I'm looking for just some general input. I'm a 32yo mother of three. I've been in the healthcare field for about ten years. I've been a CNA and now work as a medical assistant. I'm going back to school for my LPN but don't really have a desire to work in a nursing home when I graduate. I've been looking in my local want ads and that's all I seem to find for LPN's. I would like to go for my RN because I beleive it would allow more positions for me to choose from. I'd like to be in L&D, ER or anything surgical.
However, since I've been out of school for so long I'd spend a year doing pre-reqs before I could even start on my RN program. Which means I would be in school three years instead of one year FT for my LPN and then try and fastrack to RN. Which would really be hard for me and my children financially, unless I took out loans to cover my expenses during the year but be in more debt after three years.
I guess what I'm looking for is some suggestions. Anyone who's worked as an LPN for a few years then gone back for RN. Anyone who's just bit the bullet and gone for their RN.
Take it from me....DON'T DO THE LPN THING!!!! I have been trying to get started on the LPN to RN fast track for 5 years. The only way I am going to be able to go back to school is to quit work so that I can attend the classes. Maybe there is a different schedule where you live, but in my area they only offer nursing classes during the day--which is when I work. I am not able to work night shift since that is what shift my husband works and I have a child. I have checked into Excelsior--but it is just way too expensive for us. This is only my opinion--many people have done the fast track and worked around their school schedule-it is just not possible for me. I am afraid that I am going to be stuck as an LPN and taking the jobs that I can find. Like you, I do not want to work in a nursing home. I want to get back into the hospice field, but.....they don't hire LPN's in hospice here. Good luck in whatever you decide to do. I love being a nurse--just don't have as many options as a LPN.
I considered, in 1977, doing the LPN thing first, but I am so glad I just did the RN thing instead. Once out working, accumulating debt, etc. I would have never been able to go back and RN has opened so many financial and FUN doors over the past 25 years. I would sure rec. the ADN RN program for speed and opps. Bless you in whatever you do and Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Call the state board for LVN/LPN and find out if you can challenge. In california you can challenge if you have done certain requirements. Check the website in your state under requirements this was taken from the califonia website. Then you can work as an LVN while going for your RN.
"Equivalent Education and/or Experience.
This method requires you to complete within ten (10) years prior to the date of application not less than fifty-one (51) months of paid general duty bedside nursing experience in a general acute care facility approved by the Board, at least half of which shall have been within five (5) years prior to the date of application. In addition to this experience, you must also complete a pharmacology course of at least 54 theory hours that covers the following content:
Knowledge of commonly used drugs and their action
Computation of dosages
Preparation of medications
Principles of administration
The 51 months of experience shall include a minimum of each of the following:
48 months medical/surgical nursing
5 weeks maternity or genitourinary nursing
5 weeks pediatric nursing
Experience in any of the following areas may be substituted for a maximum of eight (8) months of medical/surgical experience:
Communicable Disease Nursing
Public Health Nursing
Industrial Nursing
Office Nursing (M.D.)
Psychiatric Nursing
Operating Room Nursing
Hemodialysis
Private Duty Nursing (In a general acute care facility)
I am a LVN in Texas, I chose to go the LVN to RN route since I was unable to start my nursing career until later in life and wasn't sure about the whole "going back to school" thing along with the financial part. Since graduating LVN school and passing boards, I have worked in critical care at my hospital. I have also been taking my pre-req's. I start my RN program this next year. It has worked very well for me.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!! whichever course you decide on.
Go for the RN in first. I'm in Fla and LPN"s get paid $9.50-12.50 at a general hospital, that is so sad. I went for my Rn and then went for my Bsn. I recommend the ADN program, you can get it done in about 13 months and it's worth it. IF you go to LPN school you'd have to go back to get your RN which really defeats your timing purpose. God bless and I wish you well!!
