Retired in 2015. Worked as LPN for 40+ years. Spent many years working LTC. Loved my residents. What a demanding job. Had anywhere form 30 to 60 residents. It's about the facility making money. More than one RN coworker has told me, " if I'm ever sick in the hospital, I would thank God if you were my nurse.". Looking back on all the various jobs I had, I recommend working in Private Duty as you only have one patient. Least amount of stress. When my daughters told me they wanted to go to LPN school I told them absolutely not. They both became BSN's. I had trouble with algebra and was unable to complete my RN. in a nutshell LPN's get very little respect but do 95 percent of what an RN does. An Rn (who did not know I was an LPN) told me with a sneer on her face; "LPN's are just cheap nurses.". If I had to do it all over again I would have went back to school (got a tutor) and become a speech therapist. Patricia you look like a young women. I hope you can go back to school and get out of nursing and into a job with great pay and respect.❤
Glad to see someone addressing the unsafe LTC ratios. As an LPN, I feel like we don’t have enough options in nursing and working in nursing homes is pure misery. I have seen so much neglect and management doesn’t give us what we need to succeed. We don’t have the resources or staff to care for these individuals.
LPN for 34 years with 25 yrs Hospital experience, I taught Medical Assistants worked in physicians offices, clinics etc. I have ALWAYS been able to do what I wanted to do. I floated to all areas of the hospitals I worked on . Currently I am a Unit Manager in a Rehab facility and have several RNS as my staff. My experience gives me a firm full and varying clinical skills. Never under estimate an LPN
Lousiana LPN 9 years - Its a shame becouse I LOVE working with the elderly in nursing homes. At the beginning of my career it was wonderful going to work and literally feeling like I was visiting my grandparents. But, over time higher acuity level for patients ( mixture of dementia, extensive wound care , comorbities , charting guidelines all at once ) along with higher ratios and staffing shortages drove me from long term care. Suddenly, staffing went from manageable 8 hour shifts to 12 - 16 hours to even 20 if someone called in sick ! Even with working 12 hour shifts you would still be called via weekly schdule meaning some weeks you had 1 day to rest and spend with family. * On a side note if we want to phase out LPNs. Bring back hospital based diploma RN programs that my grandmother did during WW2. Not everyone is willing to spend money on unnecessary courses for a degree that at the end of the day has always been technically based and feild learned. Not everyone wants to be in management and needs courses that doesn't directly attribute to floor nursing.
I was insulted once early in my career, I was called a ( little play nurse). 20 years later. I am spoken to with respect and my judgment is trusted. Sometimes I don't like being a nurse, but I'll always love it ! Safety is and will always be the first priority. Protect yourself. You are valuable.
It makes me so mad when LPN's don't get the respect they deserve. I am a registered nurse but I worked my way up starting as a CNA, then LPN. I can tell you LPN school was way harder than RN school. LPN's are nurses too.
When I was a student in 1990 for my degree in accounting....we were taught hospitals were non profits. Things have shifted dramatically in 32 years. Money over lives is pretty much the root of this industry collapsing
As a black RN, RACISM IS REAL!!!! I had a BSN from a majority white university. I was told that I had a “better education “ than my fellow nurses who went to a black (HBCU). Also, it was harder to get a promotions.
LVN here. Started at LTC. Loathed it. I was very blessed to land a position as a non-chemo infusion nurse for a cancer and blood disorder center. I absolutely love it. Now, I’m in the first semester of LVN to RN school. I remember the resident to nurse ratio and only having 1 CNA….absolutely draining. I decided that if I wanted to continue nursing, I had to leave.
In my state GA, most LPNS work in LTC or home health. Also, a LPN taught me how to DO my job. I think it’s wrong to treat LPNS like this. People become LPNS because it’s quicker and cheaper. It can take 4yrs to get an ADN. And 4-6 yrs to get a BSN.
Just want to say that I was an LPN for the first 3.5 yrs of my career, it took me 8 months to find a job that would hire me, all other interviews I had in clinics didn’t hire me, I tried to stay away from LTC but they were the only ones to hire me as a new grad. I totally understand how hard/scary it is to take care of 30-40 ppl and you are ALWAYS at risk and it’s so sad. Not everyone was in the position I was in to go back to school to get my RN and further, we literally learn about biases and empathy in every level of nursing school, some ppl don’t have a choice but to work in LTC. I empathize and sympathize 💯. End rant.
I not only worked with some fabulous LPN’s but I also taught at a vocational LPN school. There are some really great LPNs out there who could pass a masters degree program but can’t because of finances, personal situations or lack of support resources. If you are able to get the education you should consider yourself blessed.
I've been an LPN for 37 years. 20 of those years are in private duty. I'll never work in a facility again. I have one patient and make very close to RN pay.
Several years ago, I spent some time as a charge nurse on a high acuity, MedSurg unit. The LPNs on that unit were worth their weight in gold. In fact, I would negotiate with our sister unit to trade some of the RNs in exchange for the LPNs. Thank you, Liz, for finally giving these great colleagues of ours some long over due recognition. Also, thanks for pointing out how ridiculous nursing’s “alphabet soup” is. ☺️
I worked in Long Term Care for over 8 yrs as a CNA and I worked the Night shift. We had one LVN or RN and three CNAs and we were responsible for so much and what made the job even tougher was having to get up fully dependent residents making sure they were clean and shaven and were in clean clothes. Then when AM shift would come in they would complain that we didn't do this or that. Or they would want us to work doubles which are not fun and endanger the residents we care for. And management was oblivious to our comments and suggestions.
Hello, another CNA here. A place I worked at a few years ago got in trouble with State for getting people up before 6am, So glad because I always thought it was the hardest part of the shift. to get people up when you are the most tired!.
In my facility the morning shift nurse aides get the residents up for the day. Night shift is only in charge of making sure everyone is clean and dry before the morning shift comes in.
I am a cancer patient currently receiving home care as I recover from COVID. The LPN’s on my careteam are lovely! The LPN who saw me Friday remembered to check my oxygen sats after I ambulated & did exercises. Her personality was wonderful and I can’t wait to see her again.
I’m an LVN (Texas) and I went to school at 62! So if I’d have been younger I’d probably have gone for RN. My second day as a nurse I was on my own with 25 pts. at a LTC. At one point they gave me 50 pts. I told my boss don’t ever do that again to me. I went to memory care which I loved and started with 27 pts. Over several months we went to 37 pts. It was so stressful as the only nurse on my shift! We don’t have a lot of options.
Yes, I am an LPN in IL (became an LPN in my 40s a little less than a year ago after 12 years working as a CNA), and work at a facility where i am responsible for a memory care unit of 20 patients as well as an assisted living unit of 40 patients all at the same time! And most of the assisted living residents have some degree of dementia, some frequent falls, as well as several people on the memory care unit being more appropriate for long-term care due to multiple health and mobility issues. Lots of falls, wound care, and aggressive/unsafe behavior by residents on the memory care unit. It seems criminal that there can't be a nurse assigned solely to memory care and another to the assisted living. Somehow the corporate office thinks one nurse can supervise, pass meds, and provide nursing care to all of these residentswhile simultaneously supervising and educating the CNAs, contacting doctors, pharmacies, families, doing admissions (with all the documentation that comes along with that)! Yes, I agree that it seems we don't have a lot of options for safer employment..
As I get older I tell lpns don't let old age reach you and you're doing back breaking work. I'm doing my rn this year or next. I am happy of the out patient options. I just wish I did it about 5 years ago. So upsetting.
Nurses take jobs thinking it will be interesting, fulfilling and a stable paycheck. Too late they discover it is unsafe for patients and nurses. Then they convince themselves they can handle it. (And they still need a paycheck) Then they burn out and change jobs. An LPN since 1985. A RN since 1999. Retired now and I miss patients but I'm working on getting over it, and finding inner calm.
@@TheDowntown02 Really? Where I worked (Michigan) as an LPN I had to do all admissions on my unit, including the MDS assessments (DON would co-sign) and intake interviews, develop care plans, review labs, assess all new symptoms and injuries, give vent care and resp treatments, do wound care, decide if a pt needed emergency x-rays and ordered them, made rounds with the doctors, I took phone orders, supervised the NLAP, did the performance evals, did "write-ups" when I had to, gave performance commendations when I saw something that deserved them, notified families of any matters that mattered, and passed meds. And charted. The only thing the doctor wouldn't back us up on was shipping the patient to ED without an order. I worked a MN shift once. I followed an other LPN whom I didn't know. She was from an agency. She told me that she had had to insert an NG tube in a patient who had been losing weight. She gave him a bolus feeding of 240ml. OK. I went to make rounds and found the man diaphoretic and dyspneic and very congested. I couldn't verify correct NGT placement. I called the doc and told the NLP to get him ready to go to ED. The doctor (not the dreaded Dr U) had already gone to sleep, but I had his wife wake him and I told him that the nurse had inserted the NGT and given the bolus and that the man was febrile, and I gave his VS (hypotensive, tachy, tachypneic.) The sleepy doc said, "Umm. OK. Go ahead and force fluids and..." I said, "Excuse me, but he had a NEW NGT inserted. I am not comfortable with placement. He was already bolused, and that I didn't think giving him fluids would help this situation. I repeated the vital signs. He said, "Oh . OK. What kind of antibiotics do you have in the night box?" I said, "Dr. M, I think I'm going to call the family for an OK to send him to ED." The Dr. said, "Do you really think it's that serious?" I repeated the vital signs. He said, "OH! I didn't catch that the first 2 times you said it. Send him!"
@@heidievans6336 Thank you. Having worked as an LPN, your RN should come easily. I breezed through it. I used to encourage all of the LPNs to go for the RN. I remember one LPN asked me, "What if I do all of that schooling and fail my NCLEX?" I said the truth. The NCLEX is to assess if you are safe to render patient care. If you aren't safe enough to be an RN I wouldn't trust you as an LPN. As you are a good LPN you will pass. We were working above our pay grade, but I learned an awful lot and I really believe I was a better nurse for taking the long way to the RN. LPNs make great RNs. Good luck!
@@stephenszucs8439 This is very encouraging to me as an LPN thinking about pursuing RN-- thank you! But why do you say "i USED TO" encourage LPNs to go on to RN? Is it because of the generally unsafe working conditions in nursing at all "levels"?
@@heidih3048 No, because I am disabled and don't work with them anymore. Do go for it. There are still rewards in nursing. It is hard, but keep your safety and the patients' safety the priority. I have been there when a person takes that first breath and when others have taken the last. I have seen a death crush and destroy a family and I have seen people die completely alone except for the nurses. I remember one vent patient, a young man with end stage liver disease struggling against wrist restraints to get the ET out. The family was unable to make a code determination and the intensivist was blind to the patient's obvious desire since the ET made it impossible for him to talk. I finally convinced the MDs to take it to the ethics committee, but the family was in turmoil. I remember offering SW and Pastoral care, but they didn't want SW and while they each, individually wanted a pastor or priest, they were a mixed-faith family and neither side wanted a clergy member from the "other side." I got them a Baptist preacher (neither side was Baptist) I knew to be very gentle and kind. He came. They calmed. The vent was removed. The preacher sat by the bedside for hours until the patient passed peacefully. That's the thing about nursing. These people trust us. They let us into their most private and poignant moments. That is painful at times, but it is priceless.
One not brought up enough in my opinion is Sexual assault and sexual harassment by patients. I was sexually assaulted at a LTC facility. The men known for it were also present mentally and when I brought it up to my boss her response simply was “that’s what you get paid for” I talked to some other CNAs and nurses and everyone had a similar story. After that I left so fast. Facilities should protect their workers and remove problematic patients especially if every female nurse/Cna has a similar story. I’m sick of the “ they are just old men” excuse as well. They are mentally there HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE (LPN I appreciate the representation and opening this hugely ignored conversation)
omg I'm so glad that you brought this up. My patients were All men! literally 3 of them were sexually inappropriate. I called a meeting with my superiors with my concerns, all I got was nervous laughter and was told that it was their " right". No support at all. this was one of the reasons that I left my job of 17 years.
You can report them to the police. I did that even tho the owner of the nursing home said I couldn't. He was an alcoholic and knew what he was doing All I could think of was WHAT IF IT WAS A YOUNG GIRL WHO WENT THRU WHAT I DID.....I was 50 and weighed 145. Some of our Young aides barely weighed 98 lbs soaking wet. The facility had to implement a MALE CAREGIVER ONLY. for that resident. It was also noted that there was an ongoing issue with his POA bringing him alcoholic into the facility.
When you refuse to hold people accountable for the actions they knowingly commit, you dehumanize them. It isn't a kindness to the patient or the abused staff to ignore this.
I worked with a nurse that was from Ghana. During one of his yearly evaluations our manager told him he needed to improve how he did education with patients. When he asked what she meant she said that it could be hard for patients to understand him and he might want to work to improve his english. The main language of Ghana IS english. She had just assumed because he had an accent English had to be his second language. She even gave him a pamphlet for a local ESL to “help” him.
Patients may have complained that they couldn't understand what he was saying due to his accent-- which can be a real problem for some. But the supervisor recommending ESL classes was definitely ignorant.
English is just the "official" language of Ghana-- it is not many citizens' "first" language there, though, according to my co-worker from Ghana. There are several regional indigenous languages widely spoken in Ghana actually.
With the N95 mask, I can't understand myself. Of course patients and staff have a hard time hearing him behind a mask. The supervisor should have to take a sensitivity training.
In Philadelphia, many LTC/SNF's serve as homeless shelters, detox centers, and insane asylums now. 90 y/o's room mates with 20 year old's who were just released from prison with nowhere else to go. LTC isn't just for the elderly anymore. Working in SNF's was THE most stressful, horrible situation to be in as a nurse. It made me almost want to give up nursing altogether, because I was overworked, and pushed pills all damn day. They'd say "Here comes the pill girl". I had no real time to spend on bonding and caring for patients. It was all about dealing those meds out, and completing the charting. They didn't allow tasks such as vitals and accu checks to be delegated. So I had to get vitals on 35 patients, glucose checks on 9 of them before every meal, 9 wounds for care, trach care for 4, 4 peg tubes, 3 fall risks.... patients constantly approaching the med cart for cough syrup as I passed meds, physical therapists constantly disturbing me. They'll keep doing the bs as long as people accept it. Some people grow bitter from it....I almost did that's why I left, I had to remember why I became a nurse, and moved on to a better position, far, far, far away from that LTC/SNF bulls#:+.
