One of the major reasons why an LPN will shift to RN is the huge difference when it comes to financial compensation. Currently, there is a huge demand for registered nurses as it comes with the higher level of education needed before someone becomes an RN. But if you are an LPN and you have been having this career for a long time, do you think the difference in salary will all be worth in to take a couple of years of training and physical work in clinic just to be an RN? To be able to answer this, it will help for you to understand the difference between being an LPN to RN and then from this information, you will be able to determine the potential career impact you will experience after your training.
An LPN’s job is mainly to do practical tasks, as the title itself describes. These practical tasks include all the typical duties involved when attending a patient such as routine recording of vital statistics, bathing the patients, dressing wounds, and a lot more, all under the supervision of a physician or a registered nurse.
LPNs have wide range of employment opportunities but only on specific types of medical establishments such as a physician’s clinic, a healthcare clinic or a nursing home. Since an LPN requires only a year of practical training, this type of education is not wide enough to make an LPN flexible when it comes to career choices.
When it comes to financial compensation, not all LPNs receive the same. There are states which offer bigger salaries to LPNs depending on the size of the city and the city’s medical needs. Though LPNs seldom run out of job, most LPN complains of having inadequate salary to sustain their family needs.
On the other hand RNs have more levels to choose from as well as training opportunities. The type of education RNs receive empowers them not only to attend and take care of patients but they also have the capability to inform or educate other healthcare professionals and their patients. RNs are the second hands of doctors and so they can also make treatment decisions for the patients.
Compared to LPNs, RNs have far more choices when it comes to career opportunities. The salary offer comes equal with this. When you are currently deciding on a shift from LPN to RN, it will help you to know that shifting from LPN to RN will not only increase your salary immediately but also opens a wide range of career advancement opportunities and more salary increases as you go up the career ladder.