Thinking of being a LVN

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Hi everyone. I would really appreciate your honest and straightforward input and advice.

I will keep my intro short.

I'm a early 40s male, prior military, successful self employed automobile mechanic in the Los Angeles, CA area. I sustained a distal radius fracture of my dominant hand, subsequently underwent some real poor medical care forcing me to find a new career.

Due to the poor medical experience I had, my brain is drawing me to attending a LVN program which could be upwards of $25,000...

My questions are;

Being a early 40 male with NO previous medical

experience, what is the likelihood I can find a decent entry job upon completion of a LVN program?

Any suggestions? Thoughts or input?

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

25,000 is WAY too much for an LVN program. Research the job market in your area. Many, but not all areas have very few nursing jobs regardless of your age.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

The LVN employment market in the greater Los Angeles area has been horrible since about 2009. There's a glut of new LVNs looking for work in L.A., so it might take more than a year to secure your first job. Also, there's anecdotal evidence of wage deflation locally. Buyer beware.

The community colleges, regional occupational programs (ROPs), and adult education centers offer the same LVN program for less than $10,000 in tuition and fees.

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There are two LVNs working at my hospital as unit clerks because they haven't been able to find nursing jobs since graduation. LA is not a great market for any new nursing graduate, but BSN graduates have the best chance of finding employment without leaving the city/state. Your dominant hand being injured may also be a problem depending on what limitations you have, if any. I assume you have some since the injury resulted in your need to look for a different career.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

You will need your hand as a nurse. Any other ideas?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

Being male is completely irrelevant.

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25000 for an lvn program just sounds like a stupid scam. I'd try to find an ADN program that was accredited instead. My ADN cost me 5000 total and my Bsn only cost 6000. I cannot imagine the prices you're getting quoted.

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As others have said, $25k for an lpn program is ridiculous. I should be going to an ASN program for less than half of that.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, CEN, TCRN.

If you do go through an LPN program being a veteran, let me remind you that you might want to look to the VA for employment -- a lot of hospitals and health care systems are going more towards RNs/CNA2s and not using LPNs, but the VA still uses LPNs pretty extensively.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

To the OP, I just have a few questions/statements (forgive me if you have already provided the answers and I have just missed them).

  • Is there a reason why you are focusing on LVN versus an RN program?

I agree with others who say 25K is way too much for an LVN program and finding employment may be a challenge at this time since you have fewer options as an LVN. Just to be clear, I have worked with a few LVN/LPN who are awesome nurses but the fact remains that employment options are more limited for this role and in this economy you should do everything you can to make yourself marketable (higher education, more marketable/transferable skills).

  • Regarding the injury/damage to your hand, how severely has it impacted your ability to use the hand?

I ask because you will need the use of both of your hands as a nurse. You will need to prepare medications, administer treatments and do other tasks such as changing dressings, inserting catheters and I foresee it would be extremely difficult to do without the use of both hands. A little more information about this would be helpful for our advice.

Personally here is what I would do... I would take advantage of your status as a veteran and see if you can get into a VA facility in any sort of position that you may be qualified for at this time. Once you're in the facility I would look for any funding/scholarship opportunities and return to school for your RN (I would go for BSN at this point but that's just me). Even if there isn't a great deal of funding available you would know that you are more likely to get a position after graduation (once you're in the VA then you are pretty much set). The process of getting into the VA takes a while (like all things related to the government) but the fact that you are a veteran and want to go to nursing school is definitely going to help you if this is what you really want.

One last observation, I noticed you mentioned that you were a man in your 40's. Being a man shouldn't have any impact on your choice to enter nursing. As a guy who happens to be a nurse I have seen that my gender has had very little impact on anything related to my career. In terms of being in your 40's, I have had classmates who were in their 50's and they were going for their BSN with no previous nursing experience so don't let your age hold you back either.

!Chris :specs:

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.

I encourage you to take the time to connect with a 'vet friendly' school. Take a look at THIS SITE for information on all the options. You deserve the special consideration and extra benefits that these schools can provide. In addition to educational benefits, there may be stipends to assist you with living expenses while you are in school. Keep an open mind and look at other health care professions that may actually be better options for you than nursing.

Keep us posted on your progress. I'm wishing you the absolute best of luck on your education and career change.

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