Progress from LPN to RN

If you want to excel more in the levels of nursing, a further study is needed to increase your level. Nursing is not as simple as giving care to other people; it entails some technicalities considering the fact that you are somewhat accountable for your patient’s health and improvement.

If you are a licensed practical nurse or a LPN, your task is progressive compared to ordinary nursing assistant. Nursing assistant can only help patience with their basic needs such as walking, getting up, eating, etc. LPNs can do that too but they can provide more attention to delicate cases such as sick and old people. Licensed practical nurses can facilitate laboratory testing, injections to patients, analyze the patient’s improvement, bathe a baby, execute CPRs and educate families of patients about proper healthy habits. However, LPNs can only take orders from a higher leveled nurse, such as registered nurses.

On the other hand, registered nurses or RNs are more accomplished compared to licensed practical nurses because they can take orders from doctors. If the doctor has a surgery or operation to attend to, a registered nurse can assist the doctor and operate equipments needed for surgery. Also, if you’re a registered nurse, you can recommend almost all medication and injection to patients.

The duration of education between licensed practical nurse and registered nurse varies. A practical nursing program can be done in a year making you eligible to take the nursing licensure exam for practical nurse. A registered nurse will normally undergo a bachelor’s degree in nursing and the years of study would depend on the school you enrolled in, normally it’s around 3-4 years of study. Once you’re a graduating student of BS-Nursing, your college or university would normally make you take the nursing licensure exam for registered nurse.

The Rise of Employment for LPNs

There are many opportunities present for licensed practical nurses or LPNs. Their work is not limited to hospitals only, there are nursing homes and clinics that they can work with; schools hire licensed practical to ensure that the safety of their students is secured especially those facing accidents and wounds which an LPN can accommodate by providing proper nursing.

It is said that the employment rate for Licensed Practical Nurses will increase by 14 percent between YR 2006 to 2016. Health care institutions are increasing therefore demand for licensed nurses or LPNs is evident. Since there is a spread of advanced technology, the work of physicians, other doctors and nurses are not limited in walls of a hospital; some clinics, emergency medical centers and personal offices of physicians have been established to perform some duties that are also done in hospitals.

If medical companies are increasing, therefore nurses and doctors too are in demand all over the world. Many nursing graduates in the Philippines go international due to the demands or nurses abroad. Also, the pay is much higher compared to their domestic country. People age no matter how they tend to slow aging that’s why nurses will always be in demand because patients demand to be cared for. If you are a licensed practical nurse, your education and your license will back you up when it comes to job-hunting; medical industries are searching for nurses who know not just the basic of care giving someone who is equipped with the proper nursing skills such as doing laboratory test, injections to patients, dressing wounds of patients, and analyzing the patient’s conditions.

The Requirements of a Licensed Practical Nurse

In order to be a Licensed Practical Nurse or a LPN, one must undergo certain procedures to qualify for that position. There are test needed to be taken, first you must pass the practical nursing program which you can finish in just a year, a formal education is needed to gain knowledge about the basics and know-how of proper nursing. Look for a good school with a record of providing outstanding education to its nursing students so that you know you are getting the right nursing education needed to be a practical nurse.

If you think you’re done after you’ve finish the one-year practical nursing program, not yet. There is this NCLEX-PN or the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurse that you need to be in order to become a full licensed practical nurse or a LPN. The exam is computer-based and it includes the four topics specifically the safe and effective care environment, physiological integrity, promotion and maintenance of health and psychosocial integrity. All of these should have been studied during the one-year nursing program so be sure to have reviewed your subjects.

When it comes to personal characteristics of an LPN, one should be caring; you cannot serve others if you do not care about them or sympathize with them. One should not be too emotional or with no emotion at all; emotions should be stable so that a practical nurse can make objective observation and analysis about the patient’s condition.

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