Are you an Alberta LPN?

Chicklet2 · Oct 18, 2008

Hey.. i've been an LPN here in Edmonton, AB for 3 yrs. I love my job!! I took it through norquest through a satelite location in Camrose, AB its about an hour from Edmonton bc that was the area I was from. At that time the course was only 13months and very intense. I enjoyed doing it in Camrose d/t the fact there were only 18 of us which is nice with the smaller class size. More hands on and you become really close with your classmates. Norquest is good, but they wont let you return unused books unless you have dropped a course or quit.. which is a pain. Also since we were in camrose we had to come to Edmonton for our graduation which didn't seem to be as intimate bc we are graduating with over a 100 people we have never seen in our lives before. I had also applied to Red Deer College and have some friends that completed the LPN program there and they really enjoyed it. The class sizes once again are smaller more like 30 people. Also with taking it in Camrose or say Red Deer you sometimes get better clinical experience b/c you are going into more rural areas where you might see more since a bigger hospital is so far away. Also you might get extra time in say surgery if you really enjoyed it there d/t there are no other students needing time there. I think also athabasca does the LPN course by correspondance and have heard good things! Hope this helps.

Fiona59 · Oct 18, 2008

... you sometimes get better clinical experience b/c you are going into more rural areas where you might see more since a bigger hospital is so far away. Also you might get extra time in say surgery if you really enjoyed it there d/t there are no other students needing time there.

I would have to disagree with that one. Students in urban settings get great clinical experience. Norquest places students at the UofA, Stollery, and RAH. The opportunities to observe complex surgical procedures are a given as is participating in the care of some pretty complex patients. Students on my unit have cared for wound vacs, assisted with patients fresh out of the ICU, and very surgically and medically complex cases. The patients that rural hospitals ship out.

Final preceptorship placements in Gynie, PostPartum, and Surgical areas are a given, as are placements in inner city health and varied adult daycare programmes.

Yes, the PN students compete for placement space with the RN students but they also come in on evening shift and so are exposed to am and hs care. I enjoyed that part of my training because I realized that evening shifts were far more to my taste than dayshifts.

Norquest can be a pain in the posterior to get through but they do prepare a person to work in the real world. I've worked with Bow Valley educated nurses as well and found them to be well prepared.

linzz · Oct 19, 2008

Don't mean to be off topic but I think it is a great opportunity to do shifts other than day shift. I don't know what it is like in Alberta but most new grads in Ontario start on evenings or nights. I am not a day person, so I really prefer evenings or nights. JMO.

leotard.paradigm · Nov 2, 2010

100% of BVC grads are employed in Health Care! =]

Thats where I'll be attending in the fall.

If you are successful in the distance program, I give you MAJOR kudos.

thleenium · Sep 28, 2011

Just as an update, I am at NorQuest and I like it so far. The instructors are great and the student body diverse. I haven't had any problems with their admin. I'd recommend it for anyone who wants to become a PN.