Yes 👏🏾 I hate wen people ask me why don’t I go back to school to get my RN I see what healthcare has to offer and I’m not sure if I want to go back to pursue a higher degree in a broken system/put myself in more debt. I rather go get my CDL’s.
People said this to me all the time while I was a single parent, homeschooling my three special needs kids with no help in any way (working weekends doubles) and struggling with fibromyalgia, depression and anxiety. My favorite was a pastor's wife who didn't work and said, "Have you ever thought about going back to school to finish your degree? I wish I could give you my degree since I don't use it. I really just went to college to prove that I could."
I also think we should acknowledge some folks have to work in LTACs or similar because they live in a rural area where the jobs may not be plentiful. I’m in Chicago so I can do whatever but it’s a major city. In other areas of Illinois, that will not be the case.
Liz absolutely hit the nail on the head with this video. I worked at a pharmaceutical company that sold the company right under our feet. I was out of work and needed a job, fast, so I decided to finally do what I had been wanting to do, go back to school for nursing. Only I did not have the luxury to go through with pre-reqs and a two year nursing program. I wanted to become an RN but I did not have the time or the money it took to do so. My LPN program started at a perfect time for me and it was only 16 months. On top of everything, my mother was battling breast cancer and not only was I providing solely for myself, I had to provide for my mom as well... all while unemployed. Once I graduated, I quickly filled out hundreds of applications and took one of the first job offers I received. I really could not afford to be 'picky' and wait for better offers to come. I started at an assisted living as a brand new LPN grad. I initially came into a 15 bed setting and in a matter of MONTHS I found myself in a 34 : 1 ratio because the facility kept pushing for more beds to be filled. I was under extreme stress as a new nurse with that many patients then the 'second wave' of covid hit and brought complete HELL along with it. There were times it s was just myself and one caregiver and I was expected to continue my job AND the caregivers job. I became so overwhelmed after my complaints fell on death ears, I found another job at a hospital. I'm really enjoying my time at the hospital, learned a lot in such a short amount of time but the pay is appalling. I do EVERYTHING RN's do with the exception of IV Pushes and hanging blood. Definitely going to get my degree because I feel like I am doing myself a disservice if I don't but, we as LPN's definitely get the the short end of the stick.
I am a BSN/RN. Reasons for working LTC/Rehab facilities... The schedules are a lot more flexible. This is good because I am a single mom. The continuity of care. I know my patients and their families. They are not just a blip on the radar. Finally, the pay is better than the hospitals.
I'm a BSN RN as well and I've always preferred LTC to acute care... It's less stressful and more laid back in my opinion. The patient acuity is lower and you actually get to know your patients and their family. Also LPN s were limited where they can work. There were really only 4 options that you can make a liveable wage Hospice home health and Corrections.
I ve been told many times that an LPN isn't a real nurse, even my in-laws said this to me when I met them. Of course I felt degraded and not a nessary part of the nursing profession.
The squabbles come from educational hierarchy. Nursing started out as a female dominant practice. To be considered professional and to command respect for what women did formal education became the standard for professional nursing vs. On the job training. In an attempt to keep education and professional mobility only available to the major social class (whites) white men constructed ways to continue social and economic control even in Healthcare. So through this hierarchy cna's are "butt wipers ", LPN's are " little play nurses" and the BSN is the "golden ticket." Fed this lie and full on the bs, we continue to argue and the administration gets paid, and the "little women" get to play professional. We gotta do better.
Well said. In Canada is worse. I know that the scope of practice of LPN ‘s is a bit more limited in the US. Here in Canada RPN/LPN do virtually everything an RN does in terms of assessment, teaching, etc. and we get paid insanely lower (aprox. 50% or more less). When I was doing my clinical there were RN students on the unit as well and they were speechless. We did exactly everything and yet we are considered “less educated” or “less capable” It’s ridiculous
Before I completed my RN I got a job in a small hospital. I used to go down the hall to ICU to help the night RNs turn patients. While I was there the nurses would teach me how to read the monitors, and I was very curious, so they started teaching me everything that was special in ICU. When an RN position in ICU opened up the DON asked me to apply. I was still an LPN, but she said the ICU staff wanted me because I already knew the basics. So I went to critical care classes and went to work in ICU. I was admitting a middle-aged man one day. I attached the monitor, set up the IV pumps, hooked up the sensors and special equipment he needed, and was adjusting the alarms on the machines when he noticed the "LPN" on my ID badge. He said, "Do they let you work with all this equipment?" I said, "No. They make me."
Where do you get your information from? I've never in all my years of nursing ever been called "little play nurse". I did have an RN who couldn't keep up, even though she'd been oriented and had me shadowing her for two weeks, tell me that she thought LPN meant "low paid nurse".. I said really? So I guess RN really means "real nutjob" right? She didn't come back after lunch and my administrator thanked me.
I have worked as an LPN for 22 years now in skilled nursing facilities. I had a full scholarship for the LPN program and was starting out my family back then so didn't have time or money to go for my RN. Yes, the staffing ratios are horrible in nursing facilities but I actually prefer working there then in the hospital, I know my residents, my administrators and nursing directors work with me. If I get overwhelmed I call them and they get extra help for me. They are flexible with my schedule, and get extra benefits. I won't work in a facility that won't get me help if I need it or if I feel the residents are not getting the care they need. Those of us Nurses who work in nursing homes have to be advocates for our residents and call our DON'S and administrators and demand we get extra help if a situation arises. If they won't help then that is not a safe facility to work for.
I really appreciate the in-depth about what LPN/LVNs are. I’ve heard of them before but I’ve never really understood their role in the health care hierarchy. I appreciate the respect you show for them. Perhaps (I know it’s hard to find ppl to collaborate with) it would be helpful when speaking on issues like this to have an LPN guest in the video to directly give their perspective. I’m currently a accelerated BSN student and i’ve been very fortunate to have my parents bankroll my first & now my 2nd undergraduate degree (not that it makes nursing school easy, but it definitely makes it easier). If I didn’t have parent financial support I don’t know what healthcare degree I would be pursuing currently or if I would be pursuing anything at all or still working full time.
Man I have so much to say about all this. Where do I start, first things first, I became an LPN after having a degree in medical science at 21 because I wanted to be a Dr but situations and my mom kicking me out provided me no support to keep going to school and I had to choose something fast to survive so then I became a CNA and then from there an LPN. 😞.. but then I was judged by this one RN so terribly saying she’d rather die then be JUST an LPN not even knowing my situation or anyone else’s for that fact smh. So please think before you guys judge someone, you never know what fight someone is fighting in life. Then I left long term cause sometimes I’d have 45 residents when the 3rd nurse called out and we’re never done working but then we’re not allowed to stay on the clock while doing the extra charting I was making 26/hr at that time… then I went to correctional which usually pays more but if you work for a 3rd party instead of the facility itself you make less. Then I did home care which was wayyyyyyyyyy better “phew 😅” I felt like I was able to breathe better and I was making 28 to 33 but if you’re Trach or something else certified then you can make about 35… but then I left and now do agency/travel and make 40 to 80/hr still as LPN… but I’m seeing that even the older LPNs judge the young ones and it’s like SHUT UPPP just help where you can if needed and stop asking where I went to school how old am I how much experience do I have blah blah and that I should know thi and that BS.. if I don’t … BELIEVE MEEEE I have no shame and I will ask your old butt for help… here now you have it.. lol anyway, LPNs please note that you have sooooo many options… just find your forte and make it work love.. mine is definitely home care. I love it. I also saw an LPN today who is a teacher/ school nurse/educator/ utilization nurse working at home.. plus more. Sorry got long winded but you got this❤ 😘
While I was in NP school, I needed a low stress job while I went through school & I was a night shifter. I worked at 2 LTC facilities (TN & TX). As a RN, they wanted/needed a RN supervisor on every shift which most LTC’s have 3 shifts. Since I was a Night shifter, They loved me. As the house RN supervisor, I was over the WHOLE facility which included ALL staff & patients in the building. Now mind you, it was the grace of God that nothing went down but the practices I saw & were exposed to made me NEVER want to work in LTC or iSNP. The physicians dumped on the NP’s & PA’s & would never show up to see patients. It was literally known that some physicians would never answer the phone and/or return your call. I will say this, LPN’s & CNA’s are gems. They normally had a horrible number of patients while I was responsible for alot of the charting, admin work, & invasive procedures. I did have a load of patients as well but no where near their load plus I was a weekend night shifter.
omg I can only image what you saw. I feel like I would be SO sad working in that environment because its just NOT right how people are treated and the stress the employees must be under is insane.
I operate in a broken system. I went to the police station in town to ask them to arrest me, because I know I was unable to do for all those patients, what I was made to chart. I carried Over 40 patients, with only 1 CNA. Over 12 VERY OVERWEIGHT patients. Many falls, many medical emergencies, IVs, wounds....crazy times. The police told me to go home and get sleep, I was obviously not the problem. Nurse for 30 years. Love being a nurse. I see racial Inequity when my white employees get to smirk and leave without doing vitals or bed changes, but the agency nurses from "The city" are more diligent and conscientious about their work, as they're blamed for everything. We just need more people. I love the elderly. I know I'm needed. I pray for a generous heart.
People sometimes become a CNA or LPN first because they can start working in healthcare and get their future degrees paid for. Most healthcare employees have education benefits like tuition reimbursement and will work around your school schedule. If you work in healthcare and eventually want to become an RN or APRN, becoming a CNA or LPN is a way to do it debt free.
Exactly. I also did CLEP and ACTII tests to get all the liberal arts credits. When I went for my RN I all I needed was core nursing classes, clinicals, and labs. I saved thousands.
I currently work for a SNF… the pay is above wayyyy above the median average… I work the “rehab” hall but it’s still terribly managed.. I’m working to obtain my RN and eventually my NP… no one should stay in these places… it’s horrible but I pray daily and chart nonstop
I’m glad you speak out on behalf of nurses, the corruption is just endless. These topics make me feel ill and not want to go looking for a new job. I feel so used and violated, bullied, and just way let down.
Liz does a great job of talking about the darkness in nursing and normalizing it so us caretakers don't feel bad. I haven't been in nursing very long but I do know what you mean as I have been a patient many times (I've had 16 surgeries and need 6 more as a result of having a car hit me, cancer, and endometriosis) as well as a case manager in a mental health facility and a tech in a drug treatment facility...seen my fairshare of back stabbing, corruption, etc. in healthcare facilities. I am so sorry you are feeling less than positive about nursing. I hope you find a job you enjoy and an outlet to vent!!
Why I became a LPN? I joined the Army and my recruiter chose my job. I didn’t grow up wanting to be a nurse. I did, however, ended up loving it. I did my 4 years in the Army and got out in 2006 and have been LPN since. When I first left the Army there were many jobs to choose from. I worked on a Med/Surg floor and while working there they decided that LPN needed to become RNs or lose their job. By that point I started to work on getting my RN. The program wanted tons of prerequisites. Once I finished those I had to compete against others that wanted in. Then they tacked in more prerequisites. Then I decided I would be a clinic LPN. I ended up working in Occupational health and the care management and had no need to become an RN until recently. I got married, had kids, and by the time I wanted to go back to work nowhere but nursing homes were hiring LPNs! I tried getting a job at a clinic and they started to only hire MAs! So I ended up in a LTC taking care of 30-60 residents depending on what shift I worked. When things started to become dangerous I left and found a job in Medicaid care management helping the RNs. Then they decided they no longer wanted to pay LPNs for an LPN position and I could keep my job but with a 10k a year pay cut and a job name change to care coordinator. By this time I finally decided if I wanted to stay in nursing I needed to become an RN. So now after 17 years of being an LPN I am graduating to RN in May! This is not what I wanted to do but I do know that I still want to be a nurse and the only way I could pick a specially is by becoming am RN. If I could have kept my job a an LPN safely, without risking my license, I would have never went back to school for RN. Also, if the patient/nurse ratio in the LTC facilities were better I would work there forever because geriatrics is where my heart is. So now, once I graduate, I will become a hospice nurse and foot care nurse.😁
I am a registered care aide I worked in BC Canada. I worked in this system for 20 year's when I first started I worked in mission hospital for my practicum. I made a decision then home care is what I would chose because I refused to be payed to abuse anyone for a paycheck you couldnot pay me to go back. I loved the work however many issues in this field travel time issues and a whole lot more...
Some places have big differences in practice of LPN vs RN, like LPNs where I've worked can't do IVs unless IV certified, can't do initial Neuro assessment, can't give any IV push meds, can't give the first round of any antibiotics, and can't give blood of course. However that effects very little in most LTC settings.
40 patients has pretty standard from what I have seen. I have worked on several nursing homes myself. I have also worked as a regulator doing inspections in long term care facilities and have seen this as pretty standard. CMS has no specific minimum staffing ratio. The regulation for nursing staff requires enough staff with the required skills to provide the care the residents need. This unfortunately leaves it very subjective and every field office has different standards that they apply when evaluating this. And surveyors are often not allowed to cite the facility for staffing if there are no specific care related citations on the same survey.
Also, in long term care you build relationships with your patients. You know these people for years. Some people are not able to just up and leave them behind because management or the hedge fund controlling the money make an unsafe environment.
Hi! I recently found your channel, thank you for SPEAKING UP and for acknowledging the experiences of minority black/brown nurses in the American healthcare system. Keep up the good work and please keep sharing the stores that need to be heard.
Some nurse are manipulated into taking a lot of patients. For example; arrived to work, received report for 22 patients, did count and took keys. Moments later we (other lpn’s) were told we where splitting up an assignment d/t call out. This adjustment took me to 32 patients, this also means I am now monitoring patients on another hall and I’m sharing a cart with narcotics on it with 2 other nurse😳 this went on for a week. We found out there wasn’t a call out but a manipulative DON that put a nurse that had quit weeks prior on the schedule… Yes, we called the nurse to find out when she was planning to return to work. She had no idea what we were talking about as she already had another job and been working there for a few weeks…..given this information, what are my options? I’ve worked in a hospital on a med/surg unit, 6 patients per nurse, however the pay was horrible ($14/hr) moved to 2nd shift for the $3 shift diff for a grand total of $17/hr.
