Licensed Practical Nurse

personal care aide (PCA) - typically has no experience, has a H.S. education or equivalency, and is often hired by families privately. The State of Ohio uses PCAs and has the "consumer" (the patient) train the PCA. Ohio also requires a PCA to be fingerprinted before beginning work, and requires 8-hours of Continuing Education a year. In Ohio, is supervised by an R.N. and report to an R.N. These workers can do personal care (bathing, dressing), lifting, positioning, help with daily living tasks, etc. They normally do not do Vital Signs as a daily task, if at all. If private hires, they also do housework and companion services. The duties are basic, and pay is minimum wage under the State, or less if privately hired. No benefits; no holiday pay;…show more content…
Different countries-- and even different USA States -- have some differences in what a Practical or Licensed Practical Nurse can do. I don't know overseas particulars, but I worked with a "Practical Nurse" from overseas who was only permitted to work as an "Aide" in the USA because of unknown differences in the examination between the countries. Overseas, they are also called OVN, Licensed Vocational Nurse-- vocational referring to the fact these students attended a short term vocational school to earn their OVN status. In the USA, the proper name is Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). They are educated for 1 year with clinicals and book learning, then "sit" for an exam. They *can* do everything a PCA, an NA, and a CNA does, but an LPN also administers SubQ injections, passes oral medications, takes vitals, and reports to the R.N. In the 1980s and 1990s, many USA hospitals tried to eliminate all NAs so the hospital could pay one pay rate and benefits (if any) for 1 person to do everything from personal care to medication passes. At the same time, many of these hospitals only wanted a B.S.N.-- a nurse who graduated with a Bachelors in Nursing. Hospitals used L.P.N.s for all the back-breaking work while (many) B.S.N.s did desk duty with charting and paperwork. But…show more content…
But by 1983, two changes affected the nursing field. As I mentioned already, hospitals began hiring more BSN grads. The Diploma Grad was still very highly trained and excellent, but the powers in charge believed BSNs could deliver a better quality of care, especially in the written areas-- charting, care plans, research. The 2nd change that hit new grads in 1982-1983 was the failure of the country's steel mills, coal mines, and other labor industries like glass mills, especially in the northeastern states. Husbands were now unemployed and many of the RN-wives who had previously stayed home as housewives and mothers returned to the nursing field. Through the 1980's, it was harder for new Diploma grads to find work, caught between the older nurses and the BSNs. But many of the older nurses were unprepared for all the changes nursing had undergone while they had been at home. Many older nurses stopped working again, although many stayed.

At the same time, with the push toward BSN, about 1983-1985 was when many traditional hospital based schools partnered with a nearby college or university to create the first fast-track from Diploma to BSN. Students still take 2 years of "nursing" at the hospital-based school, but are also enrolled in undergrad studies going toward a BSN. These new Hospital-College unions still graduate some of the best Registered Nurses because