Nursing Trends
What does LPN stand for?
To understand this topic, we have first to understand what is lpns profession is. LPN stands for the licensed practical nurse. This profession is most prevalent in America and Canada, where they care for patients under the guidance of physicians, mid-level practitioners, and registered dietitians. These nurses undergo training for 1 to 2 years and undergo a qualifying exam to make themselves eligible for the job. They mostly work in the United States and Canada.
How to make the most money?
If you are an LPN and wonder how you can make the most of it, here are some solutions you can apply. Firstly, get extra quality training like blood draws. If you are an LPN and can draw blood, it will surely raise your demand in the market. Being an LPN, you can administer fluids, medications, total parental nutrition (TPN), blood or blood products through catheters and central lines, access these lines for drawing blood, and administration of emergency cardiac medication by IV push if needed. Acquiring these types of skills can help you make more money on a regular basis as these needs never saturate in the hospital premises. If you are an LPN and are thinking about quitting this because of its limited opportunities, don’t do it instead, try getting a job at nursing homes and doctors’ offices thus can pay you a good amount.
What is the average salary of LPN?
You might be wondering about the estimated money an LPN makes per hour. The answer to your question is it varies. There is no fixed amount and highly depends upon your skills. The average annual salary is $50,090 per year, according to 2020 data of the bureau of labor statistics (BLS).
Of course, there are drawbacks to this profession. Like many other professions, surely RNs will get more paid than LPNs, but there is always a way to increase your income. RNs have exposure to bigger fields and are allowed to do things that an LPN cannot do, like administer and monitor patient medication (including IV), perform emergency response like basic life support, advanced cardiac life support, and pediatric advanced life support. They are also allowed to take care of wounds as an assessment. Moreover, LPNs do not have much scope of specialization. California pays a good amount to the lens, so you can try giving an interview there.
You can work as travel lpns and can make more money. I have a friend of mine who started travel nursing in March 2020 in the pandemic, and because of the pandemic going on, there was an increased demand for lpns. She started at $37/ hour. She used to get paid weekly, and her career has skyrocketed by then as she has acquired many skills like drawing blood and many more, which had increased her demand. By July, she made $23000. She had to quit it for her health issues, but she might make up to $78k in a year if she had continued this. So if you can start being a travel lpns it will pay you much better than hospitals.
Learn extra skills
If you can get all the extra skills you can get like IV certified, CPR, etc., doing night shifts pay more, these extra skills will increase your demand and pay scale. Moreover, nursing agencies pay a lot better, for here you can choose your work hours, location and take a break as needed.
How does location affect the salary of an LPN?
Suppose you are thinking of relocating according to your needs. In that case, you can consider relocating to states like Alaska, California, Massachusetts, Washington, and Nevada as they pay the highest mean salary to lpns. There are tons of opportunities and outlets that can improve your pay scale. The only thing you need to do is keep your eyes open to the opportunities around you.
Rehabilitation lpns have the highest salary
Among all the types of lpns, rehabilitation lpns have the highest salary, ranging up to $50k. These lpns work under the supervision of RNS and physicians who provide direct or indirect care to rehabilitation patients. With very nominal responsibilities, the payment is up to mark. These lpns responsibilities are administering medication, keeping track of the person’s medical record, keeping an eye for any reaction due to the prescribed medication, and providing immunization. They also give additional care for emotional support and help patients with bathing and dressing. These lpns work with rehabilitation centers and patients’ homes.
There are various other types of lpns you can consider working as like occupational health LPN, palliative care/ hospice LPN, geriatric/ gerontology LPN, nephrology LPN. Being an LPN is a noble job and helps you in exposure to loads of other people, which can help you in character building and public assessing and speaking skills. This profession can make you pay a good amount if you can choose the right path and direction to explore in this profession. This profession is about making money and providing care to patients in need.
There are a few tips and ways that lpns can make more money.
1. Establish a network within the circle of nurses. This can help you get good gigs. The power of social media is incredible if you can use it effectively, try connecting with people as much as possible. It’s not that hard work always pays off. Sometimes a good network can prove beneficial.
2. Working night shifts can help pay you a lot, most people hate working in the late hours, which can prove to be good for your bank balance. These night shifts pay more according to hours. It can range from $1 to $3 per hour or a percentage increase in pay. Working night shifts can increase your overall income, but you get paid for what you do, and working night shifts are pretty hard.
3. Working in critical care areas will make you earn more per hour. ICU and ER are high-stress areas that can be very stressful sometimes to work at. So the hospital is more likely to pay you more for your contribution in the stressful hours. They pay a premium for critical care unit lpns.
4. Obtaining extra certificates is also an important addition to your career because hospitals need specialized lenses all the time. So, you can try to get as many certificates as possible. Various agencies can help you get these kinds of certifications. Such an agency is ANCC (American nurse credentialing center).
5. There are numerous ways to grow in your nursing career. The most popular one is applying for management and leadership positions. These can surely give a hike to your salary.
