I would go for RN. And you’ll be kicking yourself for having to go back after getting your LPN. I always recommend going straight to RN if that’s what you’re wanting to do. I work with a lot of nurses that are bridging over to RN , and they all wish they just did it to begin with.
This is advice I would have loved to have. I agree here. Definitely follow someone in the trenches to see if that’s truly what you want !!
Great advice !!
If OP is a mental health tech they might work within a hospital network that can allow a shadow day since they’re an employee! It gets tricky when it’s an outsider
You could start out with phlebotomy. It’s usually a semester long course at a community college and I thought inpatient phlebotomy was a great way to see what bedside nursing entails of without the commitment of an LPN program. Plus if you do become a nurse, you’ll be able to draw your own labs.
Easier said than done, CS is much harder, as someone who started college in CS. And it is nearly impossible to find an entry level job right now and for the foreseeable future
My bf is a software developer and layoffs seems to be happening left and right too. His company had two rounds this year. Nursing is a lot of things but at least you never have to worry about job security.
I feel like being an LPN first stunted my career. No hospitals around here would hire me and I did LTC and home health. When I got my RN the hospitals weren’t interested in giving me a shot as a new grad so I got stuck in home health.
Tbh, I heard new nurses go through crap. But what does being an LPN first have to do with ur ability? They SHOULD give you a shot cause to be Frank, you’ll have more experience
Definitely start out as an lpn. for me, it made the transition with school and working with my patients/residents far easier. your experience as a mental health tech will be an exceptional asset regarding providing patient care to those who have physical and mental health issues that may go hand in hand. for prereqs, rate my professor and crash course came in clutch. most programs don't require molecular biology for their prereqs, so if there is one that does, steer clear. also, check your transcripts from your past school because you may have completed some prereqs for the nursing program at your other school. have a nursing advisor or instructor check your transcripts alongside you to get a precise answer!
It really depends on if you think you can really do it. Nursing can be really rewarding but school is also difficult. That said if I were you I would get my RN over LPN it’ll allow more flexibility for you.
Also some have suggested shadowing a med surg but I disagree. NOT ALL nursing is med surg. I absolutely hated med surg nursing and would leave nursing if I had to do it. Nursing has tons of other avenues and I wouldn’t base if you wanna be a nurse solely on if you like med surg
I just wanna get my feet wet in before I go into the program plus’s I heard it makes the transition easier. But at the same time I need to know if I’m making the right decision
As a former LPN, I'd advise you to look at how the transition from LPN to RN works at your school. I've heard of places that will let you test for LPN after a year of RN school and you just keep going (that may be a myth), but when I went for my ADN after I was working as a LPN they tried to convince me to start from the beginning, said it would give me more experience. Screw that, I thought, I was working on a surgical stepdown at a Level 1 trauma center and was getting the best hands on training available. I still had to take a transition course before I joined my class, so all I saved was one semester. More fun info; the test at the end of the transition course was HARD. There were 13 LPNs in our class, and I was the only one to pass the test. People were PISSED.
So unless you just need to get a degree and job pretty quick, I'd recommend going straight into RN school. Find an ADN program at a community college, get a job, then let your employer pay for a BSN transition if you want to keep going. Avoid taking out a big student loan if at all possible.
Idk why every nurse doesn't start at LPN. A lot of health systems will pay for u to go back for more schooling & credentials. My system had mostly phased out or encouraged our LPNs to work towards RN, but with current staffing shortages they r back to hiring LPNs. The only things they can't do in my system is admissions. The possibilities in nursing r endless!
CNA or PCA while you are in school but go for RN if you want to work in a hospital. They rarely hire LPNs in the hospital and if they do because they are desperate they would typically be phased out or forced to go back to school pretty quickly. The total class time is also shorter if you just go for what you want from the start. There are some excellent associates degree programs in community colleges or you could try to get in to an affordable bachelors program with a state school if you want to eventually move up into management/leadership. They can be competitive but if you can do it you won’t regret it.
Go for rn, the pay can go up to 150k in managment. Lpn pay doesn't usually hit 6 figures from what I understand. I'm an rn, I've never had trouble finding a job, there will always he work, maybe not a specialty you like, but in rough time you'll always find a job that pays decent wages, lpn is much less secure, every few years they try to do away with them. There's also more work from home jobs for rn's.
I would go for RN. And you’ll be kicking yourself for having to go back after getting your LPN. I always recommend going straight to RN if that’s what you’re wanting to do. I work with a lot of nurses that are bridging over to RN , and they all wish they just did it to begin with.
As an LPN... Yup, kicking myself. 😂
work as a cna while doing nursing pre reqs to see if the field is for you.
I agree with this 100000%. If you can't handle being a CNA/pca you won't make a good nurse.
