I have been an RN for 7 months now, but I am older and most of my patients assume that I have been  a nurse forever.  I am very knowledgable and if I don't know something I will look it up and find out.  I know what I am talking about when I call a doctor and have all my facts to present.  Yet daily I am disrespected by doctors with questions that even a 1st semester nursing student would be able to answer.  Example I had a patient admitted for an INR of 8.2 ~~ patient was given 5 mg Vit K in the ER and hung 2 units of FFP ~~ on admisssion to the floor I was to have a PTT -PT & INR drawn when the 2nd unit of FFP was done.  After I got the stat blood draw and received the results I was to call the doctor  with the report.  When I called the doctor he ordered a repeat of labs in the AM and then said to me " Oh and you didn't give him his dose of Coumadin tonight did you"?  Now I understand this is  his patient but DUH... why would I give Coumadin ~~ Maybe I am overly sensitive  but  it was demeaning to my intelligence that after givng the antidote for Coumadin I would turn around and give him Coumadin.  Some feedback please  I can take it -- this is almost a daily occurance and not just with me with all the nurses.  Yet I have had to call doctors and ask if they really want the patient to have Rocephin when they have a PCN allergy and they say OH didn't realize.  Thanks!!

I'm not experiencing it so much at work but I am experiencing it a LOT being back in school.

I've been an LPN for 12 years and decided to go back for my RN.  For the last 2 quarters the instructors have insulted those of us who are LPNs telling us that we can't critically think or that our experiences as LPNs don't count or won't help us as RNs.  One has gone so far as to imply that we are just incompetent and have to run to an RN every time something is "beyond our scope of practice" because we can't think like RNs!!  WTF?? 

In my 12 years as an LPN, I have trained numerous RN grads who are my "supervisors"  - I'm training a BSN graduate now.  While I don't have a problem orienting any new nurse, no matter what their credentials, it is very disturbing to hear our instructors speak of LPNs in this manner when our class is a mix of LPN transition students and traditional RN students with no nursing experience.  It makes me wonder if these traditional students think LPNs are stupid and that we can't handle anything on our own. 

I've had doctors belittle me but that hasn't bothered me nearly as much as the patronizing and insulting remarks that my current nursing instructors have been making.  Ironically some of the ones making these comments started out as LPNs themselves - makes me wonder if they have forgotten where they started??

I have always had respect for the LPN's - and I just can't undestand why in the medical field people can't    respect each other for what they do.  Each and everyone of us has our speciality and need to be respected for all we do for our patients.  I can't imagine what it must be like for those new RN's that are only in their early 20's and how much they are disrespected.  At least I am older and doctors are not sure how long I have been an RN.  It comes down to respect of each other for the greater  good of our patients.