Do all LPN programs teach same skills?

[natrgrrl]

Does anyone know if all LPN programs teach the same skills and provide the same level of education?

A friend of mine just graduated from a private college and passed NCLEX-PN but he says his credits won't transfer to comm. college for LPN to RN program. Also, his program was several months longer (and much more expensive) than the LPN program at my school. Are they learning more at the private school?

Any help on this is appreciated.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

your state board of nursing has to approve the curriculum of each school that it licenses to teach lpn nursing. so, minimally, each school of lpn nursing must teach certain things that are the same in all lpn schools.

the reason your friend is having problems with his credits transferring is because of rules of the college he wants to transfer into. most college programs of nursing are accredited by a body of nursing such as the nln. to get that accreditation, the standards are higher than what the state board of nursing requires. to gain this accreditation requires a lot of effort that a private school may not be willing to put forward. therefore, to grant transfer credit, their rules of transfer are likely to require that the course content from the private school classes must be comparable. they are saying that they are not. your friend is stuck. it is very likely that he is going to have to start from the ground up in nursing classes to get his rn unless he can find a college who will accept his credits from the private school. an alternative is that some schools will have lpns take and have to pass a test of lpn compentency that they give. if the lpns can pass that test then the school will automatically grant them a certain amount of credit and put them into an lpn to rn bridge program.

this is a problem that many who think of going the lpn to rn route don't consider. choosing a school that is accredited is important when you know that you will be transferring course credits later on down the road. so, planning is very important.

one reason why private schools are more expensive is because they are private and don't have the state and federal funding that larger colleges and universities have. therefore, their financial existence is more dependent on tuition they receive from enrolled students.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Sorry, dulicate post. Problems with my ISP.