Any LPN's or RN's here?

[Pea-n-Me]

I have heard though what WMAlex said about it being difficult in the northeast for associate's RN's to find work. I'm not sure why that is, but a cousin of mine had that problem.

It's because the area is largely academic.

RN training and credentials have been a huge source of debate for decades. I don't think we're going to solve the issues here on the Dis but for anyone who's interested in knowing the history, here it is, from the ANA.

 

[yeartolate]

You are seeing this more and more around here but mostly in hospitals, clinics still use mostly LPN's.

Another thing to consider is that an LPN around here makes about $16/hour, tops out at maybe $22/hour after 20+ years. An BSN will START at about $25/hour around here, making in the $50,000+ range to start and moving up to $90K+. For an AA degreed RN you can subtract about $15,000 for each of those numbers.

Wow!

Out here I have seen no difference in AD/BSN - whether we were in a nursing glut (about 25 years ago) or severe shortage (current). THe only way (in my experience) that a BSN would get more is if it was a requirement for a job other than bedside staff nurse (management, etc). What a difference a little geography makes.

 

[mgilmer]

You are seeing this more and more around here but mostly in hospitals, clinics still use mostly LPN's.

Another thing to consider is that an LPN around here makes about $16/hour, tops out at maybe $22/hour after 20+ years. An BSN will START at about $25/hour around here, making in the $50,000+ range to start and moving up to $90K+. For an AA degreed RN you can subtract about $15,000 for each of those numbers.

Wow!

Out here I have seen no difference in AD/BSN - whether we were in a nursing glut (about 25 years ago) or severe shortage (current). THe only way (in my experience) that a BSN would get more is if it was a requirement for a job other than bedside staff nurse (management, etc). What a difference a little geography makes.

Same here in middle TN. My wife started at $18 as an LPN and was at $22 two years later before she became an RN. As an RN there is no difference locally for BSN or ASN in salary unless you are in some sort of admin position. One good thing here in TN is that UT has a bridge program that allows you to get a MSN and bypass the BSN if you are an RN and have some other terminal college degree. My wife has a BA in psychology and she is pursuing the MSN even though her RN is only an ASN.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

was anyone around for the last big nursing shortage, about 17 or 18 years ago? It was nuts, my wife doubled her salary in 3 years.
Hey we can dream it could happen again right?

 

[Princessbaby]

I am an LPN who is currently doing my LPN-BSN bridge. I have 3 semesters left to finish. My area seems to be pushing harder for BSNs because a lot of hospitals(we have 5 here in town) are pushing for magnet status which to my understanding requires a certain percentage of your nursing staff to be BSN. One of our local universities actually just took in their last ASN class- it was a huge blow to the community because 90% of our nurses in this area are ASN (we have 3 universities/colleges in this area with ASN prgrams and 2 of them also have BSN programs). I choose a BSN program because it was available to me and it seemed to work with my schedule. I had previously gone to college and completed a lot of the pre-reqs that are required for a bachelor's degree. So for me, it wasn't much longer to complete the BSN program.
With all that said, there are no wage differences between ASN and BSN around here (rumors have been flying for years) and LPNs are being phased out in hospitals. My hospital recently announce to the 40 LPNs left that as we leave our jobs, they will be filled with RNs. If we graduate from an RN school, then our current job will be converted into an RN position. The patient acuity is just too high- insurance companies are not paying for ICU stays like they once did- so they are being pushed out onto the floor sooner. Most dr offices here are hiring medical assistants nowadays because they can be paid lower wages and are able to do front and back office work- lpns cannot do the front office.
Good luck with school! IT IS HARD, but the rewards are wonderful!

 

[Princessbaby]

One good thing here in TN is that UT has a bridge program that allows you to get a MSN and bypass the BSN if you are an RN and have some other terminal college degree. My wife has a BA in psychology and she is pursuing the MSN even though her RN is only an ASN.

We have that here in northern Indiana. I actually work with 6 other nurses who have a bachelor's in like social work, biology, etc and they are ASNs in a bridge program for their MSNs. MSNs seem to be the "hot" thing around here lately!

 

[yeartolate]

was anyone around for the last big nursing shortage, about 17 or 18 years ago? It was nuts, my wife doubled her salary in 3 years.
Hey we can dream it could happen again right?

We have done that, but nurses are getting greedier.

If the nurses get there way out here, starting salary will be about $120,000. (we have a severe shortage in many areas).

