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.