LPN Nursing Schools

Schools by State
for LPNs:

AK AL AR AZ CA CO DE FL GA HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA MD ME MI MN MO MS MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VA VT WA WI WY

Career Highlights for
Licensed Practical And Licensed Vocational Nurses

Training generally required for this career includes: Postsecondary vocational award.

Jobs and Salary
Median Salary (2008)	$39,030
Unemployment Vs. Other Jobs	Low
Jobs (2006)	749,000
Job Growth (2006-2016)	14%
Jobs (2016 forecast)	854,000

Flexibility
Working Part-Time	18%
Self-Employed	2%

Education of Current Workers
Bachelor Degree or Higher	7%
Some College	72%
High School or Less	21%

Relevant Job Titles

(Supplied by experts and industry contributors for this career category)

Charge Nurse
Clinic Licensed Practical Nurse (CLINIC LPN)
Clinic Nurse
Home Health Care Provider
Home Health Nurse
Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)
Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN)
Nursing Technician
Office Nurse
Pediatric Licensed Practical Nurse (PEDIATRIC LPN)
Private Duty Nurse
Triage Licensed Practical Nurse (TRIAGE LPN)

Information Sources

BrainTrack's information on colleges and careers is drawn from many sources, including government databases, BrainTrack's own research, and results from original data analysis algorithms.

Licensed Practical And Licensed Vocational Nurses photo

LPN Job Description

Licensed practical nurses (LPNs), also known as licensed vocational nurses (LVNs), care for the health of patients under the supervision of physicians and registered nurses (RNs). An LPN's responsibilities can be broad. Examples of LPN activities include:

recording vital signs
obtaining patient information
providing injections
helping with daily care
dressing wounds
monitoring equipment
conducting regular lab tests
teaching patients and their families about their care

LPNs are usually generalists that can work across many areas of healthcare, often within a hospital. Many work in focused settings such as nursing homes, physician offices, home health care, clinics, military facilities, or federal government facilities. Another common work situation are LPN travel jobs in which the LPN takes temporary, contract assignments in various locations. LPN travel jobs can be a useful way to increase earnings or to evaluate a region and workplace before taking a permanent position.

Becoming an LPN offers a fast entry into a nursing career - a student can obtain a license within one year. LPNs have a foundation for advancing their careers into nursing jobs that offer higher pay and responsibilities. For instance an LPN can become an RN through one of many available LPN to RN degree programs.

LPN Nursing Degrees and LPN Nursing Schools

Career tips, salaries, and lists of schools.

LPNs typically complete a one to two year practical nursing program that leads to a certificate, diploma, or associate degree. LPN training involves study of anatomy, pharmacology, patient care, communication, and includes substantial clinic time.

Certificate and diploma programs are the most popular paths for becoming an LPN. An associate degree can be valuable as a foundation for more advanced nursing degrees, such as a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing (BSN), that prepare students for roles with greater responsibilities.

LPN training programs are commonly available from a hospital, community or junior college, or technical vocational school. Some may be available from a four-year college or university. Whatever the school, a program must be approved by a state's Board of Nursing in order for a student to qualify for a license.

Once a program is completed successfully, the nurse must pass a state regulated examination, known as the NCLEX-PN, to become licensed. States commonly accept LPNs that have been licensed in other states without further requirements.

LPN Nursing Classes

Most LPN degree programs teach a similar set of basic nursing skills. These include, for instance, measuring vital signs, data collection, patient care and comfort, and giving medication. Most also are required by states to include training for advanced skills such as phlebotomy, intravenous (IV)infusion, and IV medication administration. Common LPN nursing classes include those for nursing fundamentals, psychology, adult health, mental health, pediatric health, anatomy, physiology, obstetrics, nutrition, first aid, and more.

Online LPN Nursing Classes and Programs

Because LPN training involves substantial clinical time, LPN programs have been only available on site. Many of these programs offer busy adults the flexibility of completing classes during nights and weekends.

Availability of online LPN nursing programs have been limited to existing LPNs that are seeking to advance their careers and expertise. There has been rapid growth in these online programs – there are now hundreds – because of their flexibility for busy, working adults and those distant from a school. Online courses can be completed at convenient times and any location with an internet-connected computers. For programs with clinical segments, these are typically coordinated with an appropriate medical facility that is close to the student.

Example online programs that are popular for LPNs include LPN to RN degrees, LPN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees, and others.

LPN Requirements

LPN school candidates are required to at least be high school graduates. The rules of State Boards of Nursing apply to entrants. For example the requirements for taking boards usually include a clean criminal record and graduation from an approved practical nursing program.

How to Evaluate LPN Schools

Prospective LPN students should consider the following factors in evaluating LPN schools:

LPN school size - Small schools frequently provide the most personal interaction with faculty and staff while larger schools often will have the largest selection of program and study options.
Career path - An LPN program that is part of a school offering advanced nursing programs, such as a bachelor or master degrees, can provide the most flexibility should a student later decide to advance his/her degree and career.
Student to faculty ratios - Fewer students per teacher during clinical work and classes can be an important factor in getting a high quality education.
Clinical time - An LPN school should have adequate clinical time in various practice areas, including direct experience with patients, to help ensure that students are prepared for their LPN jobs. A good way to assess this may be for candidate students to speak with a school's current and recently graduated students.
Board pass rates - Look for schools with high pass rates of the board examinations as this can be a sign of the general quality of a program.
Tuition and financial Aid - Both tuition and availability of financial aid can vary significantly from one LPN school to another.

Apply For a BrainTrack Nursing Scholarship

To help nursing students currently studying to become a nurse, such as an LPN or RN, or to advance their education as a nurse via associate, bachelor, master, or doctoral degree programs, BrainTrack's Nursing Schools Scholarship offers a winning and second place award every semester. The scholarship essays submitted by entrants are designed to help others consider becoming a nurse or advancing their nursing education and career options.

Scholarship Details and Submission Form

The BrainTrack Scholarship for Nursing helps current students pay for their education. Entrants must respond to essay questions that are geared toward helping people evaluate nursing as a potential career path. BrainTrack will publish those essays which prove most helpful to future students.

The scholarship is open to students with at least one semester of credits towards graduation with an appropriate degree in nursing. One student award of $1,000 for the best entry and one of $500 for the second best entry is planned for each of two semesters, on an annual basis. Entry deadlines are November 1 and March 1, with awards payable towards the student's current or following semester.

Winners will be selected based on the creativity, focus, overall thoughtfulness, accuracy, and practical value of their responses to essay questions. Determination of winners will be undertaken by a committee that includes independent judges familiar with nursing as well as BrainTrack staff.

For more background on BrainTrack and its scholarships, please visit About BrainTrack Scholarships.

How to Apply

Submit answers to questions designed to help those considering nursing as a career path. All answers must be entered into the scholarship entry form, which is started by clicking the I Agree button below.

Rules

Scholarship entry deadlines are November 1 and March 1 of every year. The deadline for the next scholarship award is March 1, 2010.

The scholarship competition is open to enrolled students who have completed at least one semester of credits in a nursing degree program and are currently pursuing a degree. Students must be enrolled in one or more relevant classes at the time of the entry deadline. Students may be in either a full-time or part-time program. They may also be enrolled in an on-campus and/or online program.
Winners will be notified by email and telephone, typically within six weeks following the entry deadline. All award payments are made to the school, toward the student's tuition.
Candidates may submit only one entry every 12 months.
Entrant's school must be in the US and have accreditation recognized by the US Department of Education.
Entrant must be a US citizen, have permanent resident status, or have an appropriate student visa.
Entrant must be living in the US or if living abroad entrant must be a US citizen or permanent resident currently enrolled in an online degree program with a qualified US-based school.
All submissions become the property of BrainTrack's publisher, FutureMeld LLC, and entrants grant permission to FutureMeld to use their essay answers, school name, and degree status for promotional or other purposes.
Entrants that are selected as finalists will be contacted by FutureMeld to provide one or more references from their school. FutureMeld will contact the reference(s) to verify an entrant's qualifications for the scholarship.
For non-winning entrants, FutureMeld will keep a student's name, contact information, and references private for use only in conjunction with this scholarship.
Winning entrants will have their name published. Winners must agree to a brief telephone interview with a BrainTrack staff writer for publication as part of the winners' announcement.
BrainTrack reserves the right to change rules between scholarship competitions at its discretion and to make rule clarifications at any time as needed.
Questions or comments? Please contact BrainTrack using our contact form.

Relevant Schools That Respond Quickly to Info Requests Through This Site

School names link to detailed profiles. Use the Info from the School link to contact the school directly for more information. You may request information from as many schools as you like.

School	Campuses	Awards	Info
Allied Medical & Technical Institute	PA	Diploma	Info From School
Career Centers of Texas	TX	Diploma	Info From School
Computer Career Center	TX, NM	Diploma	Info From School
Dover Business College	NJ	Diploma	Info From School
Kaplan College	CA	Diploma	Info From School
Kaplan University	Online	Certificate	Info From School
National American University Campus	KS	Diploma	Info From School
National Institute of Technology Ohio	OH	Diploma	Info From School
Prism Career Institute	NJ	Coursework	Info From School
Stanbridge College	CA	Diploma	Info From School
Texas Careers	TX	Certificate, Diploma	Info From School
University of Phoenix	AZ, AL, IN, MI, CA, WI, NM, MO, HI	Bachelor	Info From School
Western Career College	CA	Associate, Certificate	Info From School

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