Just wondering

Nursing Students Technicians

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To anyone that can help. I've seen many threads but the only ones I have come across are very old. I would love to have a conversation on the subject of challenging the lvn board I have been a cna for 13 years and have took many prerequisites for the rn program but the wait is very long. My questions are endless if anyone has info it would be greatly appreciated.

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Mmmm.

Well.

This thread: https://allnurses.com/california-nursing/challenging-the-boards-763569.html has a pretty good amount of information on this subject.

Really though, I think this is an incredibly unsafe for patients. After having been a CNA for several years before I went to nursing school, I can assure you that just based on the fact that someone has been a CNA for 13 years and has "took" several pre-requisite classes, does NOT prepare them to provide competent or adequate patient care. The scope of work performed by a CNA is vastly different than the scope allowed LPNs, not to mention the lack of theory one would have by this testing out method which is imperative in critical thinking skills needed by licensed nurses.

But, hey... what's the big deal. Making better money quick because we don't want to wait to get a proper education trumps safe patient care any day... right?

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I did not know one could even challenge the LVN/LPN license without the schooling. Seems crazy to me.

The article linked to talks about California doing it, do other states also allow this? Odd thing is that California has weird rules for becoming a LVN by challange, and even an LVN to RN by challange, yet won't allow Excelsior grads.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Only state is CA. Can't work in all facilities. Must have paid experience in all areas OB, acute m/s, pedi, psych, geriatrics, etc. pass a 60hr pharmacology class. License is NOT endorsable to other states. Not eligible for LVN to RN bridge as you did not graduate. Very few actually meet the full spectrum work experience especially OB/nursing as most CNAs work in LTC If you aren't in CA you aren't eligible

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To anyone that can help. I've seen many threads but the only ones I have come across are very old. I would love to have a conversation on the subject of challenging the lvn board I have been a cna for 13 years and have took many prerequisites for the rn program but the wait is very long. My questions are endless if anyone has info it would be greatly appreciated.

Challenge the LVN board? I don't think that's a thing. I've been a CNA/PCT for about 8 years and I've never heard of this. I'm in nursing school now and it took a while to get my ducks in a row so that I could commit to an RN program but it was worth it. Nursing students can challenge the LVN board in some cases but they have to have taken some core RN courses like pharmacology before they have that OPPORTUNITY.

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Nursing students can challenge the LVN board in some cases but they have to have taken some core RN courses like pharmacology before they have that OPPORTUNITY.

And I know there are many states that won't even allow you to do this.

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Funny thing about CNA skills is they lean more towards OT

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Hi, I'm a CNA and I can't fathom a CNA trying to become an LVN/LPN without going through the program. I know of CNA's I work with in my hospital setting and they don't know a lot of stuff that I learned in school. Mind you, I went through tech school for 5 months to learn about medical terminology, acute care clinicals, nursing home clinicals, etc. That doesn't make me better than them or you- the reason I'm mentioning this is because every year, there's new knowledge in the textbooks- new laws, etc. I knew about them, but the veteran CNA's I work with don't know any of it. They don't know about proper cath care and they didn't know proper hand hygiene, either. They don't even understand microbiology! When you know about different bacteria , you're probably more educated about which chemicals or treatment will reduce/kill them on surfaces or on skin. (i.e.- hand sanitizer won't kill c.diff, but they swear up and down it does despite our hospital educating everyone about it.) Also, the veteran CNA's I work with never went through school like I did. If you didn't go through CNA school recently, then you can assume everything in the books has been updated. Also, I am a pre-nursing student and I've got over 30 credits under me now. I can assure you that trying to become an LPV/LVN without going through the program is a bad idea. By time I got into microbiology, I was finally realizing the importance of these classes. You do not want to bypass them! They are for your and everyone else's safety and benefit. Here's a little inspiration.... My CNA instructor was a CNA for 11 years and when she was teaching me in tech school, she already had her BSN degree and she was in school again to become a Nurse Practitioner. About a year later, she became a Nurse Practitioner! Just because you're a CNA, you can still go through college and gain more knowledge. You can get there. Trying to bypass all those classes is not advised. I am not obsessed with microbiology, but it was a real big eye opener when I started to learn more about bacteria and their behavior, gram negative, gram positive, etc. That knowledge won't get handed to you unless someone has the time to explain it all... otherwise, you just have to go through the classes just like we all do. Don't sell yourself short!

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