Schools/good places to work in Western PA?

[GodsWillNotMine]

Hi all,

I am looking forward to making a career change into the nursing field.

Can anyone suggest good - low cost - schools in the western PA area? Preferably LPN or less than two year RN programs.

And what is it like to work for some of the hospitals around the area?

Thanks for your help :)

[Debbie_LPN]

I live in ohio, but i think i can help you(i'm right on the border of PA). There is one LPN school that is a 10 month course: mercer county career center. They take adults as well as students. There are SEVERAL excellent hospitals and nursing homes in western PA: Sharon Regional, UPMC Horizon(in Farrell and Greenville), and St. Francis Hospital. There are way too many nursing homes to list. You can find one just about every mile in PA!! LOL---Hope this helps.

Debbie

[kaycee]

St. Francis no longer exits. Some hospitals with diploma programs are:

Sewickley Valley Hosp School of Nursing, Ohio Valley Hosp, West Penn Hospital. These are 2 yr diploma programs. To my knowledge there are no less then 2yr RN programs, nor should there be. I'm not sure which hospitals still have LPN programs. Allegheny or Beaver County Community colleges have both RN and LPN programs also.

In the Pittsburgh area there are alot of hospitals to chose from. Most are now either associated with the UPMC Health System or the West Penn Allegheny Health System.(you can check out their websites for a listing of hospitals) There are still some that stand alone. Ohio Valley General Hosp., Sewickley Vally Hosp(will probably be a UPMC facility soon), Beaver County Medical Center(probably UPMC soon), and Mercy Hospital.

Good luck.

[nolaSN]

There are some RN programs that are less than 2 years. Most require a bachelors degree (not necessarily in nursing), and that you take many prerequisites that would normally be taken in nursing school (micro, A&P, nutrition, chem, a couple of psych classes, etc). The first place to do that was John's Hopkins I believe, and there is one at Duke I think as well. I'm not actually in the PA area yet, but I'm sure someone will have some suggestions--just be prepared that a 1 year program is incredibly hectic and you'll give up your job and a lot of your life to do it--you'll need a really strong support system. Good Luck!

[BadBird, BSN, RN]

Try Community College of Alleghney County. Community colleges offer ADN in 2 years.

[Jackie_RN_2006]

You are going to have a difficult time trying to find any programs that offer an RN in less than 2 years. Even CCAC's 2 year program is really much longer after you add in all of the prerequisits. I've been going for just over 2 years already with another 13 months ahead of me. Frankly, I can't imagine learning what I've learned in any less time. CCAC has a great program and it's affordable. You might check them out and see if they have something they can offer you. They also have LPN courses, but I'm not too sure what the length is in that program. Hope you find something and good luck.

Jackie