@Asher1028 I’m not comfortable working in peds….Ped clinical was difficult for me the tikes are so fragile… but I am looking into home health(wound care).
Wow. Thats a huge difference. I can totally see why you would take the latter because thats such a better opportunity. What was your experience like working there?
Yep same but I only made 16.50 at LTC. It was still better than the 11.75 I was offered in a doctors office. I did eventually switch to an office and when I quit working 3 years ago I was still only making a little over 15$. My nephew graduated high school and got a job in a fast food restaurant making the same as me… I’ve decided to not return to nursing. Also when I worked in LTC the average amount of patients I had on day shift was 32. On nights I would have 32 until after first med pass then the other nurse would leave and I would have 64 until morning. It was hell and I cried all the time.
@@patriciagiles5833 Wages have dropped since the late 1990s. I started in 1997 in Hospital HR at $20.00 per hour and today that same entry level position is $15.00 per hour, take it or leave it.
This has been a real stereotype for years. It is all in how you look at it. I have been an LPN for 19 yrs and have a BA in Business Administration and an MBA. You have to give yourself options. I can work in any arena. I have worked in all aspects of nursing. ICU, CVICU, LTC Home Health and even teaching. I have even received some backlash when other nurses see my resume. It is funny because in LTC you can try to apply for a job in management and people get threatened. I have had snarky undercut comments made. But that is their insecurity and problems, not mine. When you give yourself choices and options, it makes a BIG difference. BTW Ive been in the healthcare field for 30 yrs. LOL (I was a CNA )
There are mandated minimums for nursing staff in LTC, the issue is that most LTC facilities have turned into rehab facilities, and also the acuity of care has changed over the years, but the staffing ratios have not. The typical NH residents 25 years ago are now in assisted living. I worked LTC and I loved my residents, I loved the work. I was happy being an LPN, but did deal with some people looking down their nose at me because I was only an LPN. Nurses eat their young, and also pick on anyone they see as lesser than themselves.
Some benefits of long term care include establishing relationships with your clients, meeting really interesting people and attempting to promote wellness rather than simply treating illness. There is and will continue to be huge service need treating older and impaired individuals, and we need payments to reflect the actual amount of time needed to care for these individuals
I am an LPN and I love it. I hated working in the LTC and ALF as a student. I took a few extra courses and worked hard to win a position working as a dialysis nurse in the ICU. I out earn a few of my RN counterparts who work on the med-surg floor. I'll argue that I am the exception rather than the rule as most of my classmates ended up in the nursing homes. I cringe at the thought of having 20+ patients at a time. That's just a mess waiting to happen.
" I out earn a few RN's" " I am the exception to the rule because my classmates are in nursing homes " This attitude is what's wrong with the state of nursing today.😒🙄
Her choice or lack thereof to take an unsafe job is irrelevant. It doesn’t negate the abhorrent practice that’s normalized in LTCFs to have extreme patient to nurse ratios. This practice just should not allow to be…
oh it definitely doesn't justify the fact that the conditions are so horrific. Just explaining WHY she may work in a place like this. That was so obviously unsafe. Because everyone was saying "just don't work there" as if that is an option that is available to everyone
I respect you, being honest and forth right. I plan on going into nursing. I'm Mexican and Native American and French. My plan is hospice. I already know where I want to go. I don't like death but I believe being there for a person who has a little time to live.. every day is important.
My first CNA job was LTC, because I was inexperienced. They offered me 17.50 for Night Shift. They started me out SN side then Sub Acute side. Let me tell ya, strictly for patient ratios I would take the heavy load in subacute over SN side. If CNA’s did t show up I’d have 19+ patients. Very unsafe considering that at least 1 was a wanderer and 1-2 patients here fall risk and would attempt to get out of bed. I would often freak out internally while trying to manage keeping my patients all clean and dry in addition to hourly rounding on my patients. Luckily I had applied to the local county Acute care facility… it just took this four months to go through the interview, hiring, onboarding process. When I got to the Acute care it was heavy during COvID. The max patients I had was 12, and usually there here ambulatory patients and not all patients where Incontinent so it was much more manageable. More eyes in the floor and sitters with high risk patients, or patients who just needed a safety sitter for high fall risk, wandering/elopement risk. I just finished first semester of my LVN program!! 95% overall in the class !! We start clinicals first week of May, I’m excited! Planning to apply to new grad LVN program at an acute care hospital, Night Shift of course. I now work 95% in Acute care as a registry CNA, sometimes sitter, sometimes the floor but never have had more than 12 patients. I sometimes pick up at an LtC that implements a ratio of 1:10 and this facility has mobile patients and not all Incontinent.
Lpns work in Ltc because there are the most opportunities and pay is highest. I’ve been a LTC for 27 years. Small detour to home Heath and a hospital. But ltc is where the jobs are. Hospitals frequently decide they don’t want lpns and home health pays nothing It’s legal and the norm to have 40 patients in LTC. Call the DOH. They set staffing minimums. Thank you for this video. Yes cost and time is why people go to lpn school. I had a baby and I dropped out of a BSN program so I could support my family. I still owe student loans after 27 years.
This happened to me last week. I went through an agency & I showed up for 11p-7a shift. Imagine on my first shift I had no access to the computer but they gave me access to the charting system. That doesn't help the situation when I can't get on the computer and the supervisor called out so I'm the charge nurse and supervisor for the night. I was like this is so darn dangerous. I had the whole floor and the only RN in the building. The techs and other staff kept asking if I'm there though an agency. Every time they find out I'm through an agency you can literally see they are hating on us agency nurses. Then when I told the agency how the shift went he txted back and asked "thanks for sticking it out. Are you willing to go back?" Smh!
@@yemialemu9902 exactly no amount of money is worth the liability… I’m sure some facilities are better than others but I think if nurses take a stand and refuse and then thry have no choice to change unsafe working conditions.
The system is broken due to the cheap labor needs in healthcare! One group immigrate to the USA and now have dominate (nursing healthcare) and are racist to the point they speak their language without any regard to the staff, patients and members that they works with no matter the race! The environment in all these places are permeate with these types of individuals and their cliques are highly toxic and dangerous! Working with these individuals is not worth losing your license! You will always be an outsider no matter how hard you work✨
As far as going back to school, it’s incredibly hard to advance your degree when you are consistently overworked and burned out just from work- let alone work life balance
These hospitals encourage elitism in the nurses. BSN grads come out with so few skills. Yet some of them think they're so much more special than nurses with an associate's degree to have 30 years of experience.It's kind of gross
I've worked LTC for years and did and do a wonderful job. If a patient acuity level increased then send them to the hospital. Ive never had a NP or MD refuse to send a patient when I expressed how dire I felt the situation was.
@@NurseLiz yes. My thing is this could be every nurse experience. Once they come to the realization THEY will be held responsible for care or lack of care for their patients. MD NP and DON will be upset but then ask them are they willing to come care for the patient in house for the remainder of the shift because it's beyond my capabilities. It may sound insubordinate and you may lose your job but another door is always open in this field.
I've worked in rehabs where I was oriented to three large med carts and worked with no break 0700 to 1530. Then had to stay late to do all the charting. 60 patients in long term care. Another nurse did all the treatments. Each CNA had 10 patients. Guess what he s when someone called out?
The inhumane Nurse to patient ratio that is allowed is the reason why turn over in LTC facilities is so high..they cant keep Nurses because of the work load....they leave because they are overwhelmed
I feel lucky because straight out of LPN school, I got my dream job at an integrative/ functional medicine clinic working Monday thru Friday 8 to 4:30. Although I could make much more money in other areas, I wouldnt trade it for the world. I dont have anxiety going into work. My license is never on the line nor do I stress about having patients lives on the line. I work with generally healthy patients, at least not having acute illness/trauma/infection. I get my breaks and lunch breaks and endless perks. I learn SO much working with 4 providers that teach me everything they know. And I feel like Im actually helping people heal and transform their life rather than passing pills and not able to truly make people better. Not many clinics like ours which is why people travel hours to see us for their appointments. Also my employers never force us to conform to strict dresscode policies or vaccines. Wish LPNs had more options like this. Where I live in central.illinois, its either nursing homes or low paying and limited hospital jobs. The hospitals here pay the absolute lowest for LPNs, around 20 to 23 average. I make 27. Ltc anywhere from 23 to 35.
Ltc often hires new RN grads, it increase the quality rating and allows a higher reimbursement. Unfortunately, the RN typically does not have the experience to lead or even. Follow due to being a new grad- which leaves an lpn in a position to not only be autonomous in the decision making of care, rx, and tx for patients- they are doing things far outside of anything they have been trained to do without knowing the potentially serious outcomes. Often times these are lpn with less than 3 years of experience- who are leading the directives..
Is there a group we can join to advocate for mandated staffing ratios? My young adult child is studying to be a nurse, and I'm proud and also scared. Also scared for my aging parents if they should need care. This situation is totally unacceptable for nurses and patients.
The hospitals need to be held accountable for firing the nurses, then saying they're short staffed. It feels like a mental disorder, "feel sorry for me, I'm not making enough money, be happy you have a job, sorry you got your hours cut, too bad you are working short staffed all the time, now more nurses quit, boo hoo we have to pay travelers, you don't get a raise this year during hyperinflation, and all the while... we get our big bonuses and take vacations".
My understanding is she was a travel nurse. When I was a travel nurse I found myself in a similar situation in a hospital where understaffing was the norm. When I complained I was told that was the way they did things in that state. Fortunately I had enough experience to call them out and ask if the ombudsman would agree... there was a huge shake up in administration and staffing within the week. If nothing changes, nothing changes. Use the resources you have to get the resources you need.
I’m an LPN student. I appreciate your content. I am 45 y/o and I must work while going to school. BTW at 12:30 you said that “LPN’s and CNA’s are way harder working than nurses. “ FYI
Thank you so much for this discussion. I am a LPN I started as a CNA, I worked as a CNA and LPN in LTC. I was given the opportunity with a grant to go from CNA to LPN. It was a wonderful opportunity but it was still difficult financially for me even thought the course was paid for. I had no health insurance and little to no savings (we all know how poorly CNA's get paid). I struggled for 10 months but did make it. I went back to the same LTC facility to work as a LPN and stayed there for about 6 years in total. I had 30 demented patients as I worked in the Alzheimer's/dementia units on the evening shift. I have constantly been told to go back for my RN. I have been trying for 14 years now. I have to work to keep a roof over my head, so I went to local community colleges and would take one class at a time. By the time I was able to apply for the nursing transition program, my classes were too old for the program and I was required to retake classes like A&P. I have felt like a rat on a wheel trying to obtain my RN. I kept preserving and finally was awaiting my acceptance into an evening LPN to RN program after retaking all my pre requisites, then COVID hit and the program was cancelled! I have finally come to the point that I do not want my RN I feel like I need to be a voice for LPN's and fighting for fair wages and treatment (because we all know most places do not consider LPN's nurses!). With my LPN I have RN's come to me to learn how to do the job, why are we not taking into account the years of experience a LPN has?
My experience has been similar. I've been an LPN since 1999 and have tried over and over to go back to school in the midst of being a single mom, homeschooling kids and chronic health issues. Not everyone has the opportunity to go back to school.
and what it really boils down to is our country doesnt place any value on older or chronically ill people. Hence why they don't value the care they need
@@NurseLiz Exactly. They have written them off otherwise why would they have such a low nurse to patient ratio. It is because they don't care what happens to them. It is unreasonable to expect one nurse to take care of 37 patients and still expect the patients to receive the best care. That is impossible. If anyone thinks it is possible, they are cutting corners and is an accident waiting to happen.
I’m a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant that went back for my LPN a few years ago, and I just graduated with my ADN getting prepped for my NCLEX exam now. I have always worked in LTC as a therapist but as an LPN I worked in Assisted Living. I had anywhere from 50-100 patients at a time but it’s not as acute as LTC and mostly we just managed their meds and did some simple treatments. I have no desire to ever return to LTC or AL, as an RN I’m interested in ED nursing and I’m leaning towards trauma as my specialty for my NP.
For me its like the hours are there and there is always opportunity for overtime. Theres clinics hiring LVNs but not as high pay for ltc and no chance of overtime
This video needs to be shown on all major platforms, as a lpn I’m working full time agency so I don’t have to deal with the foolery. Now a days it’s not hard to work in hospitals as a LPN but the pay is very low
@@TheDowntown02 in Illinois u can still get a position I’ve turn down a few because of the pay. People are not staying in staff it’s so many agencies nurses in these hospitals it’s ridiculous
All of these comments saying these nurses are to blame for taking these assignments… LPNs just don’t have a lot of options. This is such a classist response. I’m an LPN and I work on the LTC side of a skilled nursing facility. They have started accepting people back from the hospital back on the LTC side, when they need more time and attention. What is an LPN to do when they have to make a living and have a family to feed? It disgusts me that I see so many RNs tearing down LPNs, not having any compassion or a good understanding of how many different factors and variables are at play in an LPN’s life when they are in a position to make this very difficult decision and take the risk of a dangerous job. Nurses need to be more compassionate and supportive to one another. The administrations and CEOs all love that nurses are so often pitted against each other. If we supported each other more, then they would have more risk of us joining forces to demand better treatment.
Thank you for speaking on this!! I am shocked and horrified by some of the comments on your first video! In a profession based in caring and compassion, we have so much work to do in learning how to show those things to each other.
When I decided to become an lpn I asked myself what is something I can be great at, succeed in and most importantly improve my financial situation without having to go to college for 4 plus year and lpn was the first thing I thought about. The reason why the majority of lpn’s work in long term care in my opinion is the pay. The pay an lpn receives from the hospital is atrocious and a slap in the face. You have hospitals offering lpn’s $16-18 per hour working 72 hours. At that rate I ask myself did I accomplish my number one goal of going to lpn school which was to improve myself financially and the answer is hell no. The nursing homes in my area pay anywhere from $22-30 per hour, give you a full 80 hours and let you work all the overtime you want. One can easily earn $60,000-$100,000 per year and live a comfortable life. Most lpn’s coming into the game has never earned money close to that in there lives. So even though it’s not cool to have 30 patients assigned to one lpn, as long as I can take this lpn license and use it as a vessel to live comfortably long term care is where I will choose to work.
