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| *Ostroff, Fair and Company>>>Health Care |
Attention Nurses!!? |
I am thinking of going to school to become a nurse, however, I'm not sure of which one. I don't know the difference between and RN or an LPN, so when I hear people say this, it means nothing to me lol. I was wondering if you know of a website that can give me some guidance and info about different types of nurses. Feel free to give me advice of your own. Thanks :) P.S. I definitely don't want to work with old people (no offense to anyone!), and I don't exacly want to work in a hopital either. Oh...and I love to travel, so if there is a way I can do that while being a nurse, then please let me know. Once again....Thanks. You said you dont want to work with older people. LPNs are usually used in retirement homes and offices, youll be hard pressed to find an LPN job in the hospital. Theryre very rare. I would recommend RN for you, theres tons of travel oppurtunities for RNS and there is more $$ to be made. If you can take the 2 years to go for your RN associates, I would definately go ahead. If you choose LPN, there are plenty of LPN RN bridge programs if you decide to further your education. Check out allnurses.com . Its a forum site for nurses of all kinds and there your more specific questions can be answered...:) Good Luck First, what makes you want to be a nurse? There are different types of nurses. LPN's work in a dependent role, meaning they are under the direction of an RN or doctor. They can do many things that the RN does, but the RN makes a lot more decisions and therefore has a lot more responsibility and usually makes quite a bit more than LPN's. Typically, LPN's work in doctor offices, nursing homes, hospitals, home health agencies, prisons, urgent care centers, and for insurance companies RN's can work in all of these and in public schools, nursing schools as educators, and also as independent legal nurse consultants, etc. There are so many choices a nurse has in his/her career. Typically travel nurses make a lot of money, but you work in a hospital, usually in specialty areas, you need at least 1 year experience as a nurse in those specialties, you need to be very flexible with your hours, and you have to be a very independent person. I hope this helps. RN Ok, here is the quick and easy differences RN - Registered Nurse : capable of assessment, aid in diagnosis, understanding of internal systems, allowed to pass IV meds along with doing any internal treatments, and is more geared for management or tasking down LPN - Licensed Practical Nurse : able to give oral medications, some are able to give shots, and depending on how far you go with education some can give some IV meds (though usually not narcotics). the scope of practice is much more limited for LPNs then RNs, and usually they are know as a caregiver or are usually working in Nursing Homes since the majority of places (like hospitals) do not use LPNs. This is not saying that the older LPNs are not great nurses, just saying you are limited. Just think of the L in LPN meaning Limited. As for travel, your best bet is getting your RN. You can hire with an agency and after you get your licenses you can work in many places. they have contracts everywhere. You could live in Oklahoma, but get a contact for Hawaii, California or anywhere. Normally they pay for the travel, they pay for your hotel, they pay for your food, and you make a nice wage on top of that. The only minus is you might get the bad shifts or the bad assignments at the hospital since if you havent heard it yet you will many times "Nurses eat their young" and "Nurses will stab you in the back if given the opportunity", and believe me as a contract or agency nurse, they have the opportunity. I am a RN, but I am going back to school to get out of this and pursue a career as a pharmacist Good Luck to you All the other answers are spot on, but I wanted to add that travel is always possible in nursing - if you're flexible to the kind of job you'll take. Most travel nursing jobs are hospital staff nurse positions - and you need to have at least 1-3 years of experience in a hospital or you can't get hired as a travel nurse. When I went into nursing school, I also knew early on I didn't want to work in a nursing home and didn't want to work with older adults. Clinicals in nursing school cemented those preferences for me. When I graduated, I wanted to go directly into labor & delivery, but they wouldn't hire me until I had some experience in general medical/surgical hospital nursing. So I got a job on a cardiac unit where I worked for a year (hating every moment of it, I might add), but then I went to L&D, and I tell you, the experience I gained in that year was WELL worth the suffering. When you're a nurse, you benefit from EVERY nursing experience, no matter how much you hate it. It will make you a better nurse. Just tell yourself that everything is temporary, a stepping stone to get you where you want to be. Good luck to you! RN |
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