We are not union (thank God), but I am pissing off some fellow nurses. I think obscene salaries such as that will doom the profession. THere is no way a hospitals can afford such lunacy. I think our greed will be our undoing.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

yeartolate, I'll have to disagree with your assessment. It's not about greed; it's about supply and demand. Doing the job of a hospital nurse today is extemely difficult, demanding, round the clock work with weekends, holidays and night shifts; exposure to germs and illnesses, extreme stress, death and dying, codes, blood and guts, difficult people and situations, lawsuits, etc. How many people are really willing to do that?

When I started as an RN I was very happy to be making $12/hr doing the work I loved anyway. Demand has pushed salaries up quite a bit, but it's certainly not because I am greedy - I've just ridden the wave of the nursing shortage and this is the result. Lots of changes happen when there are shortages.

 

[TeresaNJ]

My advice is to take your prerequisites while you are waiting to be accepted into the RN program. Do not waste your time with the LPN program. The only places that are hiring LPNs in my area, mid-Atlantic, are doctor's offices, and the pay is no where near what you would get in a hospital.

 

[TeresaNJ]

was anyone around for the last big nursing shortage, about 17 or 18 years ago? It was nuts, my wife doubled her salary in 3 years.
Hey we can dream it could happen again right?

That's actually when I went back to school to become an RN. I had been a hairstylist since graduating cosmetology school right after high school, and although a fun job, it didn't have many perks, such as no paid vacation, no sick days, and the pay was just okay. I was able to get into the county college RN program, the local hospital paid my tuition in return for working there, and I've now been an RN for 17 years. It was a good decision.

 

[yeartolate]

yeartolate, I'll have to disagree with your assessment. It's not about greed; it's about supply and demand. Doing the job of a hospital nurse today is extemely difficult, demanding, round the clock work with weekends, holidays and night shifts; exposure to germs and illnesses, extreme stress, death and dying, codes, blood and guts, difficult people and situations, lawsuits, etc. How many people are really willing to do that?

When I started as an RN I was very happy to be making $12/hr doing the work I loved anyway. Demand has pushed salaries up quite a bit, but it's certainly not because I am greedy - I've just ridden the wave of the nursing shortage and this is the result. Lots of changes happen when there are shortages.

These nurses are going after essentially a starting salary of $60/hour for new nurses. Please tell me you find this obscene. It wouldn't be if the numbers were sustainable, but they clearly (unless you want your medicare taxes to increase exponentially)they are not. It is all about me. Screw the rest.

Sorry, supply and demand or not, trying to get new nurses salaries of $120,000 a year is greedy. Supply and demand or not, it is fully unsustainable. THis type of greed will ruin a profession. Unless medicare plans on doubling it's payments to hospitals, it can't work in anything but the short term. Nurses whine nonstop about the loss of this supportive service and that supportive service and none can understand the reason why. I am an ICU nurse so our numbers are pretty hard and fast. But the medsurg units are legally required to decrease raions (1:4) . THey are totally shocked that many of the nurses aides are looking at potential pink slips (the hospital is working hard to crunch the numbers to keep them on - but they will ultimatly fail)

Fine, we want our money and can probably get it, but when we get so greedy - our profession will likely have a major collapse (at least in our area).

 

[Cool-Beans]

I have a friend who pulls in over $100,000 but she works overtime to get it. She works so much that she has trouble keeping weight on - tries really hard to eat enough to gain, but keeps losing. She's going to have to give it up one of these days.

No new RN is making anywhere near that walking out of school around here.

We don't get paid all that well. NOT complaining, just pointing it out.

I think the difference between associate/diploma and BSN is around $.20/hr ($416/year) - that's what I've heard, I dunno, I don't do the payroll.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

I have a friend who pulls in over $100,000 but she works overtime to get it. She works so much that she has trouble keeping weight on - tries really hard to eat enough to gain, but keeps losing. She's going to have to give it up one of these days.

No new RN is making anywhere near that walking out of school around here.

We don't get paid all that well. NOT complaining, just pointing it out.

I think the difference between associate/diploma and BSN is around $.20/hr ($416/year) - that's what I've heard, I dunno, I don't do the payroll.

It's not that unusual for a very experienced nurse to make a 100k WITHOUT overtme in the Boston teaching hospitals. I am refereing to someone with 15 or 20 years of experience

 

[yeartolate]

It's not that unusual for a very experienced nurse to make a 100k WITHOUT overtme in the Boston teaching hospitals. I am refereing to someone with 15 or 20 years of experience

It is easy out here as well. But they are trying for new grads to get that kind of wage (AND MORE) It just is not financially sustainable.

In addition, we are being flooded with nurses who want the money and don't care about the "craft". I know nurses earning well in excess of 200,000 year and they are dangerous to work with. The ones that are tired all the time are scary. THe ones that are not tired are even scarier.