California LVN courses cost 36'000$.. on the average for a 12 or 13month LVN/LPN program..that's common... How do I know? I'm enrolled and I did a lot of research in southern California that's what the schools cost(B.T.W. there is a HUGE!!! push to get health care workers to get 25$ an hour in southern California minimum).
When I first went to apply for an RN position in southern california, I asked the receptionist where the human resources department was she replied " we aren't hiring house keepers". When I handed in my application for the nursing position , I had to submit my application 3xs because the HR secretary threw my application away because she was trying to get a family member the job... it goes on. There is racism is healthcare... fortunately there are also people who will try yo mitigate and address that.
Ltc has turned into this divided allegiance. Most places are run by staffing agencies. Local “career agency workers” often travel from site to site via word of mouth. It is often a competitive area, with layers of gate keepers. The division has created intense hostile environments. There are usually large groups of families working together, they are promoted within and are not only placed in favored assignments, they are paid higher and significantly held less accountable for following regulations- in comparison to peers without personal relationships. It is extremely difficult. Lack of support, lack of skillset due to bias in delegation places staff and patients in unsafe conditions. There is physical abuse that is overlooked. I was actually told to document a patient who was physically abusing me and other residents. No intervention was provided to endorse physical safety. No support on any unit against aggressions from family or patients. Caught in a position to take the fault and harassment by patients and family, where the lpn has no control of the situation. The behaviors are negatively reinforced, management seldom steps foot on the floor- yet passively allows the misdirected patient or family the belief that the nurse,lpn, on the floor- who has never met this patient before- lets them believe it is the fault of the lpn and mgmt was completely unaware! There is zero support. It is known, substantiated- there is nurses to nurse violence/bullying as well as patient/family/resident abuse and bullying towards the nurses and lpn on the floor.. but no one is doing anything to protect the floor staff physically being abused! We have staffing ratios/ here is the issue… let’s post schedules that “accidentally “ have the wrong people scheduled.. let’s cancel staff and list it as call outs- who is going to investigate an agency nurse calling out? We can maintain paper trail to meet state ratio mandates. Let use licensed staff in administration positions and count them on the reported ratio. This field has transitioned into this environment that institutionalized staff, patients and residents. Staff are conditioned to abuse so severely that they do not realize the impact, the ptsd that is completely ignored. There is no support. There is little to no support- which coincidentally leaves this grey area of “accountability” based on random printed directives posted on walls hidden within a multitude of other forms with no ability to clarify posted date- yet deviate from this form posted in a specific nursing station, not accessible to all- and you will be screamed at in front of all of your peers, coworkers, patients and their families by management.. screamed at. I have actually had another nurse redirect me while attempting to get report, in a derogatory tone- because she was on a FaceTime call. She also left without counting narcotics, slipped out the back. The count was wrong. The supervisor acknowledged it and i was directed to ask the patient for details of this unsigned narcotic being administered. Yes, the description and timeframe matched the nurse who left in such a hostile manner. When I reapproachef her in the morning.. she responded that she split that cart. Ignored the multiple attempts to remind her of the responsibility and accountability when holding the keys- I was ignored multiple times.. when I pleaded a final time, the nurse responded “you need to get out my face” I was standing 6 feet behind her during shift change with the entire staff from night and day at change of shift present for this demonstration.. I had a nurse waiting for report and the keys with an incorrect count! What happened to her? She became the manager in less than a week. She has less than 2 years total in the field. Never been in mgmt. And the behaviors presented to me are not uncommon.. promoted. Me? My tires were vandalized! For trying to follow regulations!! I am an Lpn of 18 years. More certifications than I can count. Management for 10 years. MDS and insurance through centralized hospital multi specialty peer to peer management.. and my background affords me zero opportunities in this evolving, corporate institutionalized setting- with entire extended families working together to ensure bias priority, bonuses and shift differential. Where the corporation owns the staffing agency and the staffing coordinator owns a staffing agency to dilute any conception of monopoly- despite the clearly communicated personal, like mother daughter working together. The whispers in the halls suggest intentional below average pay-rates offered to maintain short staffing for this urban legend that the company can be afforded financial assistance to maintain safety in staffing crisis’.. and if all of this is not mind blowing enough, the owner of this huge corporation was “elected” to the board of health to a position that directly assists in the policies from creation thru regulations in an official elected seat, “allegedly” . Although- it was interesting to learn about the connections hospitals, insurance companies snd and pharmacies have regarding corporate ownerships.. it’s a completely untouchable environment.. why do I do it? 1. The money. The physical toll this industry has taken on my body makes it difficult to work 5 days a week. It is literally easier for me to suffer through 3 12 hour shifts or a couple “doubles” 16 hour days, and then recover in bed and get routine injections to manage the chronic pain in both hips that is preventing me from physically walking to maintain a “standard” job- which pays half the amount. 2. Why did I leave management? I was given an option to either come to work with new outbreak of shingles, both sides of my body, multiple dermatomes (which is in itself so painful I could not stand) to work on my Covid unit! Or I would be fired!! I was doing my boss job as she emailed corporate that she did it! So yes, I needed a job that I had the ability to control my schedule because of the level of traumatic episodes I have been exposed to! I worked thru the pandemic, in New York- at the epicenter hospital from the beginning thru reopening and civil rights movements.. volunteered before they started awarding “stipends”… because I thought I would be better protected in known outbreak areas and that as a nurse, I took an oath and we were told that should anything like this ever happen- pandemic, health emergencies- it was our duty to assist. 3. Why don’t I just go back to school or switch environments.. I am 100% traumatized from the last 3 years. I have also been battling health conditions and have a daughter whose father passed slowly before the pandemic, she is not ok.. and my husband of 10 years became disabled right after my ex husband passed away.. I don’t have a lot of options, and even less support. In fact I was just trying to find a lead for resources for nursing staff who are being bullied and abused in the workplace.. but it doesn’t seem there is any such thing.. just advocates for patients and residents. I would love to go back to school or change environments, however I work in an industry that assigned my role as a nameless, faceless, disposable position with no true worth.. and I am stuck in a career level time in my life in this heavily recycled title.. “agency nurse” where I don’t see any transition unless I die.. but even then- I am still “agency nurse” . The more I search for support, the more I realize how hopeless this system really is for the position I chosen. Even the therapies offered, turn out to be more of an autonomously random email with assigned forms to be part of someone’s research paper.. not real therapy or support.. just another means to use me as a nameless function. It’s absolutely devastating that this is where so many of us end up. My father use to say “don’t ask questions you don’t really want answers to” how sad, how true- how meaningless my life that I sacrificed so much for so many people I never knew… just to watch selfish blatant abuse being rewarded. I will die from cancer while my coworkers and patients abuse me without anyone ever ending these abusive patterns in my field.
I love this. I am an LPN and started out trying to go to RN program. But I did not get accepted. So i took the LPN program because i wanted fo get started. It has not been super hard to get in RN program because they there is no flexability and there is no program for the clinical portion and doing the other portion online. That would be better as it allow more flexabily for transition. Now at this point idk if i even want to. I might just to management as i can do it all online. It has been hard to get in a transition program
Retired LPN. Worked in hospitals. Gave meds took pharmacy class. Many did not pass. One-day in llinois told no more only RN could give meds. LTC overworked pay good. Did for 8 years. Did agency for 10 years worked in hosp able to give meds.Retired 2 years ago as triage nurse for Dr office pay ,56000. Worked for office 20 years. Replacement RN.
I wanna be a nurse but the cattiness is probably cuz it's all women, I'm a woman too but I hope I'm not like that, I think if adults are bullying each other it's pathetic, you're not fucking 12
As a new grad BSN with all the "privileges" of being an honor graduate, white, a veteran, and willing to work any shift for any pay, I could not get a job anywhere other than LTC, and I only got that job as a temp for a maternity leave. I and many of my new grad colleagues had the same experience. We were told in school, that because of the economy, (early 90's) we would need to be willing to do more for less and be more "adaptable" to the needs of the institution. So because I needed to actually pay rent and eat and the LTC paid $20 hrs vs the $4 hrs for a minimum wage job that was just as scarce. What would you do?
Many LPN are doing this they arent suppose to. I'm doing agency and you have to be on your Ps and Qs. Don't stay in this to long. You ll find that many can do acute care easier after having 30 to 40 pets in LTC.
I 100% agree. I heard so many racist comments working for a large organization that prides themselves on diversity (and advertises it on their website). Having a BSN doesn't get you a higher salary in my area. All RNs are on the same pay scale. Many LPNs work in clinics in the MA role. Most of them eventually go on to get their RN license because the organization pays for it.
Lpn since 1985, RN since 199pre and post cardiac cath. The ratio went from 4-1 to 6-1. Pure risk with my license flapping in the breeze. One day you are a Daisy...one thing goes wrong and you are a zero. I have worked in different specialties from time to time but there is no space where a nurse is truly safe. We know what flows downhill.
My program was 10,000 and I wanted to work in LTC to help the elderly. I have a bs in Finance and BS in accounting and passed CPA in 1999. I felt I was wrong career in accounting and truly wanted to help the elderly. I couldnt believe what I got my self into.
But I also don’t think that you can truly speak to the patient ratios when you’re dealing with a nursing home because you’ve never worked there and comparing it to hospital nursing is not anywhere near the same When people are in a nursing home that is their home, I have never heard someone say oh we can’t send this person to the hospital because they’re in their Medicare window Moving and elderly patient in and out of the hospital is not good as a standard of practice It contributes to delirium it contributes to increase in behaviors if the patient has dementia not to mention the infection risk of being in the hospital
I am a BSN and have spent most of my career in LTC. I’ve worked in LTC in one capacity or another since 1987. It is MY CALLING. I’m happiest performing care with LTC than the hospital, home health, rehab and hospice. I would do hospice in a hospice facility but not through home health. This video is so biased and one sided. 😡😡 #LTCsarenothorridplaces
I’m going to LPN then going to get my ASN RN and most likely will not go to any further in school. I will practice as both LPN and RN. Yes cost and time are what have brought me to this path. I’m not going into ANY debt and will be working during school. And I want to be sure this is a great calling for myself. Thank you so much for all that you do! I love the direction your channel is going! I do consider going by my middle name since my name isn’t “American” it’s Latina.
I was a divorced mom and went to LPN school to make money quicker than if I became an RN. Once I began working as an LPN, our director wanted me to get my RN. I decided not to because I didn't want to be a supervisor and wanted to be bedside. That was my love. And supervisors locked the door at night, got supplies from the supply closet and called people to come in when people call out. So why do they get more training to do less as a nurse? One RN who was supervisor laughed and said "RN" means "Really Nothing." At Yale, a RN said she used to be an LPN and was forced to go back to school for her RN to keep her job. Her LPN years of experience went out the window, and the pay. She was now a new nurse. She said Yale did not pay for her education so now she was not only making less money because she was a "new" nurse, but she now had her student loans to pay for.
Thats so crappy that they didn't honor the previous experience. UGh. This makes me so mad that nursing attacks itself like this. rather than using that energy to fight for overall better and safer conditions. Thank you for sharing your experience.
I'm a new social worker at a VA hospital working inpatient case management. But I was also a social service assistant at a LTC during my last year in grad school. I was appalled that I was tasked with social work duties that I wasn't qualified or licensed for, I was still in university, and I refused to use the title. Then I was let go after six months because the new manager hated that I was in university and said I had to choose work or school. I took a year off to finish school. Will never work at a LTC again.
The Administrators must take responsibility for staffing the LTC Facility appropriately. The work load for LPN in the LTC is overwhelming. 40 residents to one LPN, Certainly this needs an intervention.
Where my LPN’s at? Stand up! ♥️ Liz the fact you shined light on us LPN’s and the crap we have to deal with is respectable.
Retired in 2015. Worked as LPN for 40+ years. Spent many years working LTC. Loved my residents. What a demanding job. Had anywhere form 30 to 60 residents. It's about the facility making money. More than one RN coworker has told me, " if I'm ever sick in the hospital, I would thank God if you were my nurse.".
Looking back on all the various jobs I had, I recommend working in Private Duty as you only have one patient. Least amount of stress.
When my daughters told me they wanted to go to LPN school I told them absolutely not. They both became BSN's. I had trouble with algebra and was unable to complete my RN. in a nutshell LPN's get very little respect but do 95 percent of what an RN does.
An Rn (who did not know I was an LPN) told me with a sneer on her face; "LPN's are just cheap nurses.".
If I had to do it all over again I would have went back to school (got a tutor) and become a speech therapist.
Patricia you look like a young women. I hope you can go back to school and get out of nursing and into a job with great pay and respect.❤
I was an LPN for 4 years!! They don’t understand the struggle
Glad to see someone addressing the unsafe LTC ratios. As an LPN, I feel like we don’t have enough options in nursing and working in nursing homes is pure misery. I have seen so much neglect and management doesn’t give us what we need to succeed. We don’t have the resources or staff to care for these individuals.
LPN for 34 years with 25 yrs Hospital experience, I taught Medical Assistants worked in physicians offices, clinics etc. I have ALWAYS been able to do what I wanted to do. I floated to all areas of the hospitals I worked on . Currently I am a Unit Manager in a Rehab facility and have several RNS as my staff. My experience gives me a firm full and varying clinical skills. Never under estimate an LPN
I think you're delusional.
❤
Lousiana LPN 9 years - Its a shame becouse I LOVE working with the elderly in nursing homes. At the beginning of my career it was wonderful going to work and literally feeling like I was visiting my grandparents. But, over time higher acuity level for patients ( mixture of dementia, extensive wound care , comorbities , charting guidelines all at once ) along with higher ratios and staffing shortages drove me from long term care.
Suddenly, staffing went from manageable 8 hour shifts to 12 - 16 hours to even 20 if someone called in sick ! Even with working 12 hour shifts you would still be called via weekly schdule meaning some weeks you had 1 day to rest and spend with family.
* On a side note if we want to phase out LPNs. Bring back hospital based diploma RN programs that my grandmother did during WW2.
Not everyone is willing to spend money on unnecessary courses for a degree that at the end of the day has always been technically based and feild learned. Not everyone wants to be in management and needs courses that doesn't directly attribute to floor nursing.
