Welcome to the Palm Beach Community College LPN Website

WHAT IS A PRACTICAL NURSE?
A licensed practical nurse (LPN) is a nurse who has successfully completed a practical nursing program, and has passed the NCLEX-PN, the state licensing exam. He/she may be employed in many different areas within the health care continuum: hospitals, nursing homes, extended care facilities, home health agencies, and doctor's offices, to name just a few.

WHAT ROLES DOES A PRACTICAL NURSE HAVE AND WHERE DO THEY WORK?
Practical nurses provide nursing care for medical surgical patients in the hospital/or skilled nursing facility. They may also assist with the care of children, new mothers and infants. The practical nurse works under the supervision of a registered professional nurse; in a hospital setting, they may share many of the same responsibilities such as: direct patient care, medication administration (including IV fluids) as well as documentation.

A person seeking Practical Nursing as a career should have a sympathetic nature and emotional stability. An LPN needs to have keen observational skills as nurses are often the ones to first notice a change in patient symptoms. The LPN also needs to be able to communicate effectively with others about symptoms, and must be able to work effectively under the supervision of more senior medical personnel.

WHAT WILL MY RESPONSIBILITIES BE AS A PRACTICAL NURSING STUDENT?
As a practical nursing student, you will be providing personal care (bathing and daily personal hygiene) to a wide variety of patients with varying medical and surgical conditions. In your first nursing course, PRN0500 Principles of Basic Nursing Care, you will learn over 85 different patient-related procedures in the lab, and will perform them clinically in a nursing home setting. As you progress in the program, you will learn assessment techniques and more in-depth nursing care procedures; however, personal patient care will always remain a high priority.  Due to the nature of our population here in South Florida, a high percentage of our patient-load is the elderly. A student who wants to persevere in our program must be one with patience and a sincere desire to work very closely with both the acutely ill and the chronically ill.  You will also have rotations in both Pediatrics and Obstetrics. By the conclusion of the program, you will be providing care, including medications, for a minimum of 4 patients!  Your program will last approximately 16 months. Our entire program is a very intensive one, and will require at least 2 -3 hours studying at home on a daily basis. It is important that you develop a "support group" at home, especially if you are a parent - there will be many times that your course work and preparation will be overwhelming!

CLASSROOM REQUIREMENTS
Regular "classroom" hours are: 8 AM until 1:30 PM, Monday through Thursday. Since our full-time staff will be here till 4 PM, we encourage you to remain after 1:30 PM for group study, to practical skills, or to use the software in the computers in the Practical Nursing lab.

When you are in the "clinical" setting, you will be expected to arrive at the clinical area at 7:00 AM and your day will be finished at 3:30 PM. We use clinical facilities that are located throughout Palm Beach County, as far southwest as West Boca Medical Center and as far north as the Jupiter Pavilion. You will need a reliable mode of transportation, as we cannot honor requests for specific clinical facilities. You will rotate throughout many of these facilities in order to offer you a wide variety of clinical experiences.

LPN NURSING EMPLOYMENT
Demand for LPN nursing is expected to grow about as fast as the average over the next few years. Replacement of nurses leaving the LPN nursing profession should be a major source of new job opportunities.  Licensed practical nurses held about 726,000 jobs in 2004. About 27 percent of LPNs worked in hospitals, 25 percent in nursing care facilities, and another 12 percent in offices of physicians. Others worked for home health care services; employment services; community care facilities for the elderly; public and private educational services; outpatient care centers; and Federal, State, and local government agencies. About 1 in 5 worked part time.

LPN NURSING WAGES
Median annual earnings of licensed practical nurses were $33,970 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $28,830 and $40,670. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $24,480, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $46,270. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of licensed practical nurses in May 2004 were: