LPN to RN Transition: Why The Rush To Do It Now?
On a recent doctor's office visit I had a long chat with an LPN (I’ll call her Debbie) who is in the process of going back to school for her RN degree. Debbie said since the LPN and RN programs were both two-year associate degree programs when she entered school, Debbie chose what she thought was an easier path. “My husband told me I didn’t have the ability to make it through the RN course. I’ve worked in health care teams with RNs and I feel I have the same abilities, just a different degree and license, so I’m going back to school. RNs make more money, get more respect, and have more opportunities.”
Students who entered LPN programs as a professional starting point in health care are finding that nursing is turning away from maximizing the LPN’s skills and practice. Instead of filling the nursing shortage with LPNs, many institutions, especially hospitals, have veered from the team focus to primary care nursing. Employers are restricting LPNs even more than the individual states who govern those LPNs scope of practice, often using LPNs as techs or nurse aides. For some LPNs, this downgrade was the final incentive to return to school and transition to RN.
Dr Carolyn Schreeder is a professor at the University of TN School of Nursing, Administrator at Erlanger Health System, and adjunct faculty with Kaplan University. Years ago, as a diploma nurse returning to school to complete her BSN, Dr. Schreeder had the same doubts many have faced going back to school with children and minimal social support at home. “The benefits are financial, opportunity, mobility; there is personal satisfaction, i.e. respect for a position and having attained a professional degree, and finally, the ability to practice autonomously. I specialized in nephrology, became a dialysis nurse, then a manager, administrator, hospital administrator, and college professor.”
Many in LPN programs don’t have a clear understanding between the two degrees. The LPN associate degree program focuses more on practical skills than theory, the ‘how to do it’ rather than ‘why you do what you do’. Becoming an RN shifts the focus from a primarily skill-set concentration to critical thinking, understanding on a deeper level patient assessment, needs, and plans of care. As a hospital administrator, Dr. Schreeder notes, “As states change their nurse practice acts and move toward minimizing LPN responsibilities, it is both cost inefficient and nonproductive for hospitals to hire LPNs, except in their office practices and/or outpatient settings where the level of care is less intensive. Thus, hospitals are eliminating LPN positions and replacing them with RN positions."
The online LPN to RN program allows LPNs to remain working while attending classes and many employers offer tuition reimbursement programs encouraging advancement. Online bridge programs have greater flexibility for the working student who may continue with a set work schedule while taking advantage of the online asynchronous environment. Looking at the choice between ground and online school, Dr. Schreeder adds, “Obviously, the biggest advantages are earning a nursing degree from an accredited university, easy access to an online library, creating new relationships, and being able to manage school, family, and work. I am a professor at a school of nursing that is brick and mortar but is being forced to move to online programs to be competitive.”
Have you ever considered the hours spent traveling to school (in traffic), missing meals because you go to school directly from work, parking, and walking to class in all kinds of weather? Usually one must adjust life and family around course schedules because nursing programs don’t leave much wiggle room for personal obligations. How many people do you know that have started back to school, only to stop because their work and school schedules were in constant conflict? Online nursing programs remove many of those restrictive obstacles and stressors, and allow students to concentrate on coursework.
Dr Schreeder’s timely advice comes from the perspective of a hospital administrator who has organizational responsibility for RN and LPN practice. As a nurse, to those LPNs considering the transition, Dr. Schreeder advises, “Having an LPN degree is career limiting so if at all possible, there is no time like the present to take the next step toward self-fulfillment and a twofold increase in pay. Go for it!”
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