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registered nurse vs licensed practical nurse

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registered nurse vs licensed practical nurse
Registered Nurse vs. Licensed Practical Nurse

When you actually take a look at the two types of Nurses you find many similarities and differences. There are many stereotypes placed on Nurses, like an LPN is not a real nurse, or an LPN is the “bottom feeder” in the care setting. The general public has been led to believe that there is a large difference between the RN and the LPN and the care they provide. There is little or no truth to this. I feel as though people have gotten the wrong information about nurses, and the jobs they do. Both The Registered Nurse (RN) and the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) play vital role in the Medical Field and shouldn’t be looked down upon regardless of which title they achieve. I will now go through the two types of Nurses starting with the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN.) It takes 12-18 months of Vocational training to obtain the credentials to become an LPN. LPN’s do direct patient care, do assessments, admissions, IV’s, injections, medications and make clinical judgment’s to just state a few. LPN’s work in conjunction with RN’s in patient assessments and are conserved to be working “under the RN License.” They are responsible for seeing that the patient care plans formulated by the by the RN are put into action. LPN’s are task oriented and paperwork demanded and can be held legally if there are any discrepancies. They are competent, capable and experienced in the acute and long term care setting. Now on the other hand the Registered Nurse degree takes two years for an Associate’s Degree and four years for the Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing (BSN) after completing prerequisite courses. They have the same role as the LPN but they have more skills; they are able to hang blood products, push IV’s, titrate drugs, hang Chemo, initial assessment , and they formulate the Nursing Diagnosis of the patient for their care, they establish care plans and the Nursing actions to provide care. They are the supervisory position

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