LPN job openings and pay scale?? Anyone have direct knowledge. (Asheville: school, college)

[Tony1790]

Hello all,

I'm soon to graduate from LPN school here in East TN, I'm thinking about leaving due to the horrid pay scale. Dr offices here pay $10 for a licensed LPN and the hospitals start at just over $11. And to top it off, my hospital is laying off LPN's, some RN's and many CNA's.

Does anyone have any actual knowledge about LPN pay scales or job availability? Too often the lay person thinks that anyone in health care has a great job and makes tons of money. LPN stands for Licensed Practical Nurse, here in TN it should stand for Lower Paid Nurse FYI, I plan on getting my RN at some point, but you have to start somewhere and this where I'm at. But I don't think that going to college, having to pass state boards, then being responsible for helping ensure patients stay alive is worth $10-$11 an hour.

If jobs aren't plentiful there or the pay scale is similar to here, might as well stay in TN (no state income tax).

Thanks

Tony

p.s. I asked the same question in the Greenville forum as I'm trying to stay close to Asheville and Spartanburg as I have family in both, but I grew up in Asheville years and years ago (getting old now!)

[gigimac]

Well, I would suggest you go to the Mission Hospitals website and look at their job openings for LPNs, and it will give you the wage, hours, responsibilities, etc. If you can get in with that hospital, even if it's just part-time, do it, because it's big enough to keep using you until you can move into a full-time job in whatever department interests you. Also, being with the hospital ensures a better pay grade than any sort of private employment, not to mention good benefits. But you could also look at Thoms Rehabilitation Center's website, they are a fairly large group, and sometimes have openings for LPNs at fair pay.

While you are in Asheville and working, a year or so into it, you could take evening courses to get your EMT certification at A-B Technical College, or any number of other specialties like emergency medicine or radiology, to supplement your regular work pay and even ensure you get into full-time work at the hospital in your specialty. I might add that you should keep in mind it takes time to build a career, you just got out of school, and a few years down the road, you could then take some time to get your RN license, so as to receive higher pay for bigger responsibilities. Also, once you build a history with a particular hospital, your wages will increase with them, all companies in any field will provide for pay raises every year to their "permanent employees."

But in general, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee do not differ too much in what they pay people to do the work. So, you could look at Atlanta, where the cost of living is amazingly less than you might think, but since it's a very large city, you may get better compensation, and yet still be fairly close to your family... so check out a couple of their hospitals' websites for employment.

[Tony1790]

Thank you for the reply,

I'll take a look at Mission, 20 some odd years ago they had a recruitment thing at UNCA while I was going there (polysci). Nursing is a second career for me, (retired military), I used to be an EMT, but my national certification ran out years ago. AB tech was where I was accepted into their LPN program back in 1990, but I went back into the service instead, now it seems I'm finishing unfinished things.

Thanks again and wish me luck, I'd hate to move to Atlanta just to get work, it's sooo crowded now, I was a kid last time I lived in Norcross and Buford area's, can't hardly recognize them anymore.

Tony