Questions from an LPN applicant, RN hopeful

Fiona59 · May 28, 2010

OK, I'm one of the working LPNs you'll meet somewhere along the line if you make it into a nursing programme in Edmonton.

The PN course (you don't get the "L" until you pass CPNRE) isn't a consolation prize for not making it into the U or GMU.

The "bridge" programme no longer exists. You apply to GMU or the UofA and with luck and drop outs you get accepted into second year. If you are a distance ed kind of student you can apply to Athabasca.

I believe there is a 1700 working hours as an LPN to be accepted into the degree programmes.

You need to check their calenders and with their admission officers for details.

If you make it into Norquest, don't go around telling everyone from your instructors at college to the floor nurses that are working with you to hone your clinical skills that you are only "doing this until I can become an RN". We've heard it all before and usually it's from the ones that have the worst performance in their class.

Do you have any idea of what a LPN does? What their responsibility is? What our scope of practice is? Where in the healthcare system we work?

Research this job, the education is two years of work that will make you question your stamina and people skills.

Why are you leaving the Microbiology course?

Why do you want to nurse? Have you looked at job prospects? Less than 50% of the 2009 graduates of the BScN and PN diploma holders found employment. 2010's class who knows? Stelmach, Duckett and his henchmen make promises but if you check the AHS websites most jobs are internal postings or have a clearly defined termination date. New grads are competing with experienced nurses already in or returning to the workforce. Nursing isn't going to make you rich or guarantee you a job.

SurroDoula · May 28, 2010

I can't really add anything to the above post, but I know that MacEwan is full for September and people are being put on a wait list. I've also heard that they dropped from 160 seats to 120 - and the class registration limits seem to support that rumor.

seraen · May 29, 2010

Fiona:
The PN course (you don't get the "L" until you pass CPNRE) isn't a consolation prize for not making it into the U or GMU.

I do not see joining the PN course as a consolation prize for not making it into the U or G.Mac. I see it as an opportunity to do what I want to do, and not waste my time at the school I'm at since, although I thoroughly enjoy Microbiology and genetics and biology in general, it is not what I want to do with my life.

If you make it into Norquest, don't go around telling everyone from your instructors at college to the floor nurses that are working with you to hone your clinical skills that you are only "doing this until I can become an RN". We've heard it all before and usually it's from the ones that have the worst performance in their class.

Obviously. The primary reason I was looking at nursing in general was, of course, because I'd wanted to be a doctor throughout my teen years. Working in the hospitals, I realized I had a very idealized notion of what doctors were and what they did and decided that what I wanted from a job was what the nurses I'd been interacting with had and valued. I was told, from my friend's mom, who is an RN, that oftentimes people who go into the PN program stay there because they like it so much and opt not to go the RN route. I'm aware that could be the case, but I'm not just trying to get into an RN program for the sake of saying I'm an RN. At the time I was looking at the nursing field and the schools, this is the one that is heavily promoted and the one that everyone hears 'bout and of course, the first choice when applying to a nursing program.

Do you have any idea of what a LPN does? What their responsibility is? What our scope of practice is? Where in the healthcare system we work?
Research this job, the education is two years of work that will make you question your stamina and people skills.

This is primarily what I came here to find out. In my mind, a PN and an RN aren't so very different. I'm eager to hear if that is completely wrong.

Why do you want to nurse? Have you looked at job prospects? Less than 50% of the 2009 graduates of the BScN and PN diploma holders found employment. 2010's class who knows?

Job prospects don't particularly bother me. I would be happy wherever I could get a job, and frankly, just being able to experience different environments would be great. That said, I don't have to work, this is something I have thought long and hard about, and actually been to all the different places I would be in whether as an RN or PN and found that I would enjoy it. Working after graduation is something I want to do, but I will also be (hopefully) be starting my own family and so even casual or part time work would be fine with me. And you know, I plan to stay home with my babies for a while anyway, so at this point, the current job market is not a huge issue.

