Pre-requisites first?!

[joycee01]

Hello everyone,

I am on my junior year in High-School and looking forward to enroll myself in an LVN program by fall of 2014. Some people say that I need to complete my pre-courses first to get into the program and others say it is only for the Registered-Nurse. I also need some advice before entering college. I recently earned a 2.8 gpa on my first sem. as a Junior. Do you think I have the chance to get myself into the college I want to pursue my program? and is it true that they(hospitals) are phasing out the LVNs?

[Taffey]

Check the website of the college that you want to attend, it will give you information on required classes. It will be a lot esaier if you already have them done before entering your program. It dpends on the area that you live in if the hospitals use LPN's.

[sunflowergrl]

Hi and welcome. I am an LVN. The best advice that i can give you is to speak to a guidance counselor at your junior college. I went to a private vocational school and you do NOT need pre-reqs for that. For the RN yes you do. When I entered in the vocational school i had to take an entrance exam. Basically its an exam to make sure you know the basics. The entry exam is not hard and basically covers high school stuff with common sense. As for your GPA, you have to have a DIPLOMA in order to become a nurse. So if this GPA is going to keep you from getting one then you need to work on that.

If I could do it all over again I would have did better in Vocational school for my LVN. Even though when i took my boards I only got 87 questions and passed, I feel that I should have paid attention more. If you go to a vocational school I can answer your question and tell you NO you dont need pre-reqs. Now for a junior college, I never went there. I am assuming that you do need pre-reqs for pretty much everything. If you are planning on furthering your education sometime in the near future, meaning you want to do the LVN then in a year or two try the RN, I would say dont waste time and go straight to RN.

Now to answer your next question, if they were doing away with LVN's then there wouldnt be schools for them. Do not believe everything you hear. If you have questions about that then contact the BVNPT. (The Board of Vocational Nursing & Psychiatric Techinicians) I know they are re-routing LVN's to certain practices meaning more for convalescent or Home Health care but I also know that they are using LVN's in the ER now. Just remember we can do everything an RN can do except push narcotics in an IV (expecting that the LVN is IV Certified) and a RN can make $15,000 + more than an LVN. I was told by my Nursing instructor who is a Dr. and he told me that the exam is the same for an LVN as it is for an RN. The only difference is the amount the RN has to get correct versus the amount the LVN has to get correct. Yes the content will be weighed more for RN but its basically the same thing.