The LPN is the four year program for nursing, right? What would be the first step to getting there?
Asked by Erica S
I start classes at a community college in January. I have no licenses or degrees to be a nurse. So I found that the LPN is the first thing I need to get in order to become a nurse. I'm guessing I can't go right in to a pediatric nurse program. So I have to find out if my college offers LPN, right?

Best Answer:
LPN or Licensed Practical Nurse is obtained through a non-degree program (usually certificate), offered at technical and community colleges and is usually about a 12 month program. When you complete it you are eligible to take the NCLEX-PN, the licensure exam for LPNs. RN or Registered Nurse can be obtained through either an Associate's Degree in Nursing (ADN) program or a full Bachelor's of Science or Arts in Nursing (BSN or BAN). The ADN programs are two year programs offered at community colleges and some universities. The program is two years but you need to take pre-requisite courses ahead of applying so it might take you 3 years. These programs teach you the bare minimum, the fundementals of RN practice so when you graduate you are eligible to take the NLCEX-RN for licensure in your state. The BSN programs are the 4 year RN programs if you are attending full-time every semester. You start taking pre-reqs and general ed. courses during the first two years, apply to the nursing major during the second year and start the nursing courses during the third. These programs teach the same fundementals of nursing but also go into expanded theory, models of care, public health, nursing research, issues in leadership / management skills / professional topics, etc. It gives you a more well rounded knowledge of your profession. It is usually necessary to hold a BSN if you desire to advance into supervisory / management roles at some point in your career, but in terms of doing direct patient care in a clinic or hospital or something, it gives you no significant advantage other than perphaps a small wage differential - my hospital pays BSNs $1 per hour more than ADNs. If you want to be a pediatric nurse with the most variety in job opportunities, go for the RN. Start as an ADN if that works best for you. Get a job in peds somewhere and hopefully you can get an employer which offers tuition reimbursement as a benefit, and you can complete your BSN later. Good luck!
RN, BSN
Answered by Jill

Yes since you have no pre med classes prior you start at the beginning
Answered by sassy25

While Jill is correct, as usual, Licensed Practical or Licensed Vocational Nursing Programs may be either certificate programs as she described or may award an Associate Degree at some schools. Also some certificate programs may be as long as 15 months. EDIT: Just as a note; Jill has mentioned that the core nursing curriculum begins in the junior year in a BSN program. This is the most common curriculm format. A few schools may intersperse some classes prior to the junior year, but that is not the norm. The most common method is to complete all prerequisites, and then, if you meet the criteria at that point you are admitted into the nursing portion of the program. Having taught at several universities, this has been the method used at all of the schools with which I have been associated..
Answered by US_DR_JD

Jill is right about the Lpn and ASN, however in the BSN the four year program, you start your nursing classes the second year, sophomore year not the junior year. You take your pre-reqs and electives and to get them in the four years you are going way more than full time, every semester...it's going to end up taking me 6 years to get my BSN but I did take a semester off and had to take algebra which most people can test out of. You can start at any of the three levels Jill mentioned, you do not have to start at the LPN level and I wouldn't recommend it because you will be spending way more money and going way too long. Just start out with your Bachelors. my sophomore year in the nursing program, the nursing classes I took were Health and wellness, Intro to discipline of Nursing, theory, and practice, Health Assessment, Health Assessment Lab, Life span development practicum, Fundamentals, Fundamentals Lab, Nursing stats (it counts as a nursing course at my school and nursing faculty teaches it) as well as some non-nursing classes that were required some electives. We didn't do any clinicals during our sophomore year but we did have to do some things with the public in almost all of the classes. Why waste your time starting off with something else and then going back to school. Edit: oops I'm just a midwestern girl and the schools in my area do it this way just look up all the big ten schools and their nursing programs and you'll see. IU, OSU, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn state, Purdue---these schools all do it the way I said (if they do I'm sure that many others do as well, I might even venture to say that more schools do it this way then the other way) The point of this question is No the Lpn program is not the four year program for nursing that would be the BSN program. Yes it might take you longer than four years. I don't think community colleges offer Bachelors degrees. Good Luck, study hard, sleep when you can, but just in case invest in a coffee maker.
Answered by littlemisscontroverse

You do not need to get the LPN first. You can go straight to RN after prerequisites.
Answered by Lori

LPN information http://www.lpn123.com/
Answered by ?