Athabasca University LPN to RN progam

rj0387 · Mar 29, 2010

Thank-you for your responses it is nice to know that others have once felt the same... Kudos to LPNtoBN for finishing it in less than 4 years with kids and working.. im curious as to the flow of which you took your classes if you wouldnt mind sharing.. and also, did you find you had to contact your tutors much? I am also presently working in a private setting that doesnt give me much opportunity to practice skill did you find that the preceptorships were intense and were the instructors assistive?

Joyoueter - i plan to work in a hospital in bc hopefully.. when i contacted rnbc prior it stated i would just need to apply as an out of province nurse as i would hold an alberta license once graduated.

rj0387 · Mar 29, 2010

alsoo.. i know it states if you have 2 or more failing grades in 1 or more of the practicums your withdrawn and unable to continue with the program.. have you heard of this happening much :S?

BC bound · Apr 12, 2010

Hi everyone, i've got a couple questions about the athabasca program too. I'm currently registered in with the CLPNA but am looking to move to Victoria BC to work and live. I'm a fairly new grad only been practicing for almost a year now. But im wondering if I would have to keep a license as an LPN for Alberta the whole time throughout the program and be practicing in alberta??? And at the same time i would need to gain a license from CLPNBC to work out there once i move. If this athabasca thing doesnt work out, does anyone have any suggestions for transition programs in BC? SOOO CONFUSING! :crying2: :confused:

Fiona59 · Apr 12, 2010

If you plan to work in BC, you need a practice permit for that province. It was a pain in the backside to get one five years ago. Slow process, maybe CLPNBC's staff have picked up the pace.

If you plan on doing Athabasca, if you read their info, you need an AB permit while enrolled in the programme. Your clinicals are in AB.

So you will need to maintain practice permits in both provinces while doing the degree.

lpntobn · Apr 13, 2010

I usually took 2-3 courses at a time. You can register every month for courses as long as you do it by the 10th of the previous month so when I felt I was ready I would just add a course. The public health rotation is with a preceptor only on site. The mental health and med/surg have instructors on site. I found the med/surg rotation challenging as my background is mainly in long-term mental health, so I had a lot to learn. The tutors are great and I had no problems contacting them although I rarely talked to any of them as mostly I communicated through email.

Good luck, I have no doubt the program was well worth it!

BC bound · Apr 14, 2010

If you plan to work in BC, you need a practice permit for that province. It was a pain in the backside to get one five years ago. Slow process, maybe CLPNBC's staff have picked up the pace.
If you plan on doing Athabasca, if you read their info, you need an AB permit while enrolled in the programme. Your clinicals are in AB.
So you will need to maintain practice permits in both provinces while doing the degree.

Thanks guys this is all great and helpful information. How long did it take to get your BC license? I've been looking into it and it looks like i need to apply to write an exam to get registered? Or "permitted" to work there. After you wrote the exam did u work under a temporary license? I'm really hoping to get there by october of next year but all they have is casual positions for now. And was it hard for you to find a job when applying from a different province?

Fiona59 · Apr 14, 2010

It took nearly four months and watch their year end. I was going to have to pay for a license that expired in under 30 days, so I just waited it out for the next year.

If you've passed CPNRE you don't have to write another exam. They will want to look at your transcripts because the AB education is longer than theirs. They liked to make it sound like ABs was inferior to their system but in reality the AB education is more thorough.

It was hard to find a job where I had to move to. My experience was sound, there just wasn't a lot of work and they preferred to hire locals. Yup, I started casual as well.

BC bound · Apr 14, 2010

WOW! that sounds like such paper work! Maybe i should start lookin into all of this now to get set up. I can't believe it took ******* 4 months to get your registration! thats rediculous! What is CPRNE count as? And how do u like working for VIHA? were u getting enough shifts on casual before u got a position? FIONA 59 you are living the dream i want to happen lol I really want to work in victoria if the job outlook is good there. I might even fly out in a few weeks to check the area out myself.

Fiona59 · Apr 15, 2010

CPNRE is the national exam for all PNs. Pass it and your good to go in any province AFTER the provincial college evaluates your education. It used to be that PNs educated in BC were deficient in eye exams and some of their A&P, and were required to upgrade to complete their full registration in AB. CLPNBC required me to take a course on saline locks to complete mine. Never mind that my hospital in AB did it as an inservice and the hospital I worked at on VI didn't permit LPNs to touch IVs.

