30 Unit Option - California LVNS

Jules A, MSN · Jul 21, 2008

Wouldn't your school let you just retake the last semester that you are missing? I guess retaking the bridge program again wouldn't be so bad if its like mine, just two semesters aprox $2,000 at a CC. You might get more replies in the California section. Good luck.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jul 22, 2008

Moved to the California Nurses forum for more replies.

gladiola · Jul 23, 2008

I'm still in LVN school and thinking about taking the 30-unit option too. I'm pretty sure I read that one you decide to go this route, that's it, you can't decide to go back and get your ADN and then your BSN. You would pretty much have to start over.

This is from Rio Hondo College's website:

The student should be aware that they may not change their status as a 30 Unit Option RN with the Board of Registered Nursing at any time after licensure.

So if you really want to get your BSN eventually, then you may not want to do the 30-Unit Option.

Click here for more information about the requirements:

http://www.riohondo.edu/health/nursing/30unit.htm

frankiebaby · Jul 23, 2008

I too wanted to do the 30 Unit Option but for a different reason. Simply because I saw it as the fastest way to go from LVN to RN. Here's what I found out, some of which you may already know.

If you do the 30 Unit Option you will only be eligible to sit for RN boards in California and will only be able to practice in same.

You will have no terminal degree (no ADN, or ASN) and you will not be able to go on to get your BSN etc. Ever. Meaning, once you do the 30 Unit Option, it can't be undone, (at least that's what two different school's Nursing Depts. told me).

Knowing this I STILL wanted to persue the 30 Unit Option - but could not, for the life of me find a school that would allow it. Even community colleges in my area that had it listed with their nursing progams only offered it on a "space-available" basis. And space was never, ever available. Every nursing advisor I talked to had horror stories about people who did it and then either failed the NCLEX, or got married and then couldn't move out of the state with their spouse because they couldn't work...etc. They all had a hundred reasons why LVNs shouldn't do 30 Unit Option programs. (If they really don't want us to do the 30 Unit Option, then they shouldn't offer it, IMO, but maybe it's a Community College funding thing, I don't know.) I applied anyway (with excellent GPA etc...) and was told...you guessed it, "space wasn't available"!!! I then applied to the same school's bridge program (they call it advanced placement option) and got in.

Anyway, back to the question in your post:

My school lists the requirements as follows:

LVN nurses who wish to take the 30-unit option program must have a current, valid California LVN license and must have completed Microbiology 12 and Physiology 1 or 12 with a grade of C or higher. Students who qualify for this option should make an appointment with the Nursing Department Chairperson for additional information. 30 unit option placement is on a space available basis.

Other schools that I've looked into are the same. Micro and Physio pre-reqs, with 22 subsequent units of core nursing classes.

In the long run, I guess I'm glad that I didn't do the 30 Unit Option because now if I want to say travel to Hawaii and work, I can. But hey, if they let you jump back into your program where you left off - then go for it! And if not, and you can find a 30 Unit program in your area that's affordable, then go for that. Good luck, and don't give up!:)

JailRN · Jul 25, 2008

I did the 30 unit option program a LONG time ago through a community college. (I was an old lady in a hurry and this seemed to be California's answer to the growing nursing shortage). Our class of 40 only lost about 3 on the way. It was a one year program. We took our boards (the older ones where you went for 2 days, 4 sessions and only given twice a year, took 2 months for results) and only one failed. (We suspect she did that for financial reasons (got more allimony from 'ex' and an LVN)

I've been happily (and successfully) practicing as a RN for years. We were told (at the time), that only 6 states had no reciprocity with us-(I'm sure that's changed by now)-one of them was North Dakota, where they said you had to have a BSN to be a RN there.

If you're not planning on moving out of state and you're a little older (I say that with no malice in my heart) and want to get it in a hurry, I'd say go for it. But, you must remember, technically, you are not a graduate of any school of nursing, so you're not a diploma nurse, nor a graduate of a college, so you don't have a degree. (Some employers list that you must be a graduate of an accredited school of nursing) You DO have a RN license, because you've completed the requirements to sit the board and passed. The license looks like any other California RN license and the employer will know that status only when they CALL the BRN for license verification (It's not posted on the website)

Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT saying you should hide it from anyone. I'm not ashamed of once being a an LVN or now, a 30 unit option RN. I am a RN. period. Like it was said before, even if you get the degree later, you can't change the BRN status.

Of you have the time, patience and enjoy school, I'd say go for the degree. My husband went back to school at 48 and got his degree in nursing at 54.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have listened to my parents and 'applied myself' in college when I was 17, and gotten the MSN at that time.

AH, hindsight!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shouldda, couldda, wouldda

suzanne4, RN · Jul 26, 2008

Things have changed considerably. Licenses no longer have reciprocity, that was with the old state boards. The NCLEX exam has reciprocity but the credentials will need to be reviewed by the new state if one wants licensure there and there is not one in the US that will accept the 30 option program for licensure as there is no degree offfered with it.

Much better to just go for the ADN, only a couple of classes more and then you can work anywhere. The few from here that went thru the 30 option program and then moved out of state were unable to get licensed as an RN.

Even though now you think that you will be here forever, things do change.

Best of luck to you.

