O/T RPN's in Canada?

[mollyseven]

I have a question about RPN work.
I was chatting to a friend/acquantaince yesterday about my taking the RPN course next year and starting on the courses now online blah blah blah.
Her response to me was "you know RPN's at the hospital just do PSW work" and RPN's at the nursing home just hand out medications!"
It was kinda a negetive comment and delivered as though why would you bother kinda thing cause you won't be a REAL nurse.
Now, even though I felt her negetivity, I am thinking.....do RPN's get respect and decent work in the community?
any RPN's out there?

 

[mastersd]

Hi,
I am an RN we have only a few RPN's left in our hospital. I work in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and I am part of the Pediatric Emergency Response Team.
The main difference in our hospital is RPN's can't give meds (even though I think they have taken a course). The RPN's have the same patients as the RN's but they can't give meds. I can honestly say I cannot tell the difference between a RN and RPN. If you became a RPN you could make good money and perhaps you could get a job that would support you going back to school to become a RN if that is what you want. I think though that there will be such a shortage of nurses that the demand for RPN's will increase. Good luck to you.
Deanna

 

[mollyseven]

Deanna
thanks for your info. I know from our frequent Hospital for Sick Children visits that they also only hire RN's.
I guess I should go onto workopolis or monster and check out who is hiring RPN's. I don't think at 42 that I will go back to get my degree for nursing, I suppose I should've gotten my RN back in the day when it used to be a college program. I am interested in being an RPN though and think it would be something I could definitely see myself doing. I have been a stay at home mom for 11 years + now so it's a new adventure.

 

[tjbaggott]

I work as a PSW in a Retirement home. I also work as a UCP (Unregistered Care Professional), in the same place when an RPN is not available (due to calling in sick or short staffed for any reason).

All the RPN's, PSW's and UCP's dole out the medications. Aside The RPN has more charting duties, paperwork, and communication with family members, and I as PSW have most of the hands on work with residents. Many of our UCP workers are actually nursing students, several of whom want to get their RN.
During our Frequent visits to our Children's Hospital, I never enquired as to weather my daughter's nurses were RPN's or RN's but some of them seemed SO YOUNG! I would think they couldn't have been in school long enough to have become RN's but I'm most likely wrong about that as a PP said their children's hospital only hires RN's. It must be pretty standard across the board.
Just a hint here, for a free education. RIVERA is the company that owns the Retirement home I work at. They offer a program whereby if you work for them and want to upgrade (ie: from PSW to RPN), they will let you work part time so you can go to school full time, AND upon successful graduation they will reimburse you the cost of your tuition! You sign a contract with them stating that you will work for them for 2 or 3 years after graduation though.
Rivera owns many Retirement homes in Ottawa and Southern Ontario (Toronto, Brantford, Kitchener ect..)
Check it out. Of course many of them, to get into the nursing department, you may have to be a registered PSW at least. I wasn't as I was working for them before the term PSW ever existed. I was trained by another company and at that time, I was called a "Nurse's Aid". So although I have all the training, I'm not a registered PSW. I had considered doing the RPN course through this company but it wouldn't work for me. I have children, and I'd never see my family if I was going to school full time and working part time on top of that. It's perfect though for someone younger or older (no kids or kids that are all grown up)!
Best of luck with your decision making!

 

[dancin Disney style]

I work in a MOHLTC long term care facility. In a government facility a PSW is never permitted to administer meds. Only the RN's and RPN's do that.

Our RPN's run their floors the same as the RN's but make less money. In long term care the residents are cared for by the PSW's but their care is managed by the registered staff.

If you want to do it....do it. Don't let other people talk you out of it. If you want to get an idea of what it's all about go and volunteer to see what the day to day is like.

 

[3GIRLSMOM]

I am an RN in a community hospital. We follow a total patient care model and our RPN's practice their full scope of practice. That means that they provide all care to their assigned pts including medications , conferring with mds etc. Check out the college of nurses website to find out more!
Cathy

 

[michelle1]

Your friend is incorrect in saying that an RPN only does PSW work in a hospital as it depends on the facility. I work at a very large community hospital and the RPNs on my floor do almost everything the RNs do (including IV meds, suctioning of trachs, starting IVs) but with significantly lower pay. If someone had the time or was just starting out I would recommend just sticking it out and doing the extra time to become an RN especially if the interest was to work on an active floor in a hospital. However, you said can't invest the time and there are plenty of rewarding RPN postions other than hospitals...(doctor and dental offices, clinics, nursing/retirement homes..just to name a few) so don't let your friend discourage you from pursuing a new career path.

 

[mollyseven]

Thanks for the encouragement. I would love to be an actual RN but that would be a 4 year degree and I just can't see that happening.
I start my first anatomy and physiology course in a few weeks though so I will take it one step at a time.