A Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) is licensed and authorized to provide general patient care that is considered to be routine. Because LVNs work for considerably lower salaries than RNs, LVN jobs in Houston and other parts of the country are plentiful. Although an LVN cannot do everything an RN can do, an RN is much more cost-prohibitive to have on staff, making LVNs a viable alternative. An LVN may work in a number of settings, including hospitals, long-term care facilities, nursing homes, a physician’s office, or as an employee in a surgical center. In these capacities, the LVN provides similar services to those performed by an RN.
LVN jobs in Houston and throughout the country require that LVNs be supervised by RNs or doctors. The one-year training program required to receive a license as an LVN has similarities with RN training, but RN training requires more extensive education. Studies in LVN curriculum include anatomy, physiology, and general patient care. LVN programs are available at many community colleges and trade schools. Medical schools also offer LVN programs; however, they tend to be much more expensive than the programs available through trade school or community college.
Like RNs, once classroom instruction has been completed, LVNs are required to complete their “clinicals,” which are supervised work hours performed in a clinical setting, before they can qualify for licensure. LVN jobs in Houston pay approximately half the salary paid for RN jobs in Houston. Because of this, many LVNs decide to pursue their RN licensure after working for a few years in the field. This course of action is widely encouraged because many RN training programs prefer training students who possess experience in the field, like LVN training or hours worked at other health-related jobs, such as a medical technologist. Like any other professionals in the medical field, LVNs must maintain their licensures by achieving continuing education credits throughout the course of their careers.
There are positive and negative sides to being an LVN as opposed to an RN. LVNs are limited on what they can do legally, which means that hospitals often find it more cost-effective to hire RNs who are able to perform duties without supervision, as an RN doesn’t require the same amount of supervision that an LVN requires. RNs are also limited by the number of LVNs they can supervise at one time, which means that, in some cases, if a hospital hires an LVN they may have to hire another RN to supervise the LVN, which then becomes an unnecessary expense. Because of this need for supervision, it is possible that, at some point, LVNs may be phased out of the medical field entirely. However, many doctor’s offices, clinics, and nursing homes prefer LVNs to RNs because of the lower salaries. Because of this, LVN jobs in Houston are easily obtainable.