HI, I'm a mother of 5 when I decided to go school. I attended an LPN program first and finished school to get my R.N. I think personally it all depends on the stae that you live in. Here LPN'S make in between 22.00 to 30.00 an hour and they make it very possible to bridge which is an additional 8 mos of schooling to get your R.N. before you nake any decisions check your state requirements and what they offer first. For me it was a time issue, but it ended up being very feesable.
Well, I can tell you I wish I would have got on this forum and asked this question. I am an LPN, certified wound specialist and hyperbaric oxygen technologist. I am VERY LUCKY but I am still not happy. I feel that I have had road blocks everytime I turn around due to only having my LPN credentials. I am now going to find a way to go back to school. I want to do wound consulting and can only do so in the nursing homes. So many will still look at if you are an LPN or RN. I can say that whoever has ever worked with me knows I am a good nurse but when I sometimes meet people they assume the LPN is not as much as the RN education wise. I don't even know how some of the RN's I have worked with got their degree. I am afraid of the chemistry and algebra to go back to school. But I am going to do it. Good luck to you and your nursing career.
Girl that is putting it lightly... as an LPN for better than 13 yrs in Kentucky / Indiana I have only worked as a contract/agency Nurse & no matter where I have worked, or what area of Nursing it has been .. the RN's have ALWAYS looked down @ me.
I have been a sponge for years, and even went through & took a EMT then Paramedic program, and completed them, now I am a Senior RN student, and I have been smarter than most RN's I have worked with for many many years... and have proven so. it is sad that initials are what seems to make a person. Once I proved myself I have not had any problems... it is just the fact of having to go to such extremes to be accepted.
Oh, let me tell you what happened today! I do wound rounds for a facility as a LPN WCC. I have 13 doctors that have given me permission to write orders for them. Well, a NP wrote an order today that said, " Wound orders not to be changed by anyone but someone with a post graduate degree and class in wound care" Can you believe this. Well, the DON made a copy and is contacting the Dr. He even said he didn't want anyone else to do his wound orders but me. The nerve and it really hurts that just because my alphabet soup behind my name isn't what hers is. I am certified in wound care and she isn't! This is the same NP that debrided a lady at bedside with no pain management and then didn't even chart! AHHHHHHH!!! I feel so crazy right now.
I don't look down on the LPN's I work with I've said before I learned lots from them when I first started and I still do. There are some LPN's I'd rather have take care of me then some of the ding dong RN's but it goes both ways. Wish we could just put all the ding dongs together no matter what the letters were after the name.
I have seen people go to LPN school first with big plans to go back to school and they never do. So if you want more money and more responsibility Go RN.
here's a good one: one of my good friends a CST has decied she wants to be a RN. She contacted the local college to find out what she needs to do they tell her she has to retake the same A&P and Micro classes she had to take for tech school that she got A's in because she wasn't in the school of nursing when she took them...sounds like a crock from the school to get money told her to look to other schools because now she says she's not going to do it..they also say she has to take the SAT..she's 46 years old.
I had to do that. I took A&P and chem 101,110,200 at the university of Hawaii. The kicker is, I did not take the lab. Came here to Arkansas, had to take the classes over with a lab. It's funny I failed all my quizzes in chemistry because I slept in class.(I worked nights) Took the main tests and got 95's-100% because I would spend 2 days reviewing the material. What a WASTE of my time.
As an LPN your options are closed off somewhat you never get the respect you deserve... & in my experience most LPN's at times can run circles around some RN's. There are jobs in hospitals they aren't always in the newspaper though & NOT as prevelvent. You must take the initiative & apply anywhere & everywhere. I've been an LPN for 12+ years(in a hospital on a cardiovascular/ med/surg floor) & am attempting to get my RN presently in an independent study program NOT a comtemporary classroom setting. It is hard to find the time to balance husband, kids, dogs, & FT job~ but hopefully it will come together.
