What is the difference between an LPN and RN?
LPNs are not trained as extensively in things like anatomy & physiology, disease pathology, physical assessment, etc. as RNs are. LPNs can take vital signs and do wound care and pass some (but not all) medications and do basic patient care. RNs have a profession based on what we call ADPIE – assessment, diagnosis, plan, intervention, and evaluation. We don’t just take the vital signs and know normal from abnormal, we know what things mean, we have to create goals and a plan and take actions to correct problems. We don’t do “medical diagnosis” where you would say to a patient, “you have pneumonia”, as a nurse, we treat the responses to these medical conditions, so for example, with a person with pneumonia, a nursing diagnosis might be “ineffective airway clearance” and we would have to form interventions to improve that airway clearance. An LPN goes to school for about a year. An RN needs a minimum of a 2 year associates degree, but you’re better off in the long run if you eventually ea
