A nurse’s license is defined by their education. Nurses with any level of training are still nurses, but their scope of practice differs. If you’re considering a nursing career, you’ve made a sound decision. But should you become a vocational or a registered nurse? Let’s take a closer look at what “vocational” in vocational nursing means.
What Does Vocational Mean in Nursing?
The “vocational” in vocational nursing means that training has a specific, occupational focus. Unlike college degree programs, vocational education is laser-focused on practical skills. The curriculum doesn’t include 18th-Century poetry courses or general electives that don’t improve your nursing abilities. Students still learn nursing theory but in the context of hands-on practice.
What “vocational” doesn’t mean is that you’re a lesser nurse, it only reflects that your professional role is different than that of a registered nurse. In most healthcare facilities, RNs and LVNs work side-by-side with overlapping responsibilities.
What Is the Difference between an LVN and an LPN?
There is no difference. Both are practical nurses and professional caregivers. Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) is a designation used in Texas and California. Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) is the preferred term in other states.
While there are minor differences in the scope of practice among LVNs and LPNs from state to state, the jobs are the same and the terms can be used interchangeably.
What Does a Vocational Nurse Do?
Vocational nurses provide basic supportive care. Their list of responsibilities is long, but their primary duties include:
Patient Monitoring
As an LVN, you’ll be the doctor’s eyes and ears, monitoring patients for changes in condition. You’ll take vital signs and communicate clinical observations. Early intervention equals better outcomes.
Assisting with Activities of Daily Living
LVNs work one-on-one with patients in acute and residential settings, helping them to eat, dress, bathe, groom and use the bathroom safely.
Recording Intake and Output
Nutrition and fluid balance have a significant impact on health. Keeping track of what patients eat, drink and eliminate ensures they’re getting the nutrients they need, and that their renal, urinary and gastrointestinal systems are working properly.
Tube Feedings
When patients can’t eat, nurses administer nutritionally complete liquid feedings through a stomach or nasogastric tube. You’ll be responsible for both the feedings and general care of the tubing and surrounding skin.
Managing Mobility
Without help, impaired mobility can mean loss of independence. Vocational nurses work with patients at all mobility levels, managing adaptive equipment from lifts and wheelchairs to walkers, crutches, and canes.
Wound Care
Vocational nurses care for all types of wounds from lacerations post-surgical incisions. They also safeguard patients’ skin integrity through frequent position changes, bathing, and skincare.
Catheterization
Patients who can’t urinate need the help of a catheter, a thin flexible tube that drains urine from the bladder. A common problem for patients with chronic conditions, such as Multiple Sclerosis, Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, and bladder cancer, being unable to urinate is a life-threatening condition. LVNs are trained to insert catheters and monitor for adverse effects, such as obstructions and infections.
Managing Medical Devices
LVNs help people handle medical equipment. You’ll instruct those who can help themselves and assist those who can’t by managing their oxygen tanks, CPAP machines, insulin pumps and nebulizers.
Collecting Specimens
Vocational nurses collect biological specimens for diagnostic testing. Unlike medical assistants, they’re not trained to draw blood. However, they can obtain urine, stool and sputum samples plus take swabs for wound cultures.
Performing Therapeutic Exercises
Immobile patients rely on nurses to maintain their musculoskeletal integrity by performing range-of-motion and other therapeutic exercises. Physical therapists create the plans, nurses carry them out.
Patient Education
Vocational nurses are primary patient educators. They use their knowledge to help people better understand their doctor’s recommendations.
Trained to monitor therapeutic diets, for example, they can guide a diabetic patient’s food choices. LVNs are go-to sources of information for general advice related to medication use, home safety, and similar health topics.
Providing Emotional Support
Nursing is holistic. You’ll treat people’s bodies, minds, and spirits. For many patients, you’ll be their only source of encouragement, the one hand they can hold.
Supervising Paraprofessional Staff
Registered nurses delegate practical responsibilities to vocational nurses. In turn, vocational nurses trust nursing assistants and other aides to perform basic tasks.
As a professional, you’ll not only be responsible for your own practice but also for the performance of anyone working under your license. It’s a significant responsibility and one that requires good personal and clinical judgment.
Where Do Vocational Nurses Work?
Vocational nurses can work anywhere registered nurses are employed in hospitals, clinics, nursing facilities, private practices, and home care. The best part about the role is its flexibility. Still, a vocational nurse’s skills are a better fit in some settings than others.
High-acuity hospitals rely more on registered nurses because the patients are medically complex and require a higher level of care. Vocational nurses in this setting may be limited to performing personal care. And LVNs have largely been supplanted by medical assistants with clerical training in private practices.
A vocational nurse’s skills, however, are ideal for nursing facilities, assisted living centers and private homes where stable patients require medical supervision but not acute interventions. As the US population grows older, there will be no shortage of patients to care for.
How Do You Become a Vocational Nurse?
Becoming a vocational nurse is as easy as completing a vocational nursing program. In about a year, you’ll be fully trained and prepared to take the licensure exam, the NCLEX-PN. Pass, and you’re ready to get to work.
Final Thoughts
The landscape of healthcare in America is changing. Our demographics are shifting, creating unprecedented opportunities for LVNs. Whether vocational nursing is your dream career, or a stepping-stone to higher education in the healthcare field, getting a diploma is an easy first step on a long but rewarding journey.
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 campuses.