I am starting school next week to get my Algebra and Chemistry classes THEN do the ACCESS fast track in the summer for my RN. I am so impatient with all of this. Also I am scared to death to take the Algebra and Chemistry. I don't remember how to do any of it. Being 33 yrs. old and going back is so hard for me. I should have just got my RN from the get go. Anyone thinking of their LPN first don't do it. Cheryl
I have been a LPN for 23 years now. In the past 5 years I have worked two on the ambulance and three in the ER, where I am now. The RN's I work with show me great respect and have been very supportive with me going back to school. I feel very blessed.
With the way things are today, if you are going into nursing go for your RN. No matter if you are a RN or LPN you have to be a new nurse one way or the other. Eliminate the frustration and GO FOR IT. GOOD LUCK. It will be worth it.
Debra LPN
I think that it depends on the person if they want to go LPN or RN first. It seems the most logical for a person who enjoys the medical field, yet has little experience in it to maybe get the LPN first. This way they can save a little money and start in the field within a year. If they like it, they can go on to the RN. As for me, I haven't started school yet, but I plan on getting my LPN first, working in the field on the night shift, and maybe going to get my RN. Working the night shift might make it a little easier to go to RN from an LPN. It's all up to the person. Anything is possible, just have to figure out the solution.
I just have to say that in my area, there isnt even anywhere that offers LPN classes that i can find. Im more then happy to just spend the two years at the community college to get my RN though.
I recently quit my job as an LPN after 9 years. I am currently in school taking only a 5 credit Chemistry class which includes lab. I am waiting for a reply from 2 nursing programs for entrance into the LPN-RN mobility fast track program. I decided to go back to school for my RN because every new opportunity I attempted was closed to me because I was not an RN. I am 43 and its tough going back to school but I know it will be worth it when I am finished. Thanks for listening.
I am also an LVN, taking classes to become an RN. Hopefully, this is my last semester for my pre-requisites. I'm supposed to start my LVN-RN transition program in Sept. of this year. I,too, am tired of having little opportunities because of not being a RN already. I am 44, and taking classes again is not easy, but it does get better. Hang in there! and Good Luck!
This question will live through out time. But how can we help but ask and wonder. I too, am asking myself the same thing. How will we know if the path we take will be the best for us as individuals? We dont! So to approach this with intelligience, comman sense and considering time restraints and financial advantage/disadvantage as well as those in our lives at the time, (spouse, children,etc)and let us not forget the all important support system (emotional,physical,spiritually, etc)is the very best we can do. We can't live in fear of making the wrong decision or have guilt b/c we have choosen a level of nursing that does not suit our neighbor. I intend to base my decision on these factors from this point in my life and then proudly live/work my decision, knowing I have choosen the best for me.
I am in the same situation. I am 39, recently divorced and trying to make the right decision about the future. I have pretty much decided to go straight to RN because of the time restraints. Here is my question: Financially, what is the difference between going to LPN and then RN, or going straight to RN? I don't need exact numbers, I just want to know how some of you managed.
[ QUOTE ] kellyb said:
Here is my question: Financially, what is the difference between going to LPN and then RN, or going straight to RN? I don't need exact numbers, I just want to know how some of you managed.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's pretty simple. Here in the North East, a new graduate LPN can make $30-40,000 per year.
A new graduate registered nurse, can make $50-60,000 per year.
For every year you are an LPN, you're costing yourself up to $20,000 that you could be making.
Multiply that times the first five years that you're out of school and the Registered Nurse can potentially make $100,000 more in that first five years.
It will cost a little more to go for your RN in the first place and you'll spend a little more time in school but it saves you the hassle of going back to school later.
When all is said and done though, you do much better having the RN in the first place.
That's without going into the many career options that are available to RNs vs what's out there for LPNs.
Let's face it, nursing school is not pleasant, lots of people with the best intentions never get to go back to school. If you're going to go through the hell of nursing school, why do it twice?
