As frontline healthcare providers, vocational nurses have a unique relationship with patients. Their contributions are impactful and far-reaching. If you feel a calling to make a difference in your community but don’t know how to, vocational nursing may be the opportunity you’ve been looking for.
Why Do People Become Nurses?
Why people are motivated to become nurses ranges from the personal to the practical, but most are driven by:
Compassion
Many people are drawn to nursing because they have a natural inclination to care for people. They find fulfillment in providing support and comfort to those in need.
Personal or Family Experiences
Motivation, they say, is often the product of experience. So, when some people or their loved ones suffer an illness or injury, the care they receive inspires them to pursue a nursing career.
Career Diversity
Nursing offers a wide range of job opportunities and specialization options. Nurses can choose to work in whatever area of medicine they’re drawn to, from pediatrics to mental health. It’s easy to find a role that aligns with your interests and aptitudes.
Personal Growth
Curious minds can stagnate in some jobs, but nursing requires ongoing learning and professional development. Many people thrive on the intellectual stimulation that careers in technologically advanced professions provide.
A Sense of Accomplishment
Nursing can be a challenging profession, but it can also be highly rewarding. Nurses make a tangible difference in people’s lives, witnessing the positive impact of their care.
How Can You Make a Difference in Healthcare as an LVN?
Nurses play a central role in healthcare. What they do benefits patients, peers, and entire communities. As an LVN, you’ll never run out of ways to influence healthcare.
As an LVN, you make a difference by:
Performing Direct Patient Care
LVNs provide direct patient care, assisting with activities, such as administering medications, monitoring vital signs, dressing wounds, and assisting with eating, bathing, dressing, and grooming. By delivering compassionate and competent care, LVNs improve health outcomes and enhance the overall patient experience.
Supporting Families
Illness is as stressful and emotionally challenging for caregivers as it is for patients. Families provide countless hours of support, but there are few resources to help them cope. LVNs strengthen patients’ support system by uplifting the family members and friends that assist in their care through empathy and education.
Advocating for Patient Rights
A nurse’s primary role is that of patient advocate. They help the vulnerable navigate the healthcare system, ensuring that their needs and wishes are represented by communicating their needs to the appropriate healthcare provider.
Coordinating Care
Healthcare is a team effort, so LVNs collaborate with physicians, RNs, therapists, and other medical professionals to ensure the effective coordination of care. By documenting relevant information, updating records, and communicating changes in health status to the team, they help keep everyone on the same page.
Promoting Wellness and Disease Prevention
Nurses are educators, promoting health and preventing illness by educating patients and communities about nutrition, exercise, immunizations, wellness screenings, and disease prevention efforts. They can advocate for preventive measures, helping people understand the importance of getting regular healthcare.
Facilitating Independence
All healthcare providers promote patient independence, but few have as active a role as LVNs. Because most work in primary healthcare settings, their work has a direct impact on people’s daily lives.
In a home environment, they help people stay safe and take care of themselves so that they don’t need to live in facilities. And if they do live in a nursing home, LVNs empower them to remain as independent as possible by taking care of the needs they can’t meet. For many people, especially the elderly and cognitively impaired, a helping hand can be the difference between dependency and freedom.
Mentoring
LVNs can help shape the next generation of nurses by acting as mentors and preceptors. New graduates benefit from their years of experience.
As the nursing shortage continues, made worse by nurse retirees who are taking their knowledge with them, the gap in workforce expertise is growing. By sharing the skills and compassion that only time can cultivate, LVN mentors are contributing to the development of tomorrow’s caregivers.
Supporting Quality Improvement Initiatives
All healthcare facilities, including home health agencies, have a quality improvement focus. The goal is to continually improve health and financial outcomes by identifying areas that need work.
LVNs can actively participate in quality improvement efforts by contributing their ideas and assisting in the implementation of evidence-based practices that enhance patient safety and the overall quality of care.
Advancing the Profession
LVNs can continually enhance their knowledge and skills through continuing education and professional development opportunities. By staying up to date with best practices and advancements in healthcare, LVNs can serve as role models for new nurses while advancing the nursing field.
Participating in Research
Research drives the healthcare industry. But too often, new developments aren’t relevant to patients’ daily lives. LVN’s direct patient care experience and attention to detail can contribute to the collection of valuable information that helps improve healthcare practices.
Breaking Down Barriers
The world is getting smaller, and nurses must be culturally competent to care for diverse populations. But there are often barriers between patients and healthcare professionals who have limited time to spend navigating language and cultural issues.
LVNs are better positioned to break down these barriers due to the more personal nature of their relationship with patients. Having spent more time with them, they can act as interpreters and cultural liaisons, facilitating communication with healthcare providers. By promoting mutual understanding and addressing cultural considerations, LVNs help ensure that patients get the culturally sensitive care they need.
Supporting Occupational Health and Safety
LVNs contribute significantly to occupational health and safety initiatives within healthcare facilities. On the floor, they can assess workplace hazards, promote safe practices, and educate staff on infection control measures and occupational health protocols.
By ensuring a safe and healthy work environment, LVNs help protect both healthcare providers and patients.
Getting Involved in Policymaking
By leveraging their frontline experience and understanding of patient needs, LVNs can provide valuable insights to the administrators that shape facility policy. Their perspectives can help influence decisions that directly impact patient care.
Their involvement is also welcomed in the public arena where lawmakers need committed nurses to share their experiences and provide input. Activism is among the most powerful ways to create organizational change.
Becoming an Entrepreneur
Great ideas in healthcare must start somewhere, so why not with you? One enterprising LVN once developed a successful independent practice providing spa-like services for the terminally ill before family events. Her knowledge of cosmetics and hair care combined with compassion and nursing skills left an enduring legacy.
Final Thoughts
The opportunities for LVNs to make a difference in healthcare are diverse and ever evolving. So, harness your talents, power up your passion for people and enroll in a vocational school LVN program. You can and will make a difference in your own unique way.
Licensed Vocational Nurse
Classes for the Vocational Nursing program are conducted in a student-friendly atmosphere conveniently located in Austin, Texas. After graduating from the Licensed Vocational Nursing program, students can apply to take the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN), become a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), and start their exciting new career immediately.
Contact us today to learn more about our CyberTex Austin campus.