What To Expect As A Licensed Practical Nurse
As a person studying to become a Licensed Practical Nurse, you may have heard of snide remarks and cruel jokes directed at you and your chosen career. Some of the most popular ones include variations on the acronym like "Let's Play Nurse" or jibes about LPNs not being "real" nurses. But, unknown to these misinformed people, being a Licensed Practical Nurse is a challenging career that can give you good money even at a young age while offering opportunities for career growth by way of education. So, brace yourself and enjoy the process of being a Licensed Practical Nurse.
Primary Duties of an LPN
As a soon-to-be Licensed Practical Nurse, you can expect to undertake any or all of these duties in the course of your career so take heed and pay attention to lessons involving these responsibilities:
Primary Bedside Care - this includes checking and monitoring patients' vital signs, watching catheters, giving alcohol rubs, and feeding patients. These are essential duties to ensure that patients' conditions are stable and comfortable.
Basic Medical Assistance - this covers monitoring changes in patients' conditions from vital signs to amounts of liquid or food intake. As part of basic medical assistance, a Licensed Practical Nurse is also expected to treat minor injuries like bedsores and apply bandages or dressings. At times, a Licensed Practical Nurse may also be bidden to collect biological samples for laboratory tests.
People Management - contrary to popular belief that a Licensed Practical Nurse is limited to being directed by an RNA or a doctor, a tenured LPN can also supervise people like CNAs and other nursing aides.
Salary and Compensation Packages
Being a Licensed Practical Nurse can give you good money. The U.S. Department of Labor pegged the average Licensed Practical Nurse income at $31,440 with a range of $22,860 - $44,040. You can make more money by choosing to be a Contract LPN with a public or private hospital.
Work weeks are fairly short with four days off and only three 12-hour shifts. Schedules are also generally flexible with the benefit of tuition reimbursements and signing bonuses. Since the schedules are flexible and the money is good, you can even squeeze in some RN coursework or BSN degree courses for career advancement.
Challenges
But of course, no career is without a challenge and being a Licensed Practical Nurse can give you challenges unmet by others with different professions. An LPN is expected to have a sympathetic and caring nature since patients, especially children and the elderly can be quite fussy and difficult to manage. To be able to work with different people is also a challenge since you can be expected to meet and work with many health practitioners in the course of your career. Being a Licensed Practical Nurse is, indeed, a challenging but rewarding job.
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