LPN course...with a family!?

OgopogoLPN, LPN, RN · Mar 30, 2007

I'm 30, mother of 2 and starting the LPN course this September!! My course is at Okangan College and is 12 months long which includes the practicums. It can be done!!

Have good childcare in place. You'll likely have some odd hour practicums, like evening, maybe weekends. You WON'T be the oldest one there. There are plenty of over 30's becoming RN's and LPNs.

Good luck!!!

Fiona59 · Mar 30, 2007

It can be done with a family, at least 75% of my class had at least one child.

I have no idea of where LCC is, so have no idea of where you will be able to work. At my hospital we work postpartum. I have heard of PNs working in L&D in smaller hospitals in the northern part of my province.

You won't be the oldest in your class. My class had people from 18-51 yo in it. Currently PN is four semesters in my province.

I wouldn't advise getting pregnant while in school, either go to school or have a baby. Clinicals are physically hard for some people and you have to be able to lift and transfer while a student.

I worked casual for five years. You tell staffing which shifts you can work and they offer you what they have. No benefits or pension but you can control your life. I didn't work nights or school holidays, but some months I didn't get a lot of hours.

It can be and is done all the time.

Good luck

kipandnicole · Mar 30, 2007

Thanks girls! Yay!

LCC is in Lethbridge...Southern Alberta. The course is $12,000 here. I was shocked at the price! Is that normal?!?!

Thanks for the heads up about being pg. I never thought about lifting people. hummm...

Okay...this will sound awful. My g/f told me that lots of new PN's end up working with seniors and have to change lots of depends. I can handle most anything but (adult) poop is one thing that turns my stomach!

Fiona-can you tell me a bit about the postpartum? Like what your responsibilities are...the good, bad, the ugly. Is it the "post labour" floor?

One more thing, how many hours are considered casual?

Thanks a bunch girl! :)

OgopogoLPN, LPN, RN · Mar 30, 2007

Thanks girls! Yay!
LCC is in Lethbridge...Southern Alberta. The course is $12,000 here. I was shocked at the price! Is that normal?!?!
:)

Is LCC Lethbridge Community College? That does seem high for a community college. Okanagan College is a public college and the 12 month tuition price, including books and fees will be about $7100.

Just don't go to a private college---like Sprott-Shaw or any others that offer LPN. Most are a complete rip off and are only out to make a buck. They can be horrible!!

Look into any nursing education bursaries. BC has one that I'll be applying for and the bursaries are anywhere from $500-$3500. I think the amounts are decided upon by type of education and financial need. There is one health authority in BC that pays entire tuitions for nursing education (although that might just be for RN, I didn't read the whole thing since I don't live in that health authority.)

If you look into it, you may be able to find some grants/bursaries.

linzz · Mar 30, 2007

I think Fiona 59 gave good advice. Having a child during school would be very difficult as the workload is heavy and it may not be easy to do some of the clinicals while pregnant. I have heard Alberta has lots of work for LPN's. In Ontario, hospital work for LPN's will be mainly med-surg and even that is hard to get but not impossible, depending on the area. I would aim for post partum work as your goal and most hospitals usually use RN's for Labour and Delivery as it can be a very technical area and reading those strips, looking for decels is not always easy. Keep doing what you are doing and keep researching both school and the job market in your area. Don't rush into anything, there are lots of programs that do an intake every few months. Also, check out hospital websites, newspapers, internet to see what options you have for employment and what the hours are. This site is also a great resource. Good luck and take your time, you won't regret it.

maxandruby · Mar 31, 2007

user profile kipandnicole vbmenu_register("postmenu_2133780", true);

registered user

join date: mar 2007

posts: 2

country: canada

hi there,

i'm a mother of 2, a 5 yrs, and a 20 mths., i'm in my 2nd semester at the moment. it's not easy to balance my time for school and family, but so far it has been ok. i usually stay at school a couple hours after class to study. when i'm home, my time is totally for my family. i used to try to study at home, but the kids were just all over me, it's hard to concentrate. then i tried to study after they were in bed, but by then i wanted to go to bed too...lol. my classmates are all mixed with young and old(er) between 24-50+. having a study partner is important too. well, i hope this helps.

Fiona59 · Mar 31, 2007

My hospital hires new grads in all departments. So you'd only really have to look into LTC if you really wanted to work with seniors.

You clean up feces and urine wherever you work in a hospital. Labouring women move their bowels while pushing, post-op patients don't always make it to the toilet, today we had code "browns" all over the unit.

An LPN is postpartum carries the same patient load as an RN. My hospital doesn't let us do IV meds or starts, so the RN's do the meds. As postpartum is basically a 24 or 72 hour stay, we don't have a lot of IV starts and only a few Mums on IV antibiotics. So you usually have five Mums and their babies, do admitting assessments, routine fundal and vital checks, med administration, dc foleys and ivs, insert foley for those who can't void and educate, educate, educate... Most of the women at our hospital don't do prenatal classes, so you wind up telling them a lot, infant feeding and care, growth and development, care of themselves, birth control, sexuality, you have to be prepared for a lot of questions and then there are a lot of women who don't speak English and have a lot of expectations from the health service that don't meet North American standards due to cultural differences.

I've worked ante-partum and really didn't enjoy it, the strips weren't bad but a lot of the women on those units are very high maintenance and when they want the nurse they want her yesterday.

In Alberta there is no reason for a PN to think she is limited to LTC and even in LTC/Geriatrics there are lots of options, day programmes, LTC, alzheimers units, geri-psych is opening up to us.

$12K is a lot of money and seem out of line for a public school. Have you looked into Bow Valley College out of Calgary, I think they do a distance ed course and you only have to attend for clinicals.