9.12.11 | Chris Seper

Another example that the LPN job outlook is overhyped: Hospital cuts LPNs for RNs

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that jobs for licensed practical nurses will “grow much faster than average” and that “overall job prospects are expected to be very good.” But it looks like a down economy and hiring strategies continue to douse this hiring wildfire: LPNs continue to get dumped for better-educated and better-paid registered nurses.

Akron General Hospital let go all 70 of its LPNs “as part of a decision to move to a more highly trained nursing staff,” according to a weekend report in the Akron Beacon Journal. That’s a trend that’s resulted in the trimming of LPN jobs by the dozens for years.

Plus, some states have been producing almost twice the number of LPNs as there were jobs for sometime. Meanwhile, schools and recruiters continue to tout the future boom times for LPNs and regularly roll out new programs.

Is this an overhyped LPN job outlook, or is it simply a shift? The era of nursing job growth at hospitals seems to be coming to an end. In the case of Akron, the hospital let go LPNs who work with inpatient care. “The reality is acute patient care is becoming more complex,” Akron General spokesman Jim Gosky told the Journal. “Duties are being taken over by RNs.”

Meanwhile, many tie the future of LPN jobs to both the nursing shortage and the growth of home healthcare. To once again quote the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

In order to contain healthcare costs, many procedures once performed only in hospitals are being performed in physicians’s offices and in outpatient care centers, largely because of advances in technology. As a result, the number of LPNs should increase faster in these facilities than in hospitals. Nevertheless, hospitals will continue to demand the services of LPNs and will remain one of the largest employers of these workers.

But one has to wonder: How long will newly minted LPNs have to wait before they actually gets to practice their profession?

Chris Seper MedCity News

Chris Seper is the CEO at MedCity Media, which publishes MedCityNews.com. He is also a senior writer at MedCity News. Reach him at chris@medcitynews.com.

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Tags: Akron General, hospitals, jobs, Northeast Ohio, Nursing, Ohio

Comments Post a comment

Ohio might be stupid enough to start dumping their LPN’s right at the start of a nursing shortage, but there are other states where LPN’s are in high demand! The West and the South are already feeling stress from a shortage of nurses which will only get worse during the next 15 years. Some hospitals in New Mexico and Arizona have attempted to let go of their LPN staff, only to have to rehire them when positions could not be filled. I am an LPN who was trained in Ohio and am now working in New Mexico. I make close to $60,000 a year and love my work. I advise all of the LPN’s (like those in Ohio) if your home state doesn’t seem to appreciate you…fine! Take a look around at other opportunities in other states because there are a lot of great jobs out there.

Comment by Thomas Bohley — September 14, 2011 @ 5:16 pm

Been an LPN >30 yrs. Have a BAEd. degree. Can do the work most RN’s do, but better! These facilities letting their LPN’s go are doing so in chase of greater financial reimbursement….this will soon come back at them, just wait and see! Have we not learned that being greedy is not the best approach yet??

Comment by Carole Vick — September 17, 2011 @ 3:02 pm

LPNs do the work its true and w/skill- get paid less-if things are so much more complex then why r RNs hired out of school given the jobs many experienced LPNs . These skills are acquired through real life experience and mastered something a so called new RN wud not know. Now u pay more 4 less qualified nurses – crazy! Keep ur experienced LPN-value them- u get more done with far less money-the world has not learned this lesson yet.

Comment by dawn brown — December 26, 2011 @ 2:37 am

Yeah, nothing like anecdotal evidence to make your point. How about some statistics or something actually useful? I could probably find a hospital somewhere that’s laying off surgeons because the facility isn’t making money, but I wouldn’t start extrapolating that it’s a bad career choice to become a surgeon.
What you should be doing is publishing the number of job openings in comparison to the number of qualified individuals (and the rates of increases in both numbers). This would actually be useful in my research rather than this nonsense.

Comment by Matt — April 20, 2012 @ 12:38 pm