I’m considering becoming a nurse. By “nurse,” I mean I would like to work in a hospital, with patients, drawing blood, hanging IV’s, administering meds and generally tending to their needs. I’d also like to be hireable at a wide variety of places, perhaps including private doctors’ offices or university clinics.
In time, I’d be interested in getting a Masters Degree or a Nurse Practitioner license (so as to be able to be more autonomous), but I don’t want to think about that yet.
I can’t seem to figure out the pros and cons of a certificate vs an associate’s vs a bachelor’s. An LPN vs LVN vs RN vs an Idon’tknowwhat. How does this whole system work? What should I be doing to make myself employable in the least amount of time, but making a decent living (around $37-40,000 a year is what is considered decent starting salary where I live. A nurse friend of mine made $97,000 last year working two hospitals - but she’s hopeless at explaining all this to me. She simply said, “get your associates and let the hospital pay for the rest of your schooling.”)
I already have an AA degree, so I’m guessing at least some of those classes will be transferable to most programs.
Looking for this information on college websites is getting me a lot of “Study With US!” glurge and no real information on how the field as a whole is organized.
To summarize: LPN and LVN are the same thing, but different name. They typically require a two-year (associate’s) degree in nursing. They can pretty much do everything you want to do, under the supervisory of one or more RN’s.
RN, or registered nurse, is basically a nurse that has more schooling and/or more experience. They are allowed to make decisions about the healthcare of an individual or group of individuals.
An advanced practice nurse or nurse practitioner has a master’s in nursing and can again more more detailed and complex decisions about a patient’s care, and in some cases can diognose diseases and prescribe drugs.
I would say your best bet is to get an associate’s degree in nursing and get your LPN license. From the looks of it, you are going to need many hours of clinical work to get an RN license, so to waste time and money on a bachelor’s that mgiht not be needed at this poitn seems unnessesary, especialyl since many hospitals will help pay for additional education for their employees. In addition, after seeing the work different nurses do, you might decide you don’t want the responsibility of being an RN or NP.
Another thing to consider is where you want to work. Do you want to be an ER nurse? Medical floor nurse? OR, ICU, doctor’s office? I’m not all that familiar with what each department of a hospital might erquire, but I can see an ER being more likely to want an RN than a LPN, wheras a medical floor staff usually benefits more from having more LPNs.
IANAN (I’ve always wanted to type that) but I have enough friends in the profession that I can give a reasonably knowledgable answer.
LPN/LVN nurses have the lowest level of certification. They have to be supervised by a registered nurse. They don’t get paid especially well.
RN (diploma or AA degree) all the credentials needed to administer treatments (you can give drugs, but you can’t prescribe them, etc.) A lot of nurses who work in physicians’ offices have RN certificates.
Many hosptials won’t hire RN nurses anymore. They want nurses with at least a bachelor’s degree. I assume this is because nurses have to supervise other staff members, and a degree is necessary for that.
Yes, you can make $97,000 a year as a nurse, but as a temp nurse who shuttles among hospitals. I don’t know what the benefits include – nurses employed by a hospital are covered by the hospital’s malpractice insurance.
One of my friends is a nurse practitioner in obstetrics. She hated her NP jobs because the doctors were very wary of sharing any authority with her.
My mother spent nearly 30 years teaching in an RN program. From what I picked up around her, I can comment on the general views of the nursing profession, but not so much on the economic reality.
The nurses held in highest regard are RN with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Many state boards are looking at no longer accepting certificate RNs, and it’s getting harder and harder to find certificate RN programs worth the money. LPNs are still sometimes referred to as “Let’s Pretend Nurses”, which is ultimately damaging to the entire profession, but there is some hostility between the ranks.
Probably the largest obstacle facing nurses today is sharing power with doctors and other medical professions, as well as the overloaded nurse to patient ratio.
We need more good nurses out there. I encourage you to join the profession.