LVN Employment in Texas
Job opportunities for Texas vocational nurses are very good. Due to the current shortage of health care workers most nursing students secure positions before graduation and employers have difficulty in attracting and retaining adequate numbers of vocational nurses. As a result of the nursing shortage employers provide lengthy preceptor and internship programs, offer dental and medical insurance, paid time off, sign-on bonuses, retirement plans, and social security and disability benefits.
In general, vocational nurses work 40 hours weekly but as with most health care workers they might have to work overtime, weekends, holidays and nights. In general, vocational nurses who work in large cities are paid more. Vocational nurses in Texas are paid from $33,500 to over $41,000 annually but can make significantly more if they obtain additional credentials in specialties such as ICU, ER, OR and geriatrics. Hospitals and other large employers usually offer shift differentials of up to 15% paid in addition to base pay for working on weekends, evenings, or nights.
There are around 725,000 licensed vocational and practical nurses in the U.S. out of which about 65,000 reside and are employed in Texas but the demand for licensed vocational nurses will continue to increase because of the need to replace nurses who leave the profession or retire, the national nursing shortage, the long-term care needs of an increasing elderly population, and the general growth of health care services.
Vocational nurses who specialize in geriatrics can find employment easily and in general get better salaries for taking these positions since the demand for qualified health care workers in long-term care facilities and nursing homes is very high. New licensed vocational nurses get paid $12 to $18 hourly and receive extra pay for working weekends, holidays and nights. Licensed vocational nurses with additional credentials in specialties such as ER, ICU or geriatrics are paid higher. For example, experienced LVN with additional credentials may get $30 per hour while agency work assignments pay even more.
Licensed vocational nurses can work in hospitals, nursing homes, doctor's offices, home health organizations and a variety of other healthcare settings. LVN jobs in hospitals are on the decline but there are an increasing number of jobs created in nursing care facilities and in home health care services. Opportunities for vocational nurses in outpatient clinics and doctors’ offices are projected to increase fast due to technological advances making procedures once performed exclusively in hospitals possible at these facilities.
Due to a rising number of older persons with functional disabilities and in need of long-term care, home health care agencies and nursing care facilities will offer the most new jobs for vocational nurses. LVN employment opportunities are also increasing in educational services but the decreasing number of jobs in hospitals is increasing competition for these positions. A good LVN salary of up to $42,000 per year is increasingly offered by correctional facilities and other Federal, State, and local government agencies.
Consumer preference for complex treatments and care in the home, technological advances, as well as the growing number of patients who are being discharged from hospitals but who have not recovered enough to return home are contributing to the demand for licensed vocational nurses.
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