MY QUESTION IS I HAVE A BACHELORS OF ARTS DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY AND CURRENTLY WORKING PART TIME ON MY MASTERS DEGREE. I WOULD LIKE TO GO TO NURSING SCHOOL TO BECOME ONLY A PSYCH NURSE. I AM UNABLE TO AFFORD THE TUTITION FOR THE BSN PROGRAM NOR THE RN PROGRAM. I FOUND OUT IF I GO TO LPN SCHOOL IT WILL BE QUICKER AND I WILL RECEIVE MY DEGREE IN 16 MONTHS FROM A UNIVERSITY AND NOT THE TECHNICAL SCHOOL.
BY DOING THIS I CAN WORK AS A PSYCH LPN AND ATTEND RN PROGRAM VIA INTERNET ONLINE UNIVERSITY. THIS WILL PAY FOR ME TO ATTEND RN SCHOOL. DO ANYONE THINK THIS IS A PARTICAL WAY OF DOING THINGS?
WILL I BE PAYED MORE THAN THE AVERAGE LPN BECAUSE I HAVE A BACHELORS DEGREE ALREADY?
First of all, if you're going to want an RN license eventually, why spend your time/money doing LPN first and going through nursing school twice? Find a hospital or nursing home that will pay your tuition bills and go straight for your RN. Work as a CNA while you're in school to get a feel for the work.
Many nurses fall into the same trap, thinking they'll go back for an RN later. Most never do and end up dissatisfied with what they make as an LPN and aggravated at the lack of career options, mobility.
I wouldn't count on getting an RN via the Internet. Very few of the programs offering these course are legitimate. I'd ask for a list of employers that have hired their graduates before I'd pay a dime in tuition to these places.
I don't think it is practical, sorry. And no, most places will not pay you more as an LPN because you have a bachelors.
Thanks for the advice! I will look in to some work assistance programs. Right now I am unemployed for 1 year because of my Lupus. I am look to start an RN program in the Spring of 2006. Tnanks again for the GOOD ADVICE.
I would not waste my time becoming a LPN. The money isn't worth it. A diploma or ADN would be a better start. A starting RN whether Diploma, ADN or BSN will start the same in most areas. The change in pay comes from the type of job you are able to apply for.
I started out as a Nursong Assistant then went to LPN school because the hospital that I worked at used LPN's in the same capacity as RN's ie: charting, meds, assigned a full pt load, etc. I then went back to school for RN (ADN) after about 4 years. I got to skip the first year of the 2 year program because I clepped the programs. Still thinking about my RN-BSN but the hospital I work at now doesn't seem to offer any incentive for higher degree. ADN is the quickest and you get the most practical education, but sometimes even ADN's are looked down on. At least where I'm at. Good luck at whatever you choose. I think we need more nurses that actually want to be nurses and not just looking at the money aspect.
I became an LPN, because I had 3 kids as a single parent. I never went back to school because working full time while going to school you have no time for the kids and they run amuck. My friend went back to school during the day and worked at night, she missed her son's whole childhood. By the time she was finished with school her son was 17 and hooked on drugs. She spent most the money she made on Rehabs and Drug programs and defaulted on her loans. I know she regrets it. LPN's can be trained as OR Scrub nurses and wound nurses. Whatever you do, put your responsability to your children first. Good luck & God Bless!
Hello, I just need alittle advice. I'm a police officer, I've been on the job 10years. When I was 19 I started college attempting to become a nurse which I got discouraged at the time because of counselors giving me the run around about classes and taking classes that didn't transfer. Well anyway, now I'm in college again determined to finish nursing but I was trying to decide if I should finish and go through the surgical tech program, which i'll finish summer '06, because there's a long wait list for the nursing program and I have all my prereqs I just need to take chemistry and pass the entrance exam.
I think that anyone wanting to be a nurse should enter a RN program.
I am a LPN. I always intended to go back to school. My plan was BSN and a Ph.d in Clinical Psychology.
My husband died and I raised my kids on my own. I could have gone back to school, I reckon, but I could not see a way at the time. My kids were two and two months old.