I was insulted once early in my career, I was called a ( little play nurse). 20 years later. I am spoken to with respect and my judgment is trusted. Sometimes I don't like being a nurse, but I'll always love it ! Safety is and will always be the first priority. Protect yourself. You are valuable.
Thank you for sharing and encouraging others!
It makes me so mad when LPN's don't get the respect they deserve. I am a registered nurse but I worked my way up starting as a CNA, then LPN. I can tell you LPN school was way harder than RN school. LPN's are nurses too.
LPN here.Have been called little pretend nurse.
@@lavenderhearts101 Was called a Low Paid Nurse.
When I was a student in 1990 for my degree in accounting....we were taught hospitals were non profits. Things have shifted dramatically in 32 years. Money over lives is pretty much the root of this industry collapsing
As a black RN, RACISM IS REAL!!!! I had a BSN from a majority white university. I was told that I had a “better education “ than my fellow nurses who went to a black (HBCU). Also, it was harder to get a promotions.
LVN here. Started at LTC. Loathed it. I was very blessed to land a position as a non-chemo infusion nurse for a cancer and blood disorder center. I absolutely love it. Now, I’m in the first semester of LVN to RN school. I remember the resident to nurse ratio and only having 1 CNA….absolutely draining. I decided that if I wanted to continue nursing, I had to leave.
In my state GA, most LPNS work in LTC or home health. Also, a LPN taught me how to DO my job. I think it’s wrong to treat LPNS like this. People become LPNS because it’s quicker and cheaper. It can take 4yrs to get an ADN. And 4-6 yrs to get a BSN.
Just want to say that I was an LPN for the first 3.5 yrs of my career, it took me 8 months to find a job that would hire me, all other interviews I had in clinics didn’t hire me, I tried to stay away from LTC but they were the only ones to hire me as a new grad. I totally understand how hard/scary it is to take care of 30-40 ppl and you are ALWAYS at risk and it’s so sad. Not everyone was in the position I was in to go back to school to get my RN and further, we literally learn about biases and empathy in every level of nursing school, some ppl don’t have a choice but to work in LTC. I empathize and sympathize 💯. End rant.
I not only worked with some fabulous LPN’s but I also taught at a vocational LPN school. There are some really great LPNs out there who could pass a masters degree program but can’t because of finances, personal situations or lack of support resources. If you are able to get the education you should consider yourself blessed.
I've been an LPN for 37 years. 20 of those years are in private duty. I'll never work in a facility again. I have one patient and make very close to RN pay.
Word!
Several years ago, I spent some time as a charge nurse on a high acuity, MedSurg unit. The LPNs on that unit were worth their weight in gold. In fact, I would negotiate with our sister unit to trade some of the RNs in exchange for the LPNs. Thank you, Liz, for finally giving these great colleagues of ours some long over due recognition.
Also, thanks for pointing out how ridiculous nursing’s “alphabet soup” is. ☺️
I worked in Long Term Care for over 8 yrs as a CNA and I worked the Night shift. We had one LVN or RN and three CNAs and we were responsible for so much and what made the job even tougher was having to get up fully dependent residents making sure they were clean and shaven and were in clean clothes. Then when AM shift would come in they would complain that we didn't do this or that. Or they would want us to work doubles which are not fun and endanger the residents we care for. And management was oblivious to our comments and suggestions.
Hello, another CNA here. A place I worked at a few years ago got in trouble with State for getting people up before 6am, So glad because I always thought it was the hardest part of the shift. to get people up when you are the most tired!.
In my facility the morning shift nurse aides get the residents up for the day. Night shift is only in charge of making sure everyone is clean and dry before the morning shift comes in.
I am a cancer patient currently receiving home care as I recover from COVID. The LPN’s on my careteam are lovely! The LPN who saw me Friday remembered to check my oxygen sats after I ambulated & did exercises. Her personality was wonderful and I can’t wait to see her again.
I’m an LVN (Texas) and I went to school at 62! So if I’d have been younger I’d probably have gone for RN. My second day as a nurse I was on my own with 25 pts. at a LTC. At one point they gave me 50 pts. I told my boss don’t ever do that again to me. I went to memory care which I loved and started with 27 pts. Over several months we went to 37 pts. It was so stressful as the only nurse on my shift! We don’t have a lot of options.
Yes, I am an LPN in IL (became an LPN in my 40s a little less than a year ago after 12 years working as a CNA), and work at a facility where i am responsible for a memory care unit of 20 patients as well as an assisted living unit of 40 patients all at the same time! And most of the assisted living residents have some degree of dementia, some frequent falls, as well as several people on the memory care unit being more appropriate for long-term care due to multiple health and mobility issues. Lots of falls, wound care, and aggressive/unsafe behavior by residents on the memory care unit.
It seems criminal that there can't be a nurse assigned solely to memory care and another to the assisted living. Somehow the corporate office thinks one nurse can supervise, pass meds, and provide nursing care to all of these residentswhile simultaneously supervising and educating the CNAs, contacting doctors, pharmacies, families, doing admissions (with all the documentation that comes along with that)! Yes, I agree that it seems we don't have a lot of options for safer employment..
As I get older I tell lpns don't let old age reach you and you're doing back breaking work. I'm doing my rn this year or next. I am happy of the out patient options. I just wish I did it about 5 years ago. So upsetting.
Nurses take jobs thinking it will be interesting, fulfilling and a stable paycheck. Too late they discover it is unsafe for patients and nurses. Then they convince themselves they can handle it. (And they still need a paycheck) Then they burn out and change jobs. An LPN since 1985. A RN since 1999. Retired now and I miss patients but I'm working on getting over it, and finding inner calm.
One thing about LTCs, you learn a lot. I had to function way above my pay scale, so when I went for the RN it was really easy.
I highly disagree. I felt like a glorified drug dealer. I felt so stagnant at a nursing home. Oral medications times a billion. Bout it.
@@TheDowntown02 Really? Where I worked (Michigan) as an LPN I had to do all admissions on my unit, including the MDS assessments (DON would co-sign) and intake interviews, develop care plans, review labs, assess all new symptoms and injuries, give vent care and resp treatments, do wound care, decide if a pt needed emergency x-rays and ordered them, made rounds with the doctors, I took phone orders, supervised the NLAP, did the performance evals, did "write-ups" when I had to, gave performance commendations when I saw something that deserved them, notified families of any matters that mattered, and passed meds. And charted.
The only thing the doctor wouldn't back us up on was shipping the patient to ED without an order. I worked a MN shift once. I followed an other LPN whom I didn't know. She was from an agency. She told me that she had had to insert an NG tube in a patient who had been losing weight. She gave him a bolus feeding of 240ml. OK. I went to make rounds and found the man diaphoretic and dyspneic and very congested. I couldn't verify correct NGT placement. I called the doc and told the NLP to get him ready to go to ED. The doctor (not the dreaded Dr U) had already gone to sleep, but I had his wife wake him and I told him that the nurse had inserted the NGT and given the bolus and that the man was febrile, and I gave his VS (hypotensive, tachy, tachypneic.)
The sleepy doc said, "Umm. OK. Go ahead and force fluids and..." I said, "Excuse me, but he had a NEW NGT inserted. I am not comfortable with placement. He was already bolused, and that I didn't think giving him fluids would help this situation. I repeated the vital signs. He said, "Oh . OK. What kind of antibiotics do you have in the night box?" I said, "Dr. M, I think I'm going to call the family for an OK to send him to ED." The Dr. said, "Do you really think it's that serious?" I repeated the vital signs. He said, "OH! I didn't catch that the first 2 times you said it. Send him!"
@@heidievans6336 Thank you. Having worked as an LPN, your RN should come easily. I breezed through it. I used to encourage all of the LPNs to go for the RN.
I remember one LPN asked me, "What if I do all of that schooling and fail my NCLEX?" I said the truth. The NCLEX is to assess if you are safe to render patient care. If you aren't safe enough to be an RN I wouldn't trust you as an LPN. As you are a good LPN you will pass.
We were working above our pay grade, but I learned an awful lot and I really believe I was a better nurse for taking the long way to the RN. LPNs make great RNs.
Good luck!
@@stephenszucs8439 This is very encouraging to me as an LPN thinking about pursuing RN-- thank you! But why do you say "i USED TO" encourage LPNs to go on to RN? Is it because of the generally unsafe working conditions in nursing at all "levels"?
@@heidih3048 No, because I am disabled and don't work with them anymore. Do go for it. There are still rewards in nursing. It is hard, but keep your safety and the patients' safety the priority.
I have been there when a person takes that first breath and when others have taken the last. I have seen a death crush and destroy a family and I have seen people die completely alone except for the nurses.
I remember one vent patient, a young man with end stage liver disease struggling against wrist restraints to get the ET out. The family was unable to make a code determination and the intensivist was blind to the patient's obvious desire since the ET made it impossible for him to talk.
I finally convinced the MDs to take it to the ethics committee, but the family was in turmoil. I remember offering SW and Pastoral care, but they didn't want SW and while they each, individually wanted a pastor or priest, they were a mixed-faith family and neither side wanted a clergy member from the "other side."
I got them a Baptist preacher (neither side was Baptist) I knew to be very gentle and kind. He came. They calmed. The vent was removed. The preacher sat by the bedside for hours until the patient passed peacefully.
That's the thing about nursing. These people trust us. They let us into their most private and poignant moments.
That is painful at times, but it is priceless.
One not brought up enough in my opinion is Sexual assault and sexual harassment by patients. I was sexually assaulted at a LTC facility. The men known for it were also present mentally and when I brought it up to my boss her response simply was “that’s what you get paid for” I talked to some other CNAs and nurses and everyone had a similar story. After that I left so fast. Facilities should protect their workers and remove problematic patients especially if every female nurse/Cna has a similar story. I’m sick of the “ they are just old men” excuse as well. They are mentally there HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE
(LPN I appreciate the representation and opening this hugely ignored conversation)
omg I'm so glad that you brought this up. My patients were All men! literally 3 of them were sexually inappropriate. I called a meeting with my superiors with my concerns, all I got was nervous laughter and was told that it was their " right". No support at all. this was one of the reasons that I left my job of 17 years.
You can report them to the police. I did that even tho the owner of the nursing home said I couldn't. He was an alcoholic and knew what he was doing
All I could think of was WHAT IF IT WAS A YOUNG GIRL WHO WENT THRU WHAT I DID.....I was 50 and weighed 145. Some of our Young aides barely weighed 98 lbs soaking wet.
The facility had to implement a MALE CAREGIVER ONLY. for that resident. It was also noted that there was an ongoing issue with his POA bringing him alcoholic into the facility.
You have really unrealistic expectations.
@@nishamack586 lol. You have unrealistic expectations.
When you refuse to hold people accountable for the actions they knowingly commit, you dehumanize them. It isn't a kindness to the patient or the abused staff to ignore this.
I worked with a nurse that was from Ghana. During one of his yearly evaluations our manager told him he needed to improve how he did education with patients. When he asked what she meant she said that it could be hard for patients to understand him and he might want to work to improve his english. The main language of Ghana IS english. She had just assumed because he had an accent English had to be his second language. She even gave him a pamphlet for a local ESL to “help” him.
Quite ignorant! I bet she was embarrassed.
Patients may have complained that they couldn't understand what he was saying due to his accent-- which can be a real problem for some. But the supervisor recommending ESL classes was definitely ignorant.
English is just the "official" language of Ghana-- it is not many citizens' "first" language there, though, according to my co-worker from Ghana. There are several regional indigenous languages widely spoken in Ghana actually.
With the N95 mask, I can't understand myself. Of course patients and staff have a hard time hearing him behind a mask. The supervisor should have to take a sensitivity training.
That is funny and so sad at the same time.
In Philadelphia, many LTC/SNF's serve as homeless shelters, detox centers, and insane asylums now. 90 y/o's room mates with 20 year old's who were just released from prison with nowhere else to go. LTC isn't just for the elderly anymore. Working in SNF's was THE most stressful, horrible situation to be in as a nurse. It made me almost want to give up nursing altogether, because I was overworked, and pushed pills all damn day. They'd say "Here comes the pill girl". I had no real time to spend on bonding and caring for patients. It was all about dealing those meds out, and completing the charting. They didn't allow tasks such as vitals and accu checks to be delegated. So I had to get vitals on 35 patients, glucose checks on 9 of them before every meal, 9 wounds for care, trach care for 4, 4 peg tubes, 3 fall risks.... patients constantly approaching the med cart for cough syrup as I passed meds, physical therapists constantly disturbing me. They'll keep doing the bs as long as people accept it. Some people grow bitter from it....I almost did that's why I left, I had to remember why I became a nurse, and moved on to a better position, far, far, far away from that LTC/SNF bulls#:+.
Yes 👏🏾 I hate wen people ask me why don’t I go back to school to get my RN I see what healthcare has to offer and I’m not sure if I want to go back to pursue a higher degree in a broken system/put myself in more debt. I rather go get my CDL’s.
Sorry it has been super hard to get in a transition program
People said this to me all the time while I was a single parent, homeschooling my three special needs kids with no help in any way (working weekends doubles) and struggling with fibromyalgia, depression and anxiety. My favorite was a pastor's wife who didn't work and said, "Have you ever thought about going back to school to finish your degree? I wish I could give you my degree since I don't use it. I really just went to college to prove that I could."
@@melissahood2960 the nerve.
@@melissahood2960 The pastor's wife ....I mean oh gee....how clueless. Ask her to come sit with the kids while you are at school.
Pitiful excuse
I also think we should acknowledge some folks have to work in LTACs or similar because they live in a rural area where the jobs may not be plentiful. I’m in Chicago so I can do whatever but it’s a major city. In other areas of Illinois, that will not be the case.