LVNdeluxe · Aug 27, 2008

I would just like to add that I also was told that the 30 unit option is "it", and you can't change it. When I mentioned this to my college counselor, she informed me that you CAN go on for a BSN. You just can't go back and obtain an ADN. (I guess I get that the Board [in all it's God-given authority] won't change what's on your licesnse, but frankly, none of it makes much sense to me, :banghead: ...) I'm almost 54, and obtained my LVN through a hospital-based program over 20 years ago. This simply means I had NONE of the prerequisites for an ADN program, so that route would have taken "forever"... Like JailRN above, I am "an old lady in a hurry" and will probably not need to worry about whether I can practice in any other state as an RN. My only question is: Is my counselor right? She should know, shouldn't she? It almost doesn't matter, because I've discovered that I love school so much that I will get a bachelor's degree anyway...even if it's not in nursing. Hey...the way I see it, I'm not getting any younger, and won't be able to drag these tired old legs around a hospital forever, but I'm still going to need money, right? And it's not like we're going to retire on a pension:smokin:! Maybe I'll learn to do something less stressful on the old bod...a college degree might make that possible.

But still...can anybody out there confirm what my counselor told me? I would really like to put that to bed once and for all...

LVN-RNhopeful · Aug 30, 2008

I worked at a hospital in Ventura with several 30 unit option RN's who completed the 30 Unit option at Ventura College, and they were in the process of finishing the classes they needed to complete their ASN. I know all of the schools that I've looked at here in San Diego DO NOT offer that option, but it may be school specific.

cessybon · Jan 13, 2010

I too wanted to do the 30 Unit Option but for a different reason. Simply because I saw it as the fastest way to go from LVN to RN. Here's what I found out, some of which you may already know.
If you do the 30 Unit Option you will only be eligible to sit for RN boards in California and will only be able to practice in same.
You will have no terminal degree (no ADN, or ASN) and you will not be able to go on to get your BSN etc. Ever. Meaning, once you do the 30 Unit Option, it can't be undone, (at least that's what two different school's Nursing Depts. told me).
Knowing this I STILL wanted to persue the 30 Unit Option - but could not, for the life of me find a school that would allow it. Even community colleges in my area that had it listed with their nursing progams only offered it on a "space-available" basis. And space was never, ever available. Every nursing advisor I talked to had horror stories about people who did it and then either failed the NCLEX, or got married and then couldn't move out of the state with their spouse because they couldn't work...etc. They all had a hundred reasons why LVNs shouldn't do 30 Unit Option programs. (If they really don't want us to do the 30 Unit Option, then they shouldn't offer it, IMO, but maybe it's a Community College funding thing, I don't know.) I applied anyway (with excellent GPA etc...) and was told...you guessed it, "space wasn't available"!!! I then applied to the same school's bridge program (they call it advanced placement option) and got in.
Anyway, back to the question in your post:
My school lists the requirements as follows:
LVN nurses who wish to take the 30-unit option program must have a current, valid California LVN license and must have completed Microbiology 12 and Physiology 1 or 12 with a grade of C or higher. Students who qualify for this option should make an appointment with the Nursing Department Chairperson for additional information. 30 unit option placement is on a space available basis.
Other schools that I've looked into are the same. Micro and Physio pre-reqs, with 22 subsequent units of core nursing classes.
In the long run, I guess I'm glad that I didn't do the 30 Unit Option because now if I want to say travel to Hawaii and work, I can. But hey, if they let you jump back into your program where you left off - then go for it! And if not, and you can find a 30 Unit program in your area that's affordable, then go for that. Good luck, and don't give up!:)

HI! WHERE DID YOU TAKE THAT PROGRAM "bridge program (advanced placement option) ?. Eager to find out thanks!

Chuck RN CCRN · Apr 18, 2011

I did the 30 unit option in 1978. I had been an LVN for 6 years.

I did not "graduate" with the other Associate degree nurses.

As an LVN, I had been working in an ICU/CCU. I was doing Swan Ganz and giving all med sand hanging IV's except IV push . I was also titrating vaso- active IV meds based on the hemodynamics that I was monitoring. (the IV meds were hung or pushed by RN's that I worked with) I did Cadiac Outputs via iced saline injection via the proximal port of the Swan Ganz (considered venous, and covered under LVN IV infusion as it lay within the SVC or Rt. Atrium....the venous system)

Upon completion of the 30 unit program, I took state boards....along with about 3,000 ladies.... An exhaustive 2 day event that covered every body system and nearly every medical entity. IE; OB, peds, nutrition, geriatric, etc. Not 60 questions and your done, but over 3,000 questions. T'was the same for my LVN boards.

Within 2 months (the time it took in those days to get your state board results) I was working as "Charge" in the CCU. I soon took the CCRN exam and passed it.

Since then, I have worked in many different facilities in California and had never been asked to provide proof of "graduation". Experience....is what counted.

I 1990, I decided to move to Mississippi for a while. I applied for endorsement, being concerned because in the the back of my mind I had remembered the thing about "possibly not acceptable in other states".

So, I did all the stuff you gotta' do, and VIOLA! I go my ticket to practice in Mississippi. Got a job there, ICU, and worked for a while. Nobody asked for my degree. Recently did the same in two other states......not a problem.

And, now, as you probably are aware, the "standards" are much higher in regard to back ground checks and Official Certified Transcripts being sent direct to the State Boards from your School and your first State of licensure.

Re; "Standards"...

I remember when all the boards "dumbed down" the state board test requirements so that hospitals could "import" foreign nurses and pay way lower wages, keeping them at their facillity via green card requirements for two years.

I have applied to jobs where it says "Must have attended an accredited school of nursing, BS degree prefered"

Never a problem.

Now some facilities are adding, "Must obtain Bachelor degree within 5 years"

We'll see. I should be retired by then.

ChaZ