One day, if I'm good enough and when I'm much older and have had experience, I hope to be able to teach new nurses and pass on some knowledge. I love to help people and working in the hospitals and volunteering at the seniors centres were so much fun for me.

It seems to me that you sound a bit bitter Fiona and maybe I'm wrong, but I just came here for some advice. Not to be attacked and feel like for some reason, by asking these questions, that I'm not good enough to be a nurse. Out of curiousity, in your experience, what made those students in the LPN program who were 'only there to be an RN' the worst? Do you see any reason not to go into the RN program after becoming an LPN? If not, why should someone just remain an LPN? What are the benefits, if any, of getting the RN degree after an LPN?

I'm just curious, and I apologize if I sounded snarky or condescending or anything like that; it was not my intention.

dishes, BSN, RN · May 29, 2010

Seraen

Here are links to videos about nursing from the RN and RPN perspective (in Ontario the title is RPN instead of LPN)

RN video "Nursing Opportunities for Life" http://www.cnsa.ca/english/publications/video

RPN videos are under the section "Meet a Few Ontario Nurses" http://www.rpnao.org/practice-education/career-development

dishes

Fiona59 · May 29, 2010

Dishes: the scope of practice in Ontario is different from ours here in AB, which is what the OP is asking about. The use of the term "RPN" just causes confusion to western Canadians. It's about time that Ontario fell into line with the rest of the country?

Now back to the OP.

When I decided to go the PN route, there was over 100 applicants for every RN seat at GMCC and the U. In my PN class we graduated roughly 70% of those who started. We had students with degrees in various subjects who couldn't get into the RN programmes for various reasons. There was no accelerated RN programme then.

Most of the LPNs who have degrees in other fields have worked as LPNs for several years and have thought about doing the cross over. The bridge was short lived and not all it was lauded to be. (short lived, only gave a diploma, required LPNs to have actual nursing experience despite accepting 18 yo students into the diploma programme).

There are practice hour requirements for both level of nurses to keep their practice permits. Stay at home for several years and you need to take a refresher course to work again. Good casuals are hard to find. No guaranteed hours, no home unit, no real build up of a working relationship with unit staff.

Now, why do I say the students who announce "I'm going to be an RN" while on PN clinicals are usually the worst. Usually it's attitude. A case of not knowing what they don't know. It's kind of like the RN student's who refuse to be buddied with LPNs because "I'm going to be an RN and will be supervising you in two years" (one actually said that on my unit, and quickly had a "come back to reality moment" with the Unit Manager). The PN students who make the announcement usually don't want to direct hands on patient care, don't want the isolation rooms, don't want to do the grunt work that makes up the bulk of any hospital nurses shift. They want the glamour and excitement (how naive) of the ER, ICU, and L&D. They don't even know that an LPN can work ER and ICU. It's like they've missed a large and basic part of their education because they are so focussed on becoming an RN.

If you don't need to work (and I'm in the same position, I work because I enjoy the people on my unit) why get the education now? Why not do it after you have raised your children, that was what I did.

If you aren't committed to nursing (either level) why take the seat in one of the three training programmes in Edmonton? There are students who want those seats because they either want to or need to work full time.

linzz · May 29, 2010

I also think Ontario should fall into line with the rest of the country, just let me count the ways..

In regards to the op, the post by Fiona59 is not bitter at all, it is simply telling you the way things are in healthcare right now. It has not been an easy year for most Canadian nurses and even if you are lucky enough not to need an income, there is still the concern with keeping up your skills which is of utmost importance in nursing. Any reputable employer will hire a nurse with experience or at the very least, recent clinical skills. This is because patients must be cared for by nurses who know what they are doing and why they are doing it.

The other thing is that when you begin work, you can't just take any job because as a nurse you are responsible for providing safe care even when your work decides that it is just fine to take care of a large number of very ill patients. I would suggest you keep researching this field because it is not an easy field for many reasons. Just keep reading this website and you will get an idea.