I understand that as "nurses", we're the bottom of the food chain. I don't want to sound like a cry baby or put myself or other LPNs on a pedestal but I'm tired of people with the "you're just an LPN attitude". I do know many RNs that have been supportive and understanding. I know when you're a nurse, you have tough skin (and I usually do) but there are some days (like today) when it just gets to you.
I've been going to school for a long time - it's almost been 10 years from when I graduated high school. I've just been trying to get into any nursing school. I got my AA degree, became a CNA, worked, had to take pre-reqs over, and then the 2 years of LPN school. Now that it's all over, I realize how HARD it was...everything - emotionally, mentally, physically...especially if you had those really difficult instructors who made you feel incompetent. Anyhoo, the "problem" is mainly family members. I don't expect people to jump at my feet and floor me with compliments or attention but it's nice to be acknowledged. But if they don't, no big deal. I'm happy with myself with this accomplishment. I do get alot of "oh it's just LPN, no big deal" or "it's not an RN or BSN, so it's technically not a nurse yet." I do get what they're saying bc I have high expectations for myself and I know I'm not done in my career path but it really IRRITATES me and I think it's bc someone degrading the hard work I went through. Any kind of nursing school is HARD WORK. No offense but it's not like in CNA school...nothing compared to do that. It's almost like, "how dare you say that?" I think it's also a cultural thing to bc in my culture, it's like a stereotype to be a nurse. Anyhoo, sorry to be a debbie downer and vent but it really irritates me and I need to use my assertive, nursing communication "I-statement" skills now, should I? :)
AND AMEN to THAT! "Hold yourself and your standards high, and YOU will be taken very seriously indeed :) "
but I have to add, 10 MONTHS!!!!!!!!
HECK, I had to go to 15 MONTHS.. (different state I am sure have different amounts), but I went to a college, not vocational school, and that may have made difference.
AND AMEN to THAT! "Hold yourself and your standards high, and YOU will be taken very seriously indeed :) "
but I have to add, 10 MONTHS!!!!!!!!
HECK, I had to go to 15 MONTHS.. (different state I am sure have different amounts), but I went to a college, not vocational school, and that may have made difference.
I will say this, the LPN's that I felt where competent generally weren't from vocational programs. I think the rise in vocational programs has created a situation not seen 20 years ago were an LPN can graduate with terrible grades with no competition and go into practice were otherwise any serious college would have weeded them out and I think therein lies the true problem.
There have been so many similar threads about the LPN/LVN. I went to school when dinosaurs walked the earth and graduated from PN school in 1972 (where's my old person with cane emoticon). Back then there were no CNA's the LPN/LVN were the bedside nurse. We did what was then called total patient care, we did it all - everything from bed baths to giving most meds. Back then there were fewer IV meds given, at the time I graduated we couldn't start an IV but could maintain it, hang anything including blood as long as an RN was the 2nd signer. The few IV push meds were given by the RN's. I'd also note that we didn't have machines - IV's were drip counted...LOL. We had glass IV bottles, gomco machines, metal bed pans etc.
Over the decades the roles of nurses has expaned both for the LPN/LVN and the RN.
When healthcare became a big money making machine something had to give and some bright bean counter said well we don't need 2 levels of nurses, and hence the LPN/LVN has slowly disapeared from the hospital replaced by CNA's.
For the last year after being out of nursing for quite sometime, I started working as a patient sitter in a large regional hospital...quite frankly I was appalled at the lack of basic pt care being given. The theory was the RN's would get fewer patients so they could do ALL the patient care...wrong...they are so rushed it's sad, they very rarely get to really spend time with the patient. So who's suffering - the patient. The interaction I had with patients - not just passing the meds, but feeding, bed baths, back rubs (yup on 2nd shift they all got 'em back then) patient education about their health issues - on and on, the patient got real bedside care and I loved it.
But I digress, the LPN/LVN will always have a place in nursing, maybe not in hospitals right now but there is room for us in many other areas. I would love to see a real national "ALL NURSES" organization for both the LPN/LVN and RN where we stand togeather.
The LPN/LVN needs to stand proud, we made it through a very intense year of school and passed the NCLEX, I pass the old state test pool exam - no computers for us and it took 2 days to sit for and we waited on snail mail for 8-10 weeks to find out if we passed and if we didn't we had to wait 6 months to take it again. Everyone in my class passed with flying colors too.
I HATE the fact that there seems to a need to have this division among nurses...I don't buy the fact that the general public even understands the difference between the LPN and RN....they care that they are getting cared for, nothing else....I truly think that the problem with rank is among us nurses....an ego thing, and it bums me out....I am pursuing my BSN for my own benefit, but in no way will having those initials behind my name make me a better nurse....I wish that we could simply lose the initials and be what we all are, nurses....just my two cents....
I'm almost 38 years old & until I applied to school for my LPN, I didn't understand the difference between RN & LPN either. It wasn't until talking with other nurses that I realized there was 'competition' so to speak, & it seemed this whole LPN, RN issue is mainly perpetuated by nurses. It's sad
It can signify alot about you and what it signifies is the reason hospitals have in most areas phased them out.
for someone who seems to pride themselves as a higher intellectual than us "LPN's", you really need to learn how to write more thoughtfully....this makes no sense and makes me chuckle, not with you....but at you.....:rotfl:
I don't feel it's safe to say "the only thing and RN has over (an LPN) is more money". I've met LPN's that were great and RN's that were not. And vice versa.
At a certain level of care, nursing requires more knowledge. Some of that is going to be book learnin', and some of it is that instinct one develops with experience. An LPN with an eager, inquisitive mind and a caring heart beats a smug PhD nurse anytime. But the choice is rarely that black and white. Usually, there's an RN vs LPN choice, and the thing that is going to show up in statistics the bean-counters can use is, how many RN's do we have? How many MSN's? And so on. LPN's are underappreciated by the people making decisions about the shape of healthcare in the future. The push for ever-higher degrees as an entry level for nursing is not good for bedside care.
Im starting an RPN program in September, and my friend is currently entering her 2nd year of a BScN program. I was talking to her yesterday and she was like "We always make fun of the RPNs on campus, so beware. We always joke around and whenever there is a patient to be toileted or a bed to be made we just yell for the RPNs to get it..." I'm like umm......oh joy. Is this what I get to go into?
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conroenurse
77 Posts
AND AMEN to THAT! "Hold yourself and your standards high, and YOU will be taken very seriously indeed :) "
but I have to add, 10 MONTHS!!!!!!!!
HECK, I had to go to 15 MONTHS.. (different state I am sure have different amounts), but I went to a college, not vocational school, and that may have made difference.