Warning! If you do not want to work don't go to school to become a Licensed Practical Nurse. It sounds bad when I say it that way but actually it's a good thing. If you are the sort of person who likes to help people and you have a strong stomach then you will always have a well paying job.
Why do I say that? Well the thing is a nurse; especially LPNs and LPs are needed in just about every aspect of the healthcare industry. With our baby boomer generation getting older the hospitals and nursing homes over the next decade will become more and more crowded. Of course along with the growth in patients there will be a growth in the need for health care professionals to care for the sick and elderly.
Besides the general nursing area there are still many other jobs for LPNs and CPNs. There is a huge need for in home health care professionals willing to deal with the elderly. Other areas LPNs are needed include physician's offices, residential care facilities, schools, temporary nurse agencies, traveling nurse agencies and government agencies. As you can see the choices for a place to work are not few and far between.
So besides the many choices of places and ways to work as a nurse why is the nursing profession expected to grow so much? The truth is the insurance industry and Medicaid has left no other avenue. As baby boomers grow older someone has to take care of them. The important fact here is that insurance companies and Medicaid except in isolated instances doesn't cover the cost of assisted living or of home-based health care. The average cost for home-based or assisted living is around $35,000 annually. So if Medicaid and insurance aren't going to pay the costs then who is? The sad truth is that many families who wish to care for there parents or siblings simply can't afford to and are forced to put there elderly into a long term care facility where Medicaid will cover the cost.
So what does this mean for a nurse. It means quite frankly that your job is more than secure for the next couple of decades. It also means that assisted living facilities and long term care facilities are going to make a killing in the decades to come.
Putting your personal feelings aside and looking at the business side of things... if you get in with the right company at the ground floor you could be in for a lot of pay raises in your future. If you want to do some calculations yourself... For assisted living at $35,000 average x 100 residents in an assisted living facility = $3.5 Million dollars a year. So take what you know of your assisted living facility and figure out about what your facility is making. Also keep in mind that this is only the average. If you work in a high-class facility they are probably charging double that cost.
If you wan to calculate how much a full time long-term care facility is bringing in... the average annual cost is $80,000. Times that by 100 residents and you have $8,000,000 in income a year.
How much are they paying you? How much do you want to get paid? Trust me if you have made the decision to become a LPN or NP you are going to make some good money in the years to come. You have made a good choice for your future and the future of your family.
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