Liz absolutely hit the nail on the head with this video. I worked at a pharmaceutical company that sold the company right under our feet. I was out of work and needed a job, fast, so I decided to finally do what I had been wanting to do, go back to school for nursing. Only I did not have the luxury to go through with pre-reqs and a two year nursing program. I wanted to become an RN but I did not have the time or the money it took to do so. My LPN program started at a perfect time for me and it was only 16 months. On top of everything, my mother was battling breast cancer and not only was I providing solely for myself, I had to provide for my mom as well... all while unemployed. Once I graduated, I quickly filled out hundreds of applications and took one of the first job offers I received. I really could not afford to be 'picky' and wait for better offers to come. I started at an assisted living as a brand new LPN grad. I initially came into a 15 bed setting and in a matter of MONTHS I found myself in a 34 : 1 ratio because the facility kept pushing for more beds to be filled. I was under extreme stress as a new nurse with that many patients then the 'second wave' of covid hit and brought complete HELL along with it. There were times it s was just myself and one caregiver and I was expected to continue my job AND the caregivers job. I became so overwhelmed after my complaints fell on death ears, I found another job at a hospital. I'm really enjoying my time at the hospital, learned a lot in such a short amount of time but the pay is appalling. I do EVERYTHING RN's do with the exception of IV Pushes and hanging blood. Definitely going to get my degree because I feel like I am doing myself a disservice if I don't but, we as LPN's definitely get the the short end of the stick.
I think you were really smart to move one.
I am a BSN/RN. Reasons for working LTC/Rehab facilities... The schedules are a lot more flexible. This is good because I am a single mom. The continuity of care. I know my patients and their families. They are not just a blip on the radar. Finally, the pay is better than the hospitals.
This is helpful insight! Thank you!
Facts 💯
That’s not true for all places or countries at all.
I'm a BSN RN as well and I've always preferred LTC to acute care... It's less stressful and more laid back in my opinion. The patient acuity is lower and you actually get to know your patients and their family. Also LPN s were limited where they can work. There were really only 4 options that you can make a liveable wage Hospice home health and Corrections.
That's a pitiful excuse
I ve been told many times that an LPN isn't a real nurse, even my in-laws said this to me when I met them. Of course I felt degraded and not a nessary part of the nursing profession.
LPNs are awesome.
The squabbles come from educational hierarchy. Nursing started out as a female dominant practice. To be considered professional and to command respect for what women did formal education became the standard for professional nursing vs. On the job training. In an attempt to keep education and professional mobility only available to the major social class (whites) white men constructed ways to continue social and economic control even in Healthcare. So through this hierarchy cna's are "butt wipers ", LPN's are " little play nurses" and the BSN is the "golden ticket." Fed this lie and full on the bs, we continue to argue and the administration gets paid, and the "little women" get to play professional. We gotta do better.
Well said. In Canada is worse. I know that the scope of practice of LPN ‘s is a bit more limited in the US.
Here in Canada RPN/LPN do virtually everything an RN does in terms of assessment, teaching, etc. and we get paid insanely lower (aprox. 50% or more less).
When I was doing my clinical there were RN students on the unit as well and they were speechless. We did exactly everything and yet we are considered “less educated” or “less capable”
It’s ridiculous
I’m 22 years old, I have an associates RN degree from a local community college. Debt free. I refused to go into debt for an RN-BSN.
Absolutely, integrate a practical diploma program again to address shortage of nurses
Before I completed my RN I got a job in a small hospital. I used to go down the hall to ICU to help the night RNs turn patients. While I was there the nurses would teach me how to read the monitors, and I was very curious, so they started teaching me everything that was special in ICU. When an RN position in ICU opened up the DON asked me to apply. I was still an LPN, but she said the ICU staff wanted me because I already knew the basics. So I went to critical care classes and went to work in ICU.
I was admitting a middle-aged man one day. I attached the monitor, set up the IV pumps, hooked up the sensors and special equipment he needed, and was adjusting the alarms on the machines when he noticed the "LPN" on my ID badge.
He said, "Do they let you work with all this equipment?" I said, "No. They make me."
Where do you get your information from? I've never in all my years of nursing ever been called "little play nurse". I did have an RN who couldn't keep up, even though she'd been oriented and had me shadowing her for two weeks, tell me that she thought LPN meant "low paid nurse".. I said really? So I guess RN really means "real nutjob" right? She didn't come back after lunch and my administrator thanked me.
I have worked as an LPN for 22 years now in skilled nursing facilities. I had a full scholarship for the LPN program and was starting out my family back then so didn't have time or money to go for my RN. Yes, the staffing ratios are horrible in nursing facilities but I actually prefer working there then in the hospital, I know my residents, my administrators and nursing directors work with me. If I get overwhelmed I call them and they get extra help for me. They are flexible with my schedule, and get extra benefits. I won't work in a facility that won't get me help if I need it or if I feel the residents are not getting the care they need. Those of us Nurses who work in nursing homes have to be advocates for our residents and call our DON'S and administrators and demand we get extra help if a situation arises. If they won't help then that is not a safe facility to work for.
I want to work where you work! I have tried to get a lot of extras only to have people say it’s not in the budget.
That's great if that really happens. Where I work the RN manager much less the DON would come and help.
I really appreciate the in-depth about what LPN/LVNs are. I’ve heard of them before but I’ve never really understood their role in the health care hierarchy. I appreciate the respect you show for them. Perhaps (I know it’s hard to find ppl to collaborate with) it would be helpful when speaking on issues like this to have an LPN guest in the video to directly give their perspective.
I’m currently a accelerated BSN student and i’ve been very fortunate to have my parents bankroll my first & now my 2nd undergraduate degree (not that it makes nursing school easy, but it definitely makes it easier). If I didn’t have parent financial support I don’t know what healthcare degree I would be pursuing currently or if I would be pursuing anything at all or still working full time.
New lpn grad. I worked at an ltc for almost a month and I quit. I really could not jeopardize my license. It was unsafe for the patient and staff
Man I have so much to say about all this. Where do I start, first things first, I became an LPN after having a degree in medical science at 21 because I wanted to be a Dr but situations and my mom kicking me out provided me no support to keep going to school and I had to choose something fast to survive so then I became a CNA and then from there an LPN. 😞.. but then I was judged by this one RN so terribly saying she’d rather die then be JUST an LPN not even knowing my situation or anyone else’s for that fact smh. So please think before you guys judge someone, you never know what fight someone is fighting in life. Then I left long term cause sometimes I’d have 45 residents when the 3rd nurse called out and we’re never done working but then we’re not allowed to stay on the clock while doing the extra charting I was making 26/hr at that time… then I went to correctional which usually pays more but if you work for a 3rd party instead of the facility itself you make less. Then I did home care which was wayyyyyyyyyy better “phew 😅” I felt like I was able to breathe better and I was making 28 to 33 but if you’re Trach or something else certified then you can make about 35… but then I left and now do agency/travel and make 40 to 80/hr still as LPN… but I’m seeing that even the older LPNs judge the young ones and it’s like SHUT UPPP just help where you can if needed and stop asking where I went to school how old am I how much experience do I have blah blah and that I should know thi and that BS.. if I don’t … BELIEVE MEEEE I have no shame and I will ask your old butt for help… here now you have it.. lol anyway, LPNs please note that you have sooooo many options… just find your forte and make it work love.. mine is definitely home care. I love it. I also saw an LPN today who is a teacher/ school nurse/educator/ utilization nurse working at home.. plus more. Sorry got long winded but you got this❤ 😘
While I was in NP school, I needed a low stress job while I went through school & I was a night shifter. I worked at 2 LTC facilities (TN & TX). As a RN, they wanted/needed a RN supervisor on every shift which most LTC’s have 3 shifts. Since I was a Night shifter, They loved me. As the house RN supervisor, I was over the WHOLE facility which included ALL staff & patients in the building. Now mind you, it was the grace of God that nothing went down but the practices I saw & were exposed to made me NEVER want to work in LTC or iSNP. The physicians dumped on the NP’s & PA’s & would never show up to see patients. It was literally known that some physicians would never answer the phone and/or return your call. I will say this, LPN’s & CNA’s are gems. They normally had a horrible number of patients while I was responsible for alot of the charting, admin work, & invasive procedures. I did have a load of patients as well but no where near their load plus I was a weekend night shifter.
omg I can only image what you saw. I feel like I would be SO sad working in that environment because its just NOT right how people are treated and the stress the employees must be under is insane.
Thx Kim for your recognition 💯💯
@@NurseLiz you are not lying it’s so stressful especially if u care I just got off and I’m trying to clear my head now 🙏🏽
I operate in a broken system. I went to the police station in town to ask them to arrest me, because I know I was unable to do for all those patients, what I was made to chart. I carried Over 40 patients, with only 1 CNA. Over 12 VERY OVERWEIGHT patients. Many falls, many medical emergencies, IVs, wounds....crazy times.
The police told me to go home and get sleep, I was obviously not the problem. Nurse for 30 years. Love being a nurse. I see racial Inequity when my white employees get to smirk and leave without doing vitals or bed changes, but the agency nurses from "The city" are more diligent and conscientious about their work, as they're blamed for everything. We just need more people. I love the elderly. I know I'm needed. I pray for a generous heart.
How many hours/week did you work while in no sch? And was np full time too
People sometimes become a CNA or LPN first because they can start working in healthcare and get their future degrees paid for. Most healthcare employees have education benefits like tuition reimbursement and will work around your school schedule. If you work in healthcare and eventually want to become an RN or APRN, becoming a CNA or LPN is a way to do it debt free.
Exactly. I also did CLEP and ACTII tests to get all the liberal arts credits. When I went for my RN I all I needed was core nursing classes, clinicals, and labs. I saved thousands.
@@stephenszucs8439 That must be a state requirement. Did you get credit for your psych, anatomy, microbiology, etc courses too?
So is a little loan called Perkins.
@@stephenszucs8439 smart man.
@@MNP208 I CLEP AC-PEPED through 90 hrs of college. Most of my bio chem degree after my BSN. Literally shaved 1.5 years off of my premed.
I currently work for a SNF… the pay is above wayyyy above the median average… I work the “rehab” hall but it’s still terribly managed.. I’m working to obtain my RN and eventually my NP… no one should stay in these places… it’s horrible but I pray daily and chart nonstop
I worked a rehab unit at a SNF.... the people we got were NOT rehabable.
I’m glad you speak out on behalf of nurses, the corruption is just endless.
These topics make me feel ill and not want to go looking for a new job. I feel so used and violated, bullied, and just way let down.
Liz does a great job of talking about the darkness in nursing and normalizing it so us caretakers don't feel bad. I haven't been in nursing very long but I do know what you mean as I have been a patient many times (I've had 16 surgeries and need 6 more as a result of having a car hit me, cancer, and endometriosis) as well as a case manager in a mental health facility and a tech in a drug treatment facility...seen my fairshare of back stabbing, corruption, etc. in healthcare facilities. I am so sorry you are feeling less than positive about nursing. I hope you find a job you enjoy and an outlet to vent!!
Me, too. I'm terrified of working in so many settings now. Between COVID and nurses going to jail, everything seems dangerous.
@@melissahood2960 it’s such a heavy load, and now much worse. I just want to love my life, not DREAD.
virtual hugs🤗
Why I became a LPN? I joined the Army and my recruiter chose my job. I didn’t grow up wanting to be a nurse. I did, however, ended up loving it. I did my 4 years in the Army and got out in 2006 and have been LPN since. When I first left the Army there were many jobs to choose from. I worked on a Med/Surg floor and while working there they decided that LPN needed to become RNs or lose their job. By that point I started to work on getting my RN. The program wanted tons of prerequisites. Once I finished those I had to compete against others that wanted in. Then they tacked in more prerequisites. Then I decided I would be a clinic LPN. I ended up working in Occupational health and the care management and had no need to become an RN until recently. I got married, had kids, and by the time I wanted to go back to work nowhere but nursing homes were hiring LPNs! I tried getting a job at a clinic and they started to only hire MAs! So I ended up in a LTC taking care of 30-60 residents depending on what shift I worked. When things started to become dangerous I left and found a job in Medicaid care management helping the RNs. Then they decided they no longer wanted to pay LPNs for an LPN position and I could keep my job but with a 10k a year pay cut and a job name change to care coordinator. By this time I finally decided if I wanted to stay in nursing I needed to become an RN. So now after 17 years of being an LPN I am graduating to RN in May! This is not what I wanted to do but I do know that I still want to be a nurse and the only way I could pick a specially is by becoming am RN. If I could have kept my job a an LPN safely, without risking my license, I would have never went back to school for RN. Also, if the patient/nurse ratio in the LTC facilities were better I would work there forever because geriatrics is where my heart is. So now, once I graduate, I will become a hospice nurse and foot care nurse.😁
Good luck. I wish you the best.
@@tplay7784 thank you! And I just realized i wrote a novel!! 😂 But thanks for reading.❤️
I am a registered care aide I worked in BC Canada. I worked in this system for 20 year's when I first started I worked in mission hospital for my practicum. I made a decision then home care is what I would chose because I refused to be payed to abuse anyone for a paycheck you couldnot pay me to go back. I loved the work however many issues in this field travel time issues and a whole lot more...
Some places have big differences in practice of LPN vs RN, like LPNs where I've worked can't do IVs unless IV certified, can't do initial Neuro assessment, can't give any IV push meds, can't give the first round of any antibiotics, and can't give blood of course. However that effects very little in most LTC settings.
40 patients has pretty standard from what I have seen. I have worked on several nursing homes myself. I have also worked as a regulator doing inspections in long term care facilities and have seen this as pretty standard. CMS has no specific minimum staffing ratio. The regulation for nursing staff requires enough staff with the required skills to provide the care the residents need. This unfortunately leaves it very subjective and every field office has different standards that they apply when evaluating this. And surveyors are often not allowed to cite the facility for staffing if there are no specific care related citations on the same survey.
Also, in long term care you build relationships with your patients. You know these people for years. Some people are not able to just up and leave them behind because management or the hedge fund controlling the money make an unsafe environment.
Hi! I recently found your channel, thank you for SPEAKING UP and for acknowledging the experiences of minority black/brown nurses in the American healthcare system. Keep up the good work and please keep sharing the stores that need to be heard.
Some nurse are manipulated into taking a lot of patients. For example; arrived to work, received report for 22 patients, did count and took keys. Moments later we (other lpn’s) were told we where splitting up an assignment d/t call out. This adjustment took me to 32 patients, this also means I am now monitoring patients on another hall and I’m sharing a cart with narcotics on it with 2 other nurse😳 this went on for a week. We found out there wasn’t a call out but a manipulative DON that put a nurse that had quit weeks prior on the schedule… Yes, we called the nurse to find out when she was planning to return to work. She had no idea what we were talking about as she already had another job and been working there for a few weeks…..given this information, what are my options? I’ve worked in a hospital on a med/surg unit, 6 patients per nurse, however the pay was horrible ($14/hr) moved to 2nd shift for the $3 shift diff for a grand total of $17/hr.
