Dienstag, 14. Januar 2014

lvn programs in california:Accelerated LVN Nursing an Investment Into the Future

Good question. The LPN-Licensed-Vocational-Nurse-LVN/">LVN/LPN cannot do as many things as a registered nurse (RN) nor do they generally hold management type positions. The job market is narrower for licensed vocational nurses than it is for RN's. So why go this route?



In May of 2010, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing wrote a thorough and informative article on the nursing shortage in California. In it they state, to no one's surprise, that the baby boomers are getting older. Right now they are between 50-65 years old and starting to retire and many are beginning to need health care themselves. So they are concerned that there will not be enough RN's to take care of them in hospitals, retirement homes, and in the home. Another problem that they point out is that the age of the present RN's is also increasing so they will be retiring themselves and leaving a big gap that is not being filled up quickly. The nursing schools continually are turning away applicants because they do not have enough instructors, enough classrooms, and too many people applying. And this in itself may be due to the poor economy the state is in, so people are changing professions throughout their own lifetime.



Obviously, it is difficult to get accepted into a nursing program. With prerequisites and the waiting lists, it takes an average student six to seven years to become a registered nurse with an associate's degree. As a result, many qualified, potential registered nurses fall by the wayside. Additionally, nursing school is a lot like boot camp, in that students who fall below 75 percent on exams and those who do not exhibit professional behaviors may be "weeded out" from a program that they worked so hard to get into, instead of being mentored for success. Most vocational nursing programs are less difficult to get into and take only one to two years to complete. Now, once students successfully take the state examination and become licensed, they can then apply to one of many RN bridge programs offered at California colleges. If this option were fully utilized, it could help produce more RNs and, of course, LVNs, too.



Those who choose to remain as vocational nurses can also help ease the nursing shortage. Under their full scope of practice, LVNs can perform many of the same tasks as registered nurses, such as administering medication and treatments. As an educator of vocational nursing students, I have a renewed appreciation for the magnitude of education required to obtain a license. It encompasses more than 900 hours of clinical training and 600 hours of theory lecture.



This is her investment into the future, the future for herself and for her little daughters. They will grow up respecting their mother for this bold move, for following her dreams, and maybe someday, when the time comes, they will too fight for their chance in life and invest into their future.


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