Re: LPN in Cebu?...help.....
Hi All,
Thanks its my first post though ive been reading and learning a lot of valuable inputs. I have to say Suzanne and the rest of the moderators are highly commendable for giving us the right information thanks alot for your hardwork and patience to answer our query.
Im just really really curious like maybe most of those who are interested on this LPN course that is being advertise. You see im an aspiring nurse aswell who wuld like to get the chance to work in US and bring my family, the way the LPN is being presented looks ideal for me and while im still doing research bumped by the fact that its not actually the right course for US nurse aspirant.
Let me just post here an excerpt of the write up from the local paper. I hate to think this is mere publicity and way to lure poor students like me. My heart bleeds...
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CEBU: WANT TO BE A NURSE? YOU CAN TAKE A 2-YEAR COURSE! CEBU CITY, November 5, 2004 (STAR) INSIDE CEBU By Bobit S. Avila The Philippine Star 11/05/2004
This means parents have to send their children to a four-year college course so they can graduate as registered nurses (RNs). However, when I was in the US, I heard that nursing there is only a two-year course. So it got me into asking: why can’t we have a two-year course for nursing here so that we can satisfy the world demand for nurses?
Well, I got my answer a couple of weeks ago when I interviewed on my TV show Arturo Lacuesta, chairman of the board of the Philippine Paramedical and Technical School of Davao, and their consultants, Jake Marques and Gregory T. Howard, chairman of the Standards Committee for Licensed Practical Nurses at the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) in the US and president of the National Federation of Licensed Practical Nurses in the US, and they have wonderful news for parents who want to send their kids to nursing school, but can ill-afford to pay for their tuition in the next four years.
Howard and Lacuesta suggest that students take what is called the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) course — it’s also known as the Licensed Vocational Nurse course — and all you need is to be in school for two years, after which the LPN graduates can take the NCLEX and the CGFNS. Well, they’re doing this in Davao City now, and it will soon be available in Cebu City. If and when they pass these exams (which nurses who take the four-year course have to pass, too), then they can apply for jobs in the United States or other countries.
Well, I have always known about the RNs, but we really didn’t know that LPNs existed. So I asked if there is any difference between the two. Howard gave his insights from a study of nursing in the United States. Here are a few differences between LPNs and RNs. Perhaps, because the LPN course is a two-year course in the US, there are fewer LPNs who are immigrants as compared to RNs who mostly come from abroad.
RNs work in hospitals in greater numbers than LPNs. On average, RNs and LPNs work for about the same number of hours per week — between 36 and 38 hours. But here’s the most interesting part: the hourly pay rate of RNs and LPNs increased by 19 percent between 1984 and 2001. LPNs are paid a little lower than RNs, but then that’s because it took the RNs two extra years to be where they are. In short, RNs have certain duties that LPNs cannot do, but the bigger percentage of their workload is very much the same.
Howard puts it quite simply, or should I say, militarily. RNs are the sergeants, while the LPNs are the corporals. Hence, in a squad, we don’t have to be sergeants. Howard only has praises for the quality of nurses from the Philippines, and coming from a former chairman of the CGFNS, that is a very good compliment. But the reason why our RNs get good jobs is simply because there’s really a huge demand for nurses out there so hospitals hire RNs even though they just need LPNs!
No doubt that through the years, nursing has always been known as a four-year course, while only a few people know about LPNs. Well, that would soon change and I reckon that many students would opt to take a two-year LPN course simply because it would cost their parents much less in tuition and more importantly, they can immediately take all the needed exams to get a job in the US or elsewhere. So when LPN grads are in the US, there really is no stopping them from further studying to become RNs. But by then, they would be RN graduates in the US already. So let’s watch the growth and development of LPNs coming from the Philippines.
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