What stare are you in? Just curious
This happens allllll the time!
@@luminouscali NC
@Asher1028 I’m not comfortable working in peds….Ped clinical was difficult for me the tikes are so fragile… but I am looking into home health(wound care).
As a new grad LPN (2010) the doctors office offered me $12.15 and LTC offered me $22.50 with advancement opportunities.
Wow. Thats a huge difference. I can totally see why you would take the latter because thats such a better opportunity. What was your experience like working there?
Yep same but I only made 16.50 at LTC. It was still better than the 11.75 I was offered in a doctors office. I did eventually switch to an office and when I quit working 3 years ago I was still only making a little over 15$. My nephew graduated high school and got a job in a fast food restaurant making the same as me… I’ve decided to not return to nursing.
Also when I worked in LTC the average amount of patients I had on day shift was 32. On nights I would have 32 until after first med pass then the other nurse would leave and I would have 64 until morning. It was hell and I cried all the time.
What?? My kid works at Lowes and makes $12/hr. I made 15 an hour at a doctor's office in the 1990's.
Thank you! Most Dr offices don't even hire LPN's unless it's for the same pay as a Medical Assistant
@@patriciagiles5833 Wages have dropped since the late 1990s. I started in 1997 in Hospital HR at $20.00 per hour and today that same entry level position is $15.00 per hour, take it or leave it.
This has been a real stereotype for years. It is all in how you look at it. I have been an LPN for 19 yrs and have a BA in Business Administration and an MBA. You have to give yourself options. I can work in any arena. I have worked in all aspects of nursing. ICU, CVICU, LTC Home Health and even teaching. I have even received some backlash when other nurses see my resume. It is funny because in LTC you can try to apply for a job in management and people get threatened. I have had snarky undercut comments made. But that is their insecurity and problems, not mine. When you give yourself choices and options, it makes a BIG difference. BTW Ive been in the healthcare field for 30 yrs. LOL (I was a CNA )
There are mandated minimums for nursing staff in LTC, the issue is that most LTC facilities have turned into rehab facilities, and also the acuity of care has changed over the years, but the staffing ratios have not. The typical NH residents 25 years ago are now in assisted living. I worked LTC and I loved my residents, I loved the work. I was happy being an LPN, but did deal with some people looking down their nose at me because I was only an LPN. Nurses eat their young, and also pick on anyone they see as lesser than themselves.
Some benefits of long term care include establishing relationships with your clients, meeting really interesting people and attempting to promote wellness rather than simply treating illness. There is and will continue to be huge service need treating older and impaired individuals, and we need payments to reflect the actual amount of time needed to care for these individuals
I am an LPN and I love it. I hated working in the LTC and ALF as a student. I took a few extra courses and worked hard to win a position working as a dialysis nurse in the ICU. I out earn a few of my RN counterparts who work on the med-surg floor. I'll argue that I am the exception rather than the rule as most of my classmates ended up in the nursing homes. I cringe at the thought of having 20+ patients at a time. That's just a mess waiting to happen.
" I out earn a few RN's" " I am the exception to the rule because my classmates are in nursing homes " This attitude is what's wrong with the state of nursing today.😒🙄
Her choice or lack thereof to take an unsafe job is irrelevant. It doesn’t negate the abhorrent practice that’s normalized in LTCFs to have extreme patient to nurse ratios. This practice just should not allow to be…
oh it definitely doesn't justify the fact that the conditions are so horrific. Just explaining WHY she may work in a place like this. That was so obviously unsafe. Because everyone was saying "just don't work there" as if that is an option that is available to everyone
I respect you, being honest and forth right. I plan on going into nursing. I'm Mexican and Native American and French. My plan is hospice. I already know where I want to go. I don't like death but I believe being there for a person who has a little time to live.. every day is important.
My first CNA job was LTC, because I was inexperienced. They offered me 17.50 for Night Shift. They started me out SN side then Sub Acute side. Let me tell ya, strictly for patient ratios I would take the heavy load in subacute over SN side. If CNA’s did t show up I’d have 19+ patients. Very unsafe considering that at least 1 was a wanderer and 1-2 patients here fall risk and would attempt to get out of bed. I would often freak out internally while trying to manage keeping my patients all clean and dry in addition to hourly rounding on my patients. Luckily I had applied to the local county Acute care facility… it just took this four months to go through the interview, hiring, onboarding process. When I got to the Acute care it was heavy during COvID. The max patients I had was 12, and usually there here ambulatory patients and not all patients where Incontinent so it was much more manageable. More eyes in the floor and sitters with high risk patients, or patients who just needed a safety sitter for high fall risk, wandering/elopement risk.
I just finished first semester of my LVN program!! 95% overall in the class !! We start clinicals first week of May, I’m excited! Planning to apply to new grad LVN program at an acute care hospital, Night Shift of course.
I now work 95% in Acute care as a registry CNA, sometimes sitter, sometimes the floor but never have had more than 12 patients. I sometimes pick up at an LtC that implements a ratio of 1:10 and this facility has mobile patients and not all Incontinent.
Lpns work in Ltc because there are the most opportunities and pay is highest. I’ve been a LTC for 27 years. Small detour to home Heath and a hospital. But ltc is where the jobs are. Hospitals frequently decide they don’t want lpns and home health pays nothing
It’s legal and the norm to have 40 patients in LTC. Call the DOH. They set staffing minimums.
Thank you for this video. Yes cost and time is why people go to lpn school. I had a baby and I dropped out of a BSN program so I could support my family. I still owe student loans after 27 years.
I remember applying for a perdiem RN position in a LTC facility for extra money… after my 1st shift, I never went back… enough said
This happened to me last week. I went through an agency & I showed up for 11p-7a shift. Imagine on my first shift I had no access to the computer but they gave me access to the charting system. That doesn't help the situation when I can't get on the computer and the supervisor called out so I'm the charge nurse and supervisor for the night. I was like this is so darn dangerous. I had the whole floor and the only RN in the building. The techs and other staff kept asking if I'm there though an agency. Every time they find out I'm through an agency you can literally see they are hating on us agency nurses. Then when I told the agency how the shift went he txted back and asked "thanks for sticking it out. Are you willing to go back?" Smh!
@@yemialemu9902 exactly no amount of money is worth the liability… I’m sure some facilities are better than others but I think if nurses take a stand and refuse and then thry have no choice to change unsafe working conditions.
The system is broken due to the cheap labor needs in healthcare! One group immigrate to the USA and now have dominate (nursing healthcare) and are racist to the point they speak their language without any regard to the staff, patients and members that they works with no matter the race! The environment in all these places are permeate with these types of individuals and their cliques are highly toxic and dangerous! Working with these individuals is not worth losing your license! You will always be an outsider no matter how hard you work✨
As far as going back to school, it’s incredibly hard to advance your degree when you are consistently overworked and burned out just from work- let alone work life balance
You said it again. LPNs work way harder than nurses. The N in LPN stands for Nurse
yes! Thanks for pointing it out. Someone had mentioned that earlier and I think I pinned a comment apologizing.
You also feel responsible for your patients and feel as though if you leave, no one else will be there to take care of them.
These hospitals encourage elitism in the nurses. BSN grads come out with so few skills. Yet some of them think they're so much more special than nurses with an associate's degree to have 30 years of experience.It's kind of gross
Everywhere is the same! I was an LPN working for nursing homes in NYC. The ratio was 1to 40 to 52.
😳😳😳
I've worked LTC for years and did and do a wonderful job. If a patient acuity level increased then send them to the hospital. Ive never had a NP or MD refuse to send a patient when I expressed how dire I felt the situation was.
I'm really glad that has been your experience and that your patients have a healthcare provider like you!
@@NurseLiz yes. My thing is this could be every nurse experience. Once they come to the realization THEY will be held responsible for care or lack of care for their patients. MD NP and DON will be upset but then ask them are they willing to come care for the patient in house for the remainder of the shift because it's beyond my capabilities. It may sound insubordinate and you may lose your job but another door is always open in this field.
I've worked in rehabs where I was oriented to three large med carts and worked with no break 0700 to 1530. Then had to stay late to do all the charting. 60 patients in long term care. Another nurse did all the treatments. Each CNA had 10 patients. Guess what he s when someone called out?
The inhumane Nurse to patient ratio that is allowed is the reason why turn over in LTC facilities is so high..they cant keep Nurses because of the work load....they leave because they are overwhelmed
I feel lucky because straight out of LPN school, I got my dream job at an integrative/ functional medicine clinic working Monday thru Friday 8 to 4:30. Although I could make much more money in other areas, I wouldnt trade it for the world. I dont have anxiety going into work. My license is never on the line nor do I stress about having patients lives on the line. I work with generally healthy patients, at least not having acute illness/trauma/infection. I get my breaks and lunch breaks and endless perks. I learn SO much working with 4 providers that teach me everything they know. And I feel like Im actually helping people heal and transform their life rather than passing pills and not able to truly make people better. Not many clinics like ours which is why people travel hours to see us for their appointments. Also my employers never force us to conform to strict dresscode policies or vaccines.
Wish LPNs had more options like this. Where I live in central.illinois, its either nursing homes or low paying and limited hospital jobs. The hospitals here pay the absolute lowest for LPNs, around 20 to 23 average. I make 27. Ltc anywhere from 23 to 35.
Ltc often hires new RN grads, it increase the quality rating and allows a higher reimbursement. Unfortunately, the RN typically does not have the experience to lead or even. Follow due to being a new grad- which leaves an lpn in a position to not only be autonomous in the decision making of care, rx, and tx for patients- they are doing things far outside of anything they have been trained to do without knowing the potentially serious outcomes. Often times these are lpn with less than 3 years of experience- who are leading the directives..
Depending on the state of Florida, LPN is about $29K if you are going to RN, $ 56K, so the price is a big difference between LPN and RN
Is there a group we can join to advocate for mandated staffing ratios? My young adult child is studying to be a nurse, and I'm proud and also scared. Also scared for my aging parents if they should need care. This situation is totally unacceptable for nurses and patients.
The hospitals need to be held accountable for firing the nurses, then saying they're short staffed. It feels like a mental disorder, "feel sorry for me, I'm not making enough money, be happy you have a job, sorry you got your hours cut, too bad you are working short staffed all the time, now more nurses quit, boo hoo we have to pay travelers, you don't get a raise this year during hyperinflation, and all the while... we get our big bonuses and take vacations".
My understanding is she was a travel nurse. When I was a travel nurse I found myself in a similar situation in a hospital where understaffing was the norm. When I complained I was told that was the way they did things in that state. Fortunately I had enough experience to call them out and ask if the ombudsman would agree... there was a huge shake up in administration and staffing within the week. If nothing changes, nothing changes. Use the resources you have to get the resources you need.
I’m an LPN student. I appreciate your content. I am 45 y/o and I must work while going to school. BTW at 12:30 you said that “LPN’s and CNA’s are way harder working than nurses. “ FYI
Thanks so much to speak up for nurses! I am a new LPN. I feel lost and tired about this profession.
I want to scream every time I hear a nurse should just quit unsafe jobs. How do you eat and support your family? Very elitist attitude indeed
Thank you so much for this discussion. I am a LPN I started as a CNA, I worked as a CNA and LPN in LTC. I was given the opportunity with a grant to go from CNA to LPN. It was a wonderful opportunity but it was still difficult financially for me even thought the course was paid for. I had no health insurance and little to no savings (we all know how poorly CNA's get paid). I struggled for 10 months but did make it. I went back to the same LTC facility to work as a LPN and stayed there for about 6 years in total. I had 30 demented patients as I worked in the Alzheimer's/dementia units on the evening shift. I have constantly been told to go back for my RN. I have been trying for 14 years now. I have to work to keep a roof over my head, so I went to local community colleges and would take one class at a time. By the time I was able to apply for the nursing transition program, my classes were too old for the program and I was required to retake classes like A&P. I have felt like a rat on a wheel trying to obtain my RN. I kept preserving and finally was awaiting my acceptance into an evening LPN to RN program after retaking all my pre requisites, then COVID hit and the program was cancelled! I have finally come to the point that I do not want my RN I feel like I need to be a voice for LPN's and fighting for fair wages and treatment (because we all know most places do not consider LPN's nurses!). With my LPN I have RN's come to me to learn how to do the job, why are we not taking into account the years of experience a LPN has?
My experience has been similar. I've been an LPN since 1999 and have tried over and over to go back to school in the midst of being a single mom, homeschooling kids and chronic health issues. Not everyone has the opportunity to go back to school.
it boils down to Medicaid pays ltc so u cant have lower ratio's....thats it in a nutshell
and what it really boils down to is our country doesnt place any value on older or chronically ill people. Hence why they don't value the care they need
@@NurseLiz Amen Liz 😔
@@NurseLiz ugh, so true. I will never stop raging about this.
@@NurseLiz Exactly. They have written them off otherwise why would they have such a low nurse to patient ratio. It is because they don't care what happens to them. It is unreasonable to expect one nurse to take care of 37 patients and still expect the patients to receive the best care. That is impossible. If anyone thinks it is possible, they are cutting corners and is an accident waiting to happen.
I’m a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant that went back for my LPN a few years ago, and I just graduated with my ADN getting prepped for my NCLEX exam now. I have always worked in LTC as a therapist but as an LPN I worked in Assisted Living. I had anywhere from 50-100 patients at a time but it’s not as acute as LTC and mostly we just managed their meds and did some simple treatments. I have no desire to ever return to LTC or AL, as an RN I’m interested in ED nursing and I’m leaning towards trauma as my specialty for my NP.
For me its like the hours are there and there is always opportunity for overtime. Theres clinics hiring LVNs but not as high pay for ltc and no chance of overtime
This video needs to be shown on all major platforms, as a lpn I’m working full time agency so I don’t have to deal with the foolery. Now a days it’s not hard to work in hospitals as a LPN but the pay is very low
Actually pretty rare for LPNs to get hired in hospitals. Most have phased LPNs out.