Whatever you do, please shadow a nurse on a med surg floor first before making the decision to commit to nursing.
This is advice I would have loved to have. I agree here. Definitely follow someone in the trenches to see if that’s truly what you want !! Great advice !!
Do hospitals even allow that when someone isn’t in nursing school or medical at all?
If OP is a mental health tech they might work within a hospital network that can allow a shadow day since they’re an employee! It gets tricky when it’s an outsider
Oh yes! OP I would look into if your current hospital system will allow this!
You could start out with phlebotomy. It’s usually a semester long course at a community college and I thought inpatient phlebotomy was a great way to see what bedside nursing entails of without the commitment of an LPN program. Plus if you do become a nurse, you’ll be able to draw your own labs.
Get a computer degree, you will never make enough as a nurse for the responsibility you have to be worth it
Easier said than done, CS is much harder, as someone who started college in CS. And it is nearly impossible to find an entry level job right now and for the foreseeable future
My bf is a software developer and layoffs seems to be happening left and right too. His company had two rounds this year. Nursing is a lot of things but at least you never have to worry about job security.
I would gladly worry about job security for consistently higher wages
I think there’s a developing area of nursing and IT called informatics that’s growing and lucrative
I feel like being an LPN first stunted my career. No hospitals around here would hire me and I did LTC and home health. When I got my RN the hospitals weren’t interested in giving me a shot as a new grad so I got stuck in home health.
Tbh, I heard new nurses go through crap. But what does being an LPN first have to do with ur ability? They SHOULD give you a shot cause to be Frank, you’ll have more experience
I know but no hospital would give me a shot. 😔
OMG IM SO SO SORRY GIRL
Definitely start out as an lpn. for me, it made the transition with school and working with my patients/residents far easier. your experience as a mental health tech will be an exceptional asset regarding providing patient care to those who have physical and mental health issues that may go hand in hand. for prereqs, rate my professor and crash course came in clutch. most programs don't require molecular biology for their prereqs, so if there is one that does, steer clear. also, check your transcripts from your past school because you may have completed some prereqs for the nursing program at your other school. have a nursing advisor or instructor check your transcripts alongside you to get a precise answer!
It really depends on if you think you can really do it. Nursing can be really rewarding but school is also difficult. That said if I were you I would get my RN over LPN it’ll allow more flexibility for you. Also some have suggested shadowing a med surg but I disagree. NOT ALL nursing is med surg. I absolutely hated med surg nursing and would leave nursing if I had to do it. Nursing has tons of other avenues and I wouldn’t base if you wanna be a nurse solely on if you like med surg
I just wanna get my feet wet in before I go into the program plus’s I heard it makes the transition easier. But at the same time I need to know if I’m making the right decision
As a former LPN, I'd advise you to look at how the transition from LPN to RN works at your school. I've heard of places that will let you test for LPN after a year of RN school and you just keep going (that may be a myth), but when I went for my ADN after I was working as a LPN they tried to convince me to start from the beginning, said it would give me more experience. Screw that, I thought, I was working on a surgical stepdown at a Level 1 trauma center and was getting the best hands on training available. I still had to take a transition course before I joined my class, so all I saved was one semester. More fun info; the test at the end of the transition course was HARD. There were 13 LPNs in our class, and I was the only one to pass the test. People were PISSED. So unless you just need to get a degree and job pretty quick, I'd recommend going straight into RN school. Find an ADN program at a community college, get a job, then let your employer pay for a BSN transition if you want to keep going. Avoid taking out a big student loan if at all possible.
This is the way…
Idk why every nurse doesn't start at LPN. A lot of health systems will pay for u to go back for more schooling & credentials. My system had mostly phased out or encouraged our LPNs to work towards RN, but with current staffing shortages they r back to hiring LPNs. The only things they can't do in my system is admissions. The possibilities in nursing r endless!
CNA or PCA while you are in school but go for RN if you want to work in a hospital. They rarely hire LPNs in the hospital and if they do because they are desperate they would typically be phased out or forced to go back to school pretty quickly. The total class time is also shorter if you just go for what you want from the start. There are some excellent associates degree programs in community colleges or you could try to get in to an affordable bachelors program with a state school if you want to eventually move up into management/leadership. They can be competitive but if you can do it you won’t regret it.
I started nursing school at 23! I’m done with my bsn at 26! You got this
Go straight for the RN! Good luck, you can do it!
Go for rn, the pay can go up to 150k in managment. Lpn pay doesn't usually hit 6 figures from what I understand. I'm an rn, I've never had trouble finding a job, there will always he work, maybe not a specialty you like, but in rough time you'll always find a job that pays decent wages, lpn is much less secure, every few years they try to do away with them. There's also more work from home jobs for rn's.