Nurses
There are many people who find that a career in medicine is gratifying, no matter what job is done. The field of medicine has many options for employment. Doctors, lab technicians, X-ray specialists and nurses are all options for a medical career. Nursing is a popular career move for individuals who want to help people without going through the extensive training it takes to become a doctor. There are different types of nurses that work in hospitals. One type of nurse is a licensed practical nurse. Another kind of nurse is a registered nurse. One can find both types of nurses in most doctor’s offices along with any hospital, although they have different responsibilities.
•Licensed practical nurses are not licensed to have as many responsibilities as registered nurses, but licensed practical nurses are allowed to do many of the things they do. There are exceptions to this rule. While both licensed practical nurses and registered nurses can find employment in many places, one will always find them both working in hospitals together. If a nurse does not want to work in a doctor’s office, a hospital job will generally be the first job for a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse upon graduation from nursing school. Many areas have several hospitals, leaving them with a wide range of options for starting their medical careers. The position of licensed practical nurse, unlike the position of registered nurse did not exist until World War II. Military hospitals were running low on registered nurses, and it was taking too long to train them. Becoming a registered nurse generally takes four years, while becoming a licensed practical nurse usually only takes two, or even less in an accelerated program.
•Nurses should be aware know they may have to put in some overtime and to refuse might risk someone’s health. An efficiently running facility that handles medical emergencies, like a hospital, requires their nurses to be flexible. Doctor’s offices are different and run on a set schedule. That means that different working shifts may be required of the nurses, while a nurse at a doctor’s office will work a regular schedule. Most hospital shifts may last for 12 or more hours. A licensed practical nurse who works in a hospital works an average of 50 to 60 hours a week. For the most part, a licensed practical nurse who works in a hospital will be scheduled to work four shifts a week that are each 12 hours long. Nurses will often be required to work overnight shifts at some point in their career. Unless there are special circumstances, a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse will usually work the same shift at a hospital each day. A licensed practical nurse working in a doctor’s office will work business hours, since doctor’s offices are not open overnight.
•Each nurse has duties that they must perform every day. The first thing that a licensed practical nurse does when they arrive to start their hospital shift is check in at the nurses station. Doctor’s offices do not have actual nursing stations. However, all hospitals have nursing stations, which serve as a type of nursing headquarters. At the nursing station, the licensed practical nurse will get the task list for the shift that they are working. This list will include all the patients that the licensed practical nurse will be taking care of on that shift. Licensed practical nurses have a wide variety of jobs when they provide care for the hospital patients. In fact, licensed practical nurses associate more with patients than both registered nurses and doctors. This is one reason why an individual who wants to interact with the patients may become a licensed practical nurse instead of a doctor. One of the jobs that a nurse has is to monitor each patients vital signs. Licensed practical nurses must monitor the vital signs of their patients for their entire shift and report to registered nurses if there is a significant change. Vital signs include blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, and respiratory rate. This is done on a routine basis.
•Another job of a licensed practical nurse working at a hospital is to bathe, feed and clothe the patients who are not able to complete those tasks themselves. This is usually the elderly, people who have just had surgery or people who are very ill. While the hospital meals are not delivered to each room by a licensed practical nurse, the licensed practical nurse might have to help a patient eat by having them sit up and even spoon feeding them. Other jobs of licensed practical nurses at hospitals are more medical in nature. Licensed practical nurses are able to dress wounds, take blood samples and make sure that catheters are in place. A licensed practical nurse can also give injections or shots, as well as administering enemas to hospital patients that need them. While a hospital licensed practical nurse is able to administer injections, they are not allowed to give hospital patients intravenous medications. They are allowed to help women deliver and care for babies in hospitals, although doctors and registered nurses will also be present.
•Licensed practical nurses are sometimes required to do administrative work, whether they work in doctor’s offices or hospitals. This includes filling out insurance forms for hospital patients. A licensed practical nurse is also required to follow instructions from physicians as long as they are certified to do it. This could mean emptying wastebaskets as well as a host of other unskilled tasks. Besides having a busy schedule, licensed practical nurses sometimes have to deal with other issues on their daily rounds. Some patients will be mean, forgetful or stubborn and it is the job of a licensed practical nurse to try and make each hospital patient comfortable. Licensed practical nurses are not allowed to tell other staff members what to do, unless there are special circumstances. Registered nurses and doctors are allowed to tell a licensed practical nurse what duties they should be performing. Unless they are legally unable to perform the task in the hospital, the licensed practical nurse must listen to them.
•The salary of a licensed practical nurse can varies greatly depending on where they work. Licensed practical nurses that work in hospitals tend to make more money than licensed practical nurses who work in doctor’s offices or nursing homes. Licensed practical nurses can generalize: unlike registered nurses, they usually do not choose to specialize in any type of patient care. The salary of a licensed practical nurse also depends on the years of experience. The average hourly pay of a licensed practical nurse ranges from $14 to $19. Many times, a licensed practical nurse will go back to school to get the training it takes to become a registered nurse. A registered nurse earns an average of $20 to $30 an hour.
