Can I challenge the LVN exam?

Nurses General Nursing

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I had a quick question for you. I am in school to be a medical assistant and I was wondering if after I finish, can I challenge the lvn/lpn exam. my boyfriend was in the navy as a coreman and they were allowed to challenge it and they were considered medical assistants.

thanks so much for your time and good luck with school:p

What in the world is the school you're going to teaching you. If they are teaching you in ANY way that you are "like" a nurse you better get it straight right now ...... you are not. A military cormen, does things in the feild to save lives, they are about caring for pt's in war situations. They do things that even nurses arn't allowed to do in hospitals. It's a whole different world. Unless they are teaching military core men to do front office, do b/p's and keep records for a Dr. then I would say no. I'm so tired of these schools graduating people that think they are "nurses".

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Hi blondie, just wanted to let you know in regards to challenging the boards. I think it depends on the state you live in. In california I challenged the boards as a CNA as I had 50 months of acute care experience which is one of the requirements for california. The best way to find out is to locate your state boards as previously suggested.

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ok, well, i am a navy corpsman and when i was back in san diego, i had the package to challenge the lvn exam, but many moves and deployments later, i can't find it...even online i can't find it. if someone could point me in the right direction that would be great. Thank you. You can PM me.

Jesse

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most states have strict requirements on the amount of study that is required to take liscenure tests

i am sure that some of the military have sufficient experience/knowledge to know what is taught in nursing schools but some of these spend their work in clinic like settings where they take v/s, h/p, and write down complaints of patients

the states can't tell the difference, which accounts for the very few states willing to allow these challenges

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ok, so do you know of any websites i could go to that have information on it?

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The only people that can challenge the PN exam and only for CA, are those that were medics in the military. This is the only exception made to the rule. Please be aware that by getting the LVN license in CA, you will be unable to use it in any other state as it will not be acceped for licensure for you to endorse. The only way it can be used in other states is if you work for a VA facility.

Please contact the Board in CA that handles the LVN license and they will tell you of the specific information that you will need to provide for them to be able to take the exam. It will require some documentation specific to what you did in the military.

Best of luck to you, and it can be done.

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You may have been able to endorse the LPN license in the past, but that is not the case any longer that I have heard of. The NCLEX exam has reciprocity but the licenses do not. And the individual must meet the educational requirements of the new state. And the military training is not accepted by the others.

Same thing with the 30 credit program that CA offers for the RN, it is not accepted for licensure in any other state without having completed at least the needed courses to get the ADN.

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Actually, I just checked the OK rules dated 7/01/07, and OK still also allows some military medical personnel to challenge the NCLEX-PN:

"(B) has completed an equivalent level of training as a military medic. The following

levels of training have been evaluated and determined to be equivalent training:

(i) U.S. Army 91WM6 (previously known as 91C)

(ii) Air Force Medical Service Specialist 4NO51 (previously known as 90250) or 4NO71 (previously known as 90270), with further evaluation to verify that training included content on mental health, and classroom instruction and clinical experience in care of the adult, care of the child, and maternal-newborn nursing;"

(From the requirements to be eligible for licensure by examination (PN) from the most current rules posted on the OK BON website: http://www.youroklahoma.com/nursing/rules.html)

The main websites for the BONs of all 50 states can be accessed from right here at allnurses; just go to the upper right corner of the screen, click on the "Resources" tab, and then click on "Boards of Nursing" -- that will take you to a listing of all the BONs, with links to the websites.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
The only people that can challenge the PN exam and only for CA, are those that were medics in the military. This is the only exception made to the rule. Please be aware that by getting the LVN license in CA, you will be unable to use it in any other state as it will not be acceped for licensure for you to endorse. The only way it can be used in other states is if you work for a VA facility.

Please contact the Board in CA that handles the LVN license and they will tell you of the specific information that you will need to provide for them to be able to take the exam. It will require some documentation specific to what you did in the military.

Best of luck to you, and it can be done.

*** I was able to endorse my Ca LVN license to a Wisconsin LPN in the summer of 2005. I didn't go to nursing school to become an LPN, I challenged based on my experience as an army medic.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Peds, Geriartics and Oncololy.

I recently find out that the LPN exam can be challenged in CA. If you have military exp, education or work experince in the healthcare field you can possibly become eligible. If you try to use work and education you have to have a certain amount of hours in certain areas. The following which i am getting directly from the information they sent me can qualify you for the exam. 54 hours of pharmacology, 10 years prior to the date of applying exp general duty inpatient bedside care. Included within the ten years need to be a min of 48 mnth med surg, 6 weeks of Maternity or genitourinary nursing, and 6 weeks of ped nursing. Along with a list of other things that i will not type because i will be here all night. If you go to www.bvnpt.ca.gov you should be able to find the information for yourself. Good luck.

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I have been trying to challenge the LVN exam for a number of years now. I was a medic 91B in the Army and have over 9 months of bedside care as well as working as a NA in a hospital over several years PLUS volunteering overseas on Medical teams for an accumulative of a another six months. HOWEVER... because I don't have 12 consecutive months of "hands on, bedside care" I can't chanllenge the LVN Exam. I know I can pass it...and I have letters of recomendations and proof of other hands on experience. BUT the powers that be (probably some anal clerk) won't let me take the test. If I can pass it, good. If I can't than hooray for them. But I think they should let me at least take the test!

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According to the CA BVNPT at http://www.bvnpt.ca.gov/licensing/forms.shtml the requirement for military bedside nursing experience is no less than 12 months.

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