I have worked in rural Family Practice for ten years and I like that. A rural doctors' office can become an ER in a heartbeat. I have done a lot of things that I would never have done in a hospital or, God knows, long term care.
If I could be a RN tomorrow, I would work in an ER. Only thing I could tolerate. In the rural area where I live, I could probably do that as a LPN. You can learn a lot in rural areas.
I opted for LPN because the National Guard paid for it back in the eighties. Given a choice, I would have chosen RN because RN has many more opportunities for employment.
I loathe long term care. I have done it and I hate it.
I agree with the person who said that ding dongs are ding dongs. I have worked with RNs and LPNs and BSNs whom I have respected and I have worked with ding dongs. I have worked with ding dong doctors, too.
Go to school to be a RN. Much more opportunity. No questioning of your expertise. LPNs -- no matter what -- are considered inferior.
That may not be fair or warranted but that is the way it is.
If you have a family/children, they should come first. They need your attention, but they also need you to provide for them. And nursing is an excellent career for someone with a family because you can work any schedule around their needs. True, education = earning potential = less time at work for more money. And as far as respect, it goes: MSN, BSN, RN, LPN, anywhere you work, but WHO CARES? Sacrifice family for education/career? No! It's a balance. Do what's best for everyone at home. If you can figure a way to do it -- such as downsize, decrease your living expenses, whatever, do it. Working a job while you attend school is difficult. Do what you can with the situation you've got. Go to LPN school if you can only do 14 months. You'll still make a decent living and be able to take care of your family. If you don't have a family, or have a husband who can support you, and can swing 3 years for your RN (ASN), or 4 for your BSN, do it! Heck, go for your Masters! But take care of home first. That goes for all you nurses who are taking all that tempting overtime.
LPN's are NOT the same as RN's. LPN's in my RN program struggle with the critical thinking element of the program because they are trained to do tasks under the supervision of an RN. Anybody else agree??
I've been an LPN for 10 years now. I was initially in a RN program. I agree with most of the people who have posted. If I had to do it all over again, I definately would have finished to be an RN. As a Lpn in Kansas, I worked many different aspects, including 5 yrs at a hosp floating to all the different departments & had a lot of responsibility. I moved to California last year after getting divorced & it is horrible how they treat LVN's here & is difficult to find jobs that aren't glorified Med Aide positions. Again--we are ALWAYS considered lower class even if your IQ is higher than the RN that you're supposed to be reporting to. As far as critical thinking, I guess I am an exception in so far as NOT thinking that I am inferior, not feeling like I had to report to an RN necessarily. I learned how to take care of most situations on my own. I learned many aspects of the RN role & had RN 's coming to me for answers lots of times. NOT saying I am incredi nurse by any means..FAAAR from it!....however, I believe it's like one nurse wrote: some are ding dongs & always will be. It's all what you put into your practice that counts.
I have 2 kids-got pregnant my first semester back into school...but knowing what I know now..i should've 'bit the bullet' for that ONE final year!
[ QUOTE ] spongebathbob said:
LPN's in my RN program struggle with the critical thinking element of the program because they are trained to do tasks under the supervision of an RN. Anybody else agree??
[/ QUOTE ]
I TOTALLY DISAGREE.
How can you stereotype an LPN as having difficulty with Critical Thinking because they are an LPN, regardless of their training?
I know a TON of RN's who also have difficulty performing menial nursing tasks. I often have wondered how some of them ever made it out of school. I certainly would not categorize all RN's as having this same problem because some do.
The ability to think critically is not derived from a year or two of school.
If one entered nursing school of ANY kind, without this ability, it would be very hard for that person to be successful in that program. They certainly aren't going to gain the ability to think critically in nursing school if they don't already posses it.
I have to agree with Shortbus. We have some LPN's that have great problem solving skills and work well with the "PROCESS" of nursing, not just the task of nursing. I also know a few LPN's that would work well in leadership positions.
