just curious..

momandstudent · May 15, 2008

I was told by somebody that you can do this in the state of MN. Curious about this also...

rotteluvr31, ADN, RN · May 15, 2008

I don't know for sure, but I would guess that it not only depends on your state and what the educational requirements are for an LPN, but also on what type of program they are in. I am in WI and our techincal college ADN program is a two-year "step-out" program, where at the end of your first year you can take the PN-NCLEX, which I believe most students opt to do. Then they can work as an LPN while continuing on to complete their ADN. I know myself and many of my classmates that are just finishing 2nd semester (yay!) plan on taking the LPN boards later this summer.

ZooMommyRN, ADN, RN · May 15, 2008

You should be able to find this information on the MA BON site, it varies from state to state and even from program to program, you have to have so many clinical hours to be eligible as well as the endorsement from your nursing director from your program, it's possible here in FL but our ADN program was specifically set up so that we would not meet the clinical requirement untill we were far enough along that it wasn't worth it to take PN boards and then turn around and take RN boards less than 6 months later

kcochrane · May 16, 2008

You used to be able to sit for the LPN boards after the 1st two semesters of RN school here in NYS. But my understanding is that you can no longer do that. I believe it changed last year due to safety issues.

kcochrane · May 16, 2008

Ok, here's the info for NYS.

https://allnurses.com/forums/f195/ny-phase-out-lpn-licensing-rn-students-pre-graduation-182628.html

I would check with your BON because I was told NYS wasn't the only state that changed.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · May 16, 2008

i went to the website of the maine board of nursing and pulled up their application for lpn licensure by examination and looked at it. there was nothing on it about educational equivalency. they clearly wanted the name of the school the applicant graduated from and the date of graduation.

http://www.maine.gov/boardofnursing/ - maine board of nursing
- http://mainegov-images.informe.org/boardofnursing/lpn%20examination%20application.pdf - application for licensure by examination for lpn

in the information for licensure for foreign graduates they asked the persons call this number and gave these directions. i suggest you do the same and ask your question: 207-287-1133 and press 0 to bypass the menu.

i and many others do not think what you are asking about doing is a good idea. there are a number of previous threads on this.

some nursing school deans will not give you the letter that the state board will require from them that outlines the coursework you have completed that proves you've learned the lpn work. if that happens, you can't take the nclex-pn at all.
if you are allowed to take the nclex-pn and manage to pass it and start working as an lpn you'll be a new grad acclimating to a new profession. it is very stressful and takes months to learn this new role and responsibilities.
your final coursework in rn school will also be very stressful
the question then becomes if you can handle the stress of learning the lpn work and being a student rn at the same time. very few can, so one of them is going to suffer. you will be forced to choose: learning how to be a good rn or giving the best care possible as an lpn to the patients you will be caring for. it depends on your ethics.

i was a nurse manager and supervisor for some years and saw a couple of nurses who were doing this. there is no way i would hire an rn student who got an lpn license in order to make more money. what i saw was that these lpns focused on their studies, which they put first, rather than on learning to do their lpn jobs, which they were getting paid for and should have been their priority. their patients were the ones who suffered for it. they also made a lot of clinical errors in judgment--not unexpected, they were new at the job.