another direction. Like others have said, I think out of hospital care is the wave of the future.
If the world of healthcare expands outside the hospital, it doesn't necessarily mean nurses will be getting those jobs.
The MAs have mostly taken over work in offices. In a lot of medical offices, an NP is the the only RN there.
In an effort to cut costs, I see tech positions and MA roles expanding.
The tech and MA can't monitor chemo and immunologics, nor can they place PICC lines, not manage a vent pt at home, or wound vac changes.
There are plenty of pts who NEED nursing care in the community; and these needs have been addressed by NURSES, and the push has been for nurses, not techs.
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
A patient's family member taught ME how to manage a vent at home, on her mom. I still felt it was beyond my scope of practice, though the agency was willing to consider me 'trained' thereafter......still, the dgt understood and I did everything else during the home health visit, while dgt did the vent.
I've been nothing but impressed with all the LVNs I've worked with.. I don't recall the NCLEX questions being so disrespectful to LVNs-- maybe not being an LVN first played a role in that?
smartnurse1982
1,775 Posts
I see nobody brought this up,but LTC facilities AND Home care agencies in my area are getting rid of Lpn's.
There are an abundance of Rn's,esp Adn Rn's.
So now,you might need to become an Rn to work in LTC.