@@TheDowntown02 in Illinois u can still get a position I’ve turn down a few because of the pay. People are not staying in staff it’s so many agencies nurses in these hospitals it’s ridiculous
All of these comments saying these nurses are to blame for taking these assignments… LPNs just don’t have a lot of options. This is such a classist response. I’m an LPN and I work on the LTC side of a skilled nursing facility. They have started accepting people back from the hospital back on the LTC side, when they need more time and attention. What is an LPN to do when they have to make a living and have a family to feed? It disgusts me that I see so many RNs tearing down LPNs, not having any compassion or a good understanding of how many different factors and variables are at play in an LPN’s life when they are in a position to make this very difficult decision and take the risk of a dangerous job. Nurses need to be more compassionate and supportive to one another. The administrations and CEOs all love that nurses are so often pitted against each other. If we supported each other more, then they would have more risk of us joining forces to demand better treatment.
Thank you for speaking on this!!
I am shocked and horrified by some of the comments on your first video!
In a profession based in caring and compassion, we have so much work to do in learning how to show those things to each other.
So true
When I decided to become an lpn I asked myself what is something I can be great at, succeed in and most importantly improve my financial situation without having to go to college for 4 plus year and lpn was the first thing I thought about. The reason why the majority of lpn’s work in long term care in my opinion is the pay. The pay an lpn receives from the hospital is atrocious and a slap in the face. You have hospitals offering lpn’s $16-18 per hour working 72 hours. At that rate I ask myself did I accomplish my number one goal of going to lpn school which was to improve myself financially and the answer is hell no. The nursing homes in my area pay anywhere from $22-30 per hour, give you a full 80 hours and let you work all the overtime you want. One can easily earn $60,000-$100,000 per year and live a comfortable life. Most lpn’s coming into the game has never earned money close to that in there lives. So even though it’s not cool to have 30 patients assigned to one lpn, as long as I can take this lpn license and use it as a vessel to live comfortably long term care is where I will choose to work.
100 k working 80 hrs a week. Lol. It's not that lucrative! Stop the madness!
You left out the fact most hospitals won't hire LPNs.
The pay in CT is great plus any time after my 8 hours I get paid double overtime and I do my 2 hours of charting ☺️
You are a godsend. So open and bring this to light. So where are you working now?
Thank you for the encouragement! I work at Lecturio, its an online nursing education company. They tolerate my sassiness and I appreciate them haha
My main concern is that ours STATES knows that and nothing change.....
California LVN courses cost 36'000$.. on the average for a 12 or 13month LVN/LPN program..that's common...
How do I know? I'm enrolled and I did a lot of research in southern California that's what the schools cost(B.T.W. there is a HUGE!!! push to get health care workers to get 25$ an hour in southern California minimum).
You did it again!!! You said that LPNs and CNAs work harder than Nurses. 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
When I first went to apply for an RN position in southern california, I asked the receptionist where the human resources department was she replied " we aren't hiring house keepers". When I handed in my application for the nursing position , I had to submit my application 3xs because the HR secretary threw my application away because she was trying to get a family member the job... it goes on. There is racism is healthcare... fortunately there are also people who will try yo mitigate and address that.
Ltc has turned into this divided allegiance. Most places are run by staffing agencies. Local “career agency workers” often travel from site to site via word of mouth. It is often a competitive area, with layers of gate keepers. The division has created intense hostile environments. There are usually large groups of families working together, they are promoted within and are not only placed in favored assignments, they are paid higher and significantly held less accountable for following regulations- in comparison to peers without personal relationships. It is extremely difficult. Lack of support, lack of skillset due to bias in delegation places staff and patients in unsafe conditions. There is physical abuse that is overlooked. I was actually told to document a patient who was physically abusing me and other residents. No intervention was provided to endorse physical safety. No support on any unit against aggressions from family or patients. Caught in a position to take the fault and harassment by patients and family, where the lpn has no control of the situation. The behaviors are negatively reinforced, management seldom steps foot on the floor- yet passively allows the misdirected patient or family the belief that the nurse,lpn, on the floor- who has never met this patient before- lets them believe it is the fault of the lpn and mgmt was completely unaware! There is zero support. It is known, substantiated- there is nurses to nurse violence/bullying as well as patient/family/resident abuse and bullying towards the nurses and lpn on the floor.. but no one is doing anything to protect the floor staff physically being abused! We have staffing ratios/ here is the issue… let’s post schedules that “accidentally “ have the wrong people scheduled.. let’s cancel staff and list it as call outs- who is going to investigate an agency nurse calling out? We can maintain paper trail to meet state ratio mandates. Let use licensed staff in administration positions and count them on the reported ratio. This field has transitioned into this environment that institutionalized staff, patients and residents. Staff are conditioned to abuse so severely that they do not realize the impact, the ptsd that is completely ignored. There is no support. There is little to no support- which coincidentally leaves this grey area of “accountability” based on random printed directives posted on walls hidden within a multitude of other forms with no ability to clarify posted date- yet deviate from this form posted in a specific nursing station, not accessible to all- and you will be screamed at in front of all of your peers, coworkers, patients and their families by management.. screamed at. I have actually had another nurse redirect me while attempting to get report, in a derogatory tone- because she was on a FaceTime call. She also left without counting narcotics, slipped out the back. The count was wrong. The supervisor acknowledged it and i was directed to ask the patient for details of this unsigned narcotic being administered. Yes, the description and timeframe matched the nurse who left in such a hostile manner. When I reapproachef her in the morning.. she responded that she split that cart. Ignored the multiple attempts to remind her of the responsibility and accountability when holding the keys- I was ignored multiple times.. when I pleaded a final time, the nurse responded “you need to get out my face” I was standing 6 feet behind her during shift change with the entire staff from night and day at change of shift present for this demonstration.. I had a nurse waiting for report and the keys with an incorrect count! What happened to her? She became the manager in less than a week. She has less than 2 years total in the field. Never been in mgmt. And the behaviors presented to me are not uncommon.. promoted. Me? My tires were vandalized! For trying to follow regulations!! I am an Lpn of 18 years. More certifications than I can count. Management for 10 years. MDS and insurance through centralized hospital multi specialty peer to peer management.. and my background affords me zero opportunities in this evolving, corporate institutionalized setting- with entire extended families working together to ensure bias priority, bonuses and shift differential. Where the corporation owns the staffing agency and the staffing coordinator owns a staffing agency to dilute any conception of monopoly- despite the clearly communicated personal, like mother daughter working together. The whispers in the halls suggest intentional below average pay-rates offered to maintain short staffing for this urban legend that the company can be afforded financial assistance to maintain safety in staffing crisis’.. and if all of this is not mind blowing enough, the owner of this huge corporation was “elected” to the board of health to a position that directly assists in the policies from creation thru regulations in an official elected seat, “allegedly” . Although- it was interesting to learn about the connections hospitals, insurance companies snd and pharmacies have regarding corporate ownerships.. it’s a completely untouchable environment.. why do I do it? 1. The money. The physical toll this industry has taken on my body makes it difficult to work 5 days a week. It is literally easier for me to suffer through 3 12 hour shifts or a couple “doubles” 16 hour days, and then recover in bed and get routine injections to manage the chronic pain in both hips that is preventing me from physically walking to maintain a “standard” job- which pays half the amount. 2. Why did I leave management? I was given an option to either come to work with new outbreak of shingles, both sides of my body, multiple dermatomes (which is in itself so painful I could not stand) to work on my Covid unit! Or I would be fired!! I was doing my boss job as she emailed corporate that she did it! So yes, I needed a job that I had the ability to control my schedule because of the level of traumatic episodes I have been exposed to! I worked thru the pandemic, in New York- at the epicenter hospital from the beginning thru reopening and civil rights movements.. volunteered before they started awarding “stipends”… because I thought I would be better protected in known outbreak areas and that as a nurse, I took an oath and we were told that should anything like this ever happen- pandemic, health emergencies- it was our duty to assist. 3. Why don’t I just go back to school or switch environments.. I am 100% traumatized from the last 3 years. I have also been battling health conditions and have a daughter whose father passed slowly before the pandemic, she is not ok.. and my husband of 10 years became disabled right after my ex husband passed away.. I don’t have a lot of options, and even less support. In fact I was just trying to find a lead for resources for nursing staff who are being bullied and abused in the workplace.. but it doesn’t seem there is any such thing.. just advocates for patients and residents. I would love to go back to school or change environments, however I work in an industry that assigned my role as a nameless, faceless, disposable position with no true worth.. and I am stuck in a career level time in my life in this heavily recycled title.. “agency nurse” where I don’t see any transition unless I die.. but even then- I am still “agency nurse” . The more I search for support, the more I realize how hopeless this system really is for the position I chosen. Even the therapies offered, turn out to be more of an autonomously random email with assigned forms to be part of someone’s research paper.. not real therapy or support.. just another means to use me as a nameless function. It’s absolutely devastating that this is where so many of us end up. My father use to say “don’t ask questions you don’t really want answers to” how sad, how true- how meaningless my life that I sacrificed so much for so many people I never knew… just to watch selfish blatant abuse being rewarded. I will die from cancer while my coworkers and patients abuse me without anyone ever ending these abusive patterns in my field.
I love this. I am an LPN and started out trying to go to RN program. But I did not get accepted. So i took the LPN program because i wanted fo get started. It has not been super hard to get in RN program because they there is no flexability and there is no program for the clinical portion and doing the other portion online. That would be better as it allow more flexabily for transition. Now at this point idk if i even want to. I might just to management as i can do it all online. It has been hard to get in a transition program
That’s SNF ratio, if not more…day shift, skilled wing, 32 patients, one cna. Someone has to care for these people.
Retired LPN. Worked in hospitals. Gave meds took pharmacy class. Many did not pass. One-day in llinois told no more only RN could give meds. LTC overworked pay good. Did for 8 years. Did agency for 10 years worked in hosp able to give meds.Retired 2 years ago as triage nurse for Dr office pay ,56000. Worked for office 20 years. Replacement RN.
I wanna be a nurse but the cattiness is probably cuz it's all women, I'm a woman too but I hope I'm not like that, I think if adults are bullying each other it's pathetic, you're not fucking 12
As a new grad BSN with all the "privileges" of being an honor graduate, white, a veteran, and willing to work any shift for any pay, I could not get a job anywhere other than LTC, and I only got that job as a temp for a maternity leave. I and many of my new grad colleagues had the same experience. We were told in school, that because of the economy, (early 90's) we would need to be willing to do more for less and be more "adaptable" to the needs of the institution. So because I needed to actually pay rent and eat and the LTC paid $20 hrs vs the $4 hrs for a minimum wage job that was just as scarce. What would you do?
Many LPN are doing this they arent suppose to. I'm doing agency and you have to be on your Ps and Qs. Don't stay in this to long. You ll find that many can do acute care easier after having 30 to 40 pets in LTC.
I 100% agree. I heard so many racist comments working for a large organization that prides themselves on diversity (and advertises it on their website). Having a BSN doesn't get you a higher salary in my area. All RNs are on the same pay scale. Many LPNs work in clinics in the MA role. Most of them eventually go on to get their RN license because the organization pays for it.
I'm sorry you've experienced that first hand :( Glad the healthcare systems help with some tuition though!
To pay the rent and put food on the table?
Lpn since 1985, RN since 199pre and post cardiac cath. The ratio went from 4-1 to 6-1.
Pure risk with my license flapping in the breeze. One day you are a Daisy...one thing goes wrong and you are a zero. I have worked in different specialties from time to time but there is no space where a nurse is truly safe. We know what flows downhill.
My program was 10,000 and I wanted to work in LTC to help the elderly. I have a bs in Finance and BS in accounting and passed CPA in 1999. I felt I was wrong career in accounting and truly wanted to help the elderly. I couldnt believe what I got my self into.
An LPN is way harder working than a nurse? An LPN is a nurse.
I had such a hard time with this. I meant RN
But I also don’t think that you can truly speak to the patient ratios when you’re dealing with a nursing home because you’ve never worked there and comparing it to hospital nursing is not anywhere near the same
When people are in a nursing home that is their home, I have never heard someone say oh we can’t send this person to the hospital because they’re in their Medicare window
Moving and elderly patient in and out of the hospital is not good as a standard of practice
It contributes to delirium it contributes to increase in behaviors if the patient has dementia not to mention the infection risk of being in the hospital
Needing a good union sounds good but first you need a way to keep management from busting unions up.
I am a BSN and have spent most of my career in LTC. I’ve worked in LTC in one capacity or another since 1987. It is MY CALLING. I’m happiest performing care with LTC than the hospital, home health, rehab and hospice. I would do hospice in a hospice facility but not through home health. This video is so biased and one sided. 😡😡
#LTCsarenothorridplaces
I’m going to LPN then going to get my ASN RN and most likely will not go to any further in school. I will practice as both LPN and RN. Yes cost and time are what have brought me to this path. I’m not going into ANY debt and will be working during school. And I want to be sure this is a great calling for myself. Thank you so much for all that you do! I love the direction your channel is going!
I do consider going by my middle name since my name isn’t “American” it’s Latina.
I'll bet your name is beautiful.
I was a divorced mom and went to LPN school to make money quicker than if I became an RN. Once I began working as an LPN, our director wanted me to get my RN. I decided not to because I didn't want to be a supervisor and wanted to be bedside. That was my love. And supervisors locked the door at night, got supplies from the supply closet and called people to come in when people call out. So why do they get more training to do less as a nurse? One RN who was supervisor laughed and said "RN" means "Really Nothing." At Yale, a RN said she used to be an LPN and was forced to go back to school for her RN to keep her job. Her LPN years of experience went out the window, and the pay. She was now a new nurse. She said Yale did not pay for her education so now she was not only making less money because she was a "new" nurse, but she now had her student loans to pay for.
Thats so crappy that they didn't honor the previous experience. UGh. This makes me so mad that nursing attacks itself like this. rather than using that energy to fight for overall better and safer conditions. Thank you for sharing your experience.
I'm a new social worker at a VA hospital working inpatient case management. But I was also a social service assistant at a LTC during my last year in grad school. I was appalled that I was tasked with social work duties that I wasn't qualified or licensed for, I was still in university, and I refused to use the title. Then I was let go after six months because the new manager hated that I was in university and said I had to choose work or school. I took a year off to finish school. Will never work at a LTC again.
The Administrators must take responsibility for staffing the LTC Facility appropriately. The work load for LPN in the LTC is
overwhelming. 40 residents to one LPN, Certainly this needs an intervention.