LVN Programs Can Enhance Your Career

You’ve decided to take that first step toward being a true nurse and become an LVN, or Licensed Vocational Nurse. So, what now? There’s a lot of hard work ahead of you, but finding a good LVN program can make the months it will take to acquire your license breeze by. Before you know it, you can be at the side of RNs (registered nurses) or even doctors, helping to heal people as an LVN. Or this could be your first step to becoming an RN yourself. It all begins with LVN programs.

In your state, these might be better known as Licensed Practical Nurses, or LPNs, but the job is basically the same. You will no longer be just a nursing assistant, but an actual nurse, just one step below a registered nurse. After passing LVN programs, a nursing assistant is placed directly under a registered nurse or a doctor.

As an LVN, you will be expected to feed patients who can’t feed themselves, bathe or dress patients who need your help, and all the bedside care one would expect from any nurse. You could even take samples, apply first aid, or administer medication. It’s even possible that as an LVN, you may end up supervising nursing assistants or nursing aides of your very own. All of this for a course that only takes about a year.

It is simply impossible for doctors and registered nurses to do everything related to medical care. This is why wherever there are patients of any kind, LVNs are absolutely necessary. This extends far beyond hospitals and into rest homes, private practice, hospice care, or surgical centers. Many doctors even prefer LVNs over RNs, since LVNs are more cost-effective, but they can serve many of the same duties as an RN. Such an assignment is a great opportunity for an LVN who intends to become an RN at some point. It is also good work for the community at large, as well.

With experience, an LVN can move into working in private homes, assisting the elderly or shut-ins. These nurses are more than just employees – they are members of the family, and companions to their patients, often cooking or providing the family with medical training so they can care for the patient when the nurse is not available.

Just be prepared for long hours – nursing of any stripe is not a 9-to-5 kind of job. Generally, an LVN works the typical 40 hours, but those hours could be weekends or holidays. They might be graveyard shift. Flexibility is a key asset to have.

Any LVN programs you consider will have to prepare you for the required flexibility, while remembering the physical necessities, as well. Only someone strong and fit can do the job. It may even come to you to carry a patient one day – only briefly, but still that requires some strength. Someone who is less than healthy could easily succumb to the many bacteria, viruses, or hazardous chemicals any medical professional comes into contact with on a daily basis.

If reading all that only makes you all the more determined to become an LVN, then check the web for some legitimate and worthy LVN programs. Your career can become very bright, indeed.