Can someone answer these 2 questions please?!

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Hello Everyone!

This is my first post so please bear with me:specs:. I'm a surgical technologist who will be going into the LPN program at ECPI, this upcoming July. Here's a few questions I have before I take the plunge into what I've dreamed of becoming, which ultimately will be an RN.

1)Does anyone know what schools I can bridge to after graduating from this school? I'm a mom of 5 and really would like to get that done asap after graduating, but would like to have the proper info beforehand.

2) Since I'm used to surgery and floor/unit work, can an lpn work on the floor, give meds and start IV's? For some reason, surgery and floor work excite me and I really have no desire to work at a nursing home. Nothing against it, but it's just not my desire. I like hospitals, urgent care, and so forth, but have I locked myself into geriatrics? I really appreciate your help and thanks to all the wonderful nurses out there. I have had 8 major operations in the past few years from a c-section of twins gone horribly wrong from a doc not changing a glove, which in turn caused MAJOR infection throughout my body, and so forth. What I remember the most were 2 specific kind and caring nurses who made sure I fought to live and encouraged me when I was told wouldn't. Sometimes......you guys really don't know how precious your acts of kindness and words really are. You are appreciated....All of you! Thanks for reading Guys! Smooches!:D

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

I have no idea where EPCI is and you listed no state of residence, so I can't help you with RN schools of nursing. In most states LPNs give medications and many states now allow LPNs to start IVs once they take IV certification courses. However, since I do not know what state you are in I cannot state for a fact if that is true in the state you live. Usually, once you are in a school program, hiring into a new grad job pretty much depends on a recommendation from the nursing school instructors and the sky is the limit as far as where you can go to get hired so changing to the acute hospital setting for a job shouldn't be a problem as long at they are hiring LPNs.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Are you in Virginia, North Carolina or South Carolina?

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Sorry for not listing guys! Lol! I'm in Charlotte, NC

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

i went onto the website of the nc board of nursing. yes, lpns in nc give medications. however, i could not find anything in the nurse practice act that i was looking at about lpns being allowed to start ivs. here is information about nursing schools in the state. the schools are arranged in alphabetical order on the pages and they are each weblinked to individual information about the schools:

a nursing program leading to diploma in practical nursing is generally 3 semesters in length and is offered by a post secondary educational institution. the nursing curriculum includes classroom and clinical experiences for patients across the lifespan in hospital, long term care, and community settings. the program prepares a minimal competent, dependent nursing practitioner, who functions under the supervision of a registered nurse or other qualified health care provider, for these settings.

graduates of the programs of practical nursing education receive a diploma and are eligible to apply to take nclex-pn. a pn license is awarded upon successful "pass" on nclex and satisfaction of other licensure requirements.

a nursing program leading to an associate degree is generally 2 years in length and is offered by a college that awards associate and/or applied science degrees. the nursing curriculum includes classroom and clinical experiences for patients across the lifespan in hospital, long term care, and community settings. the program prepares a minimal competent, independent nursing practitioner for these settings.

graduates of approved associate/applied science programs earn a college degree and are eligible to apply to take nclex-
rn
. a
rn
license is awarded upon successful "pass" on nclex and satisfaction of other licensure requirements.

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Thank you so much for all your help guys! Keep that info coming! Do they have seperate classes I could take to get certified to start IV's? How does that work? Sorry for asking so many questions.

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I followed the link and I saw where some of the schools were under a warning status. What does that mean?

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

I live in California. I don't know how your state does things. Go to the home page of the state board where you will find contact phone numbers and call their office for information that can't be found online. My guess is that schools under a warning status have violated some state board rules or regulations and are under probation. You could try searching the site to see if that is explained somewhere, otherwise if you have a burning desire to know, call the board or the school and ask.

As I said, I pulled up the law and read through it and found nothing in the law giving LPNs the right to start IVs. I also looked at several of the practice FAQs on the BON site and there was nothing there about LPNs and IVs at all. I go on BON sites all the time and when states give LPNs the right to start IVs it is usually listed and the way to get certified posted all over the websites. It just ain't there for NC, so they probably don't permit it. NC always has been a very pro-RN state.

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Thanks, I plan on getting my RN right after my lpn! I appreciate your information

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Specializes in home health, LTC, assisted living.

:smilecoffeecup: i'm an lpn. jmho but take it from someone who has been there, why don't you just go right for the rn instead of going first to the lpn? it took me 2 years to get into a (we call it acclerated) rn program. different schools have different rules, take their own students first, etc. whatever you do, good luck and we are always here for you at all nurses!:bugeyes:

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Thanks for the advice luv2quit! I thought about that, but because of being a single mom of 5 divorcee, I need to move quicker. I originally was going to do the RN program, but it would have taken me a very long time due to everyone's waiting list and all the pre-reqs before you even start. So, I decided to do the bridge program, which can be completed less than 2 years, because we're skipping the whole year prior after passing our boards. I just talked to the school and they told me they are going to have the schools that accept their students come and talk to us near the end of the program. I'm so excited! Thanks for all your support!

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hi,I'm in Philadelphia but currently in Delaware,in leads school of technology doing my LPN one year program.I'm almost one month in deep.but i would like to get my RN asap after i finish my LPN..and rules state that you can only do that after 2yrs of active working.does that mean that i can't do the bridge while I'm working so that when i finish i just get into the RN program direct?thank you.

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