•A registered nurse is step above a licensed practical nurse. The training to become a registered nurse generally takes four years, and can lead to other opportunities in the medical field. There are several places that a registered nurse can work, and many of them choose to work in hospitals. Other places besides hospital work are nursing homes, home health center or personal nurse. An registered nurse can also choose to specialize in a particular area of nursing. Registered nurses can choose to specialize as a nurse for the emergency room, children, adults, the mentally unstable and the disabled. They can also just be general registered nurses who work in most areas of the hospital. A nurse can choose to work in a doctor’s office or hospital no matter what specialization she picks, since there are hospitals or doctor’s offices that specialize in every medical field.
•Registered nurses are responsible for higher medical levels of patient care then licensed practical nurses are, no matter if they work in a doctor’s office or hospital. Although they will not have to bathe or feed the patients, they are required to make sure that the patients are eating, showering, using the bathroom and if possible, getting some light exercise. Some of these tasks may be very difficult. Patients who are in a hospital because of particular injuries or surgeries will be required by hospital regulations to do so. For other patients, these activities may be impossible. In those cases registered nurse, like licensed practical nurses are still required to make sure the patient’s vital signs are normal.
•Registered nurses who work in hospitals are given a number of patients each day that they are responsible for. Registered nurses in doctor’s offices will usually just care for whoever comes in for appointments with the doctor they work with. Registered nurses will often tell LPNs to do some of the easier jobs such as monitoring vital signs. While licensed practical nurses work very closely with patients, registered nurses work closer with the doctors. They are also the ones who take urine and blood samples to be tested. There are several jobs that a registered nurse can do that a licensed practical nurse is not allowed to. At hospitals, registered nurses can give oral medications to hospital patients and check to make sure that the correct amount of medication is given. Since a registered nurse is able to do every job that a licensed practical nurse can do in a hospital, they will often concentrate on the tasks that they are allowed to do that licensed practical nurses can not. While licensed practical nurses can check the status of a hospital patient’s catheter or intravenous, a registered nurse can set up a patient’s intravenous and insert the catheter. Insertion requires a higher level of expertise.
•A registered nurse can be promoted by becoming an administrative nurse at the hospital or the nursing manager. The job of the nursing manager at a hospital is to direct the other registered nurses and licensed practical nurses. Registered nurses can be promoted at hospitals without additional training. Licensed practical nurses who work in hospitals have nothing to be promoted to unless they complete the training necessary to become a registered nurse. Registered nurses are also the only ones who are able to get into hospital programs for advanced practice nursing specialties, since they require a four year degree. There is especially room to advance if the registered nurse has chose a specialization to perform.
•Of all of the possible specializations for a registered nurse to pick, there is one that is particularly overwhelming. That is a specialization in emergency room care. One of the most important jobs of a registered nurse is choosing which hospital emergency room patients should be seen by a doctor first. This is based on how bad the injury or illness is. Emergency room registered nurses must be able to move quickly and under pressure as they follow a doctor’s orders. The emergencies that doctors deal with might make them shout orders at all the registered nurses around them. The registered nurses must know what they are doing at all times. This includes knowing what the hospital policies, rules and procedures are. Different hospitals may have different policies about the order of their patient care. Determining the order in which hospital patients will be seen first is just one of the difficult jobs that emergency room nurses have.
•As doctors are busy performing emergency procedures, emergency room nurses do their usual hospital tasks, on a quicker basis. They may be required to bandage a wound to stop a flow of blood loss, administer medication when a person is in extreme pain, or give injections. While hospitals are not relaxing places, the general duties of a nurse can be done at a steady pace. In the hospital emergency room, that pace is escalated to the highest level. The slightest wrong move can hurt or kill a patient, which makes it an extremely high pressure job that many could not perform. It is one of the most high pressure jobs that exist. A licensed practical nurse is not certified to do many of the tasks that are performed in a hospitals emergency room.
•Registered nurses are required to speak with the family of the person in the hospital emergency room. They are supposed to keep them updated with reports of how the person is doing. In a hospital emergency room, this may be impossible at times. Dealing with the emotions of the families can be incredibly difficult. Both registered nurses and licensed practical nurses will be in the vicinity of the hospital waiting room at times. Families of the patients may panic. If the outcome is not good, they might do even worse. Some family members may even attack the nurses or doctors.
Registered nurses and licensed practical nurses do have similar jobs when they work in hospitals and doctor’s offices. Although registered nurses are certified to perform more medical tasks, a licensed practical nurse is able to fulfill many hospital duties as well. However, registered nurses have jobs that allow room for advancement, while licensed practical nurses do not. A licensed practical nurse may get a pay increase as they gain more experience, but they will not be able to advance to registered nurse unless they get the training that qualifies them to do so.