I found working for VIHA really restricting and was glad when my husband's employer transferred us back to AB. Not enough hours to make it as a single person with only one job.

VI is a beautiful place to live, expensive but beautiful. Some of the smaller towns have a very them/us attitude towards newcomers.

I'm glad I had the experience but I'd never move back. One of my coworkers did their education on the Island and moved to AB. Just remember that a lot of people grow up on the Island and most of them move to the mainland for work.

kelseya · Apr 16, 2010

Contact Athabasca directly. I only know that all the electives can be completed in advance while getting the hours in. The exams are done when you are finished a course. Athabasca has a testing centre here in Edmonton and other centres around Alberta. They would be able to tell you where you might be able to write in another province.
You are aware that you also have to obtain and keep current a practice permit for Alberta while enrolled in the course and do your clinicals in Alberta???

Hi Fiona 59.i found your advice very helpful since i am interested in the PN/RN program in Athasbaca, i have lots of question i would be grateful if you could take your time to answer some of them. I am presently living and working as LPN her in Alberta for the past 2 years, . My questions are, is there any particular deadline to apply for the program? do you have to submit your transcript by yourself or the schools you attended have to send it directly to Athabasca since some of my transcript are not from Canada. I have two years of University education in social sciences ( Sociology & Anthropology), i also did English, statistics and lots of social sciences subjects in the University, will that eliminate some of my electives/ prerequisite?, in other word will i be awarded credit for those. Also will they give me credit for my A&P from LPN school?. After how long of starting of the program did you start your clinicals? Can one do the last 3 months of the clinical in another province? How much is the total cost of this program?. Thanks so much in advance.[/

Also wanted to find out how many days per week did you go for clinicals and at what times when doing the one month clinicals? because i do work night shift. Is there any deadline to enroll?

kelseya · Apr 24, 2010

Hi there,
I am almost done the program through Athabasca, just waiting to do my final 3 month placement. I took me a little less than four years to complete but I am also working, have kids, etc.
I think employers love the program as they get an experienced nurse at a new grad price.
Although, you do need to come to Alberta for three placements it is not impossible and many students do it.
It is true you can do your final placement anywhere in Canada.
I started my electives before I got my Alberta LPN license.
You do need to finish cluster A before starting B unless you ask for the instructor's permission. They may let you if it's not a direct prerequisite, but I'm not sure.
I had a lot of questions too before I started, you can start with taking just one pre-requisite and see how you like it without making a full commitment.
Good luck!

Regarding the clinicals sites, do they take into consideration where you live before they chose a clinical location for you, or they just send you anywhere in Alberta. I live in Calgary and would like my clinical sites to be Calgary, i don't know if that will be possible. Where do you live if i may ask?

Another question i want to ask is that, can i start taking some of cluster A courses like Phil, Psy and stat then later transfer it after the evaluation of my documents? Thanks again for your reply.

Also, i did a lot of Social Sciences courses while in the University, My Major was Sociology/Anthropology, and also some humanity courses like French, Women studies etc. Do you think if granted those credits, i might use lesser time to complete this program, like below 3 years? Thanks again for your reply.

lpntobn · Apr 25, 2010

The med/surg clinical and public health clinicals were ran in both Calgary and Edmonton this year as far as I know. The psych clinical that I was on was only ran in Edmonton so everybody had to come to Edmonton to do it. However, in the past I think everyone had to go to Ponoka. I think it depends on where the instructor is and where they can secure a location. Athabasca does say that you may be placed anywhere in Alberta so you need to take that into consideration. I live in Edmonton and I was lucky because I did all my rotation right in Edmonton. I don't think they will let you do any cluster A courses before you are enrolled in the program itself, however, you can start on the electives. Although, you might want to hold off until you see what they will credit you for. The length of time to complete the program really depends on a number of factors so it's hard to say. I had been out of school for around 20 years and had no prior University so it took me awhile to get into writing papers, readings and taking in large amounts of information, as well I worked off and on and have 3 kids, etc. If they give you credit for some courses or not you could still complete it in under 3 years and it is self-paced. The only requirement is the order of the courses so you can pretty well go as fast or slow as you want as long as you complete the program within 7 years.