medic to LVN

[zzyzx]

Hi,

Does anyone know what is involved in challenging the LVN test when you're a paramedic?

I'm considering becoming an RN, and I'm thinking that the best route would be to challenge the LVN test and then do an LVN-to-RN program since that seems to save about a year's worth of schooling.

I've also looked into the medic-to-RN on-line program (found it under an old thread on this forum) but it's not recognized here in California.

Thanks!

[chbare]

Why not go for your RN? You can knock out the Excelsior in several weeks if you really wanted to put in the time and effort. I know a medic who blew threw it by taking a test a week.

Take care,

chabre.

[VentMedic]

Why not go for your RN? You can knock out the Excelsior in several weeks if you really wanted to put in the time and effort. I know a medic who blew threw it by taking a test a week.

Take care,

chabre.

Excelsior is not recognized in California as well as a few other states. For some states they will recognize it if you get two years of work experience in another state.

As an entry level degree, it also may not be recognized for advanced RN positions or ICU jobs at some hospitals. There are no Excelsior grads in any of our ICUs nor can they apply for a Flight RN position even with Paramedic cert and experience. They must have the ICU experience. The managers have made an issue of that. Their point is they don't want to spend a lot of time training someone on the very basic patient care nursing duties which should have be taught in the first semester clinicals of RN or LVN school. Some Excelsior grads are viewed as baggage with just a paper degree and no practical hospital experience that must be dragged around with other staff picking up the slack.

Granted, there are exceptions to the rule. Just be careful with some shortcuts as they may cause a problem in your career path later.

Most college RN programs will give you credit for your Paramedic certificate if you graduated from an accredited school. That can cut some time off your schooling. Be glad you're not going for Respiratory Therapy or it would be a full 76 semester hours for just the Associates.

[Dustdevil]

There are so very few similarities between nursing and paramedicine, that I really cannot imagine any state allowing a "challenge" for medics. In fact, I seriously doubt that the NLN allows for that. I've never heard of such a thing. And trust me, even if you did do something like that, you'd get fired from your first three or four jobs pretty quickly because you would not have the slightest clue what you are doing. Nothing you learned in medic school is even remotely similar to what they teach in LVN school.

I cannot see any benefit whatsoever to taking LVN school before RN school. Total waste of time. You would be much better off spending that time getting your college classes behind you. The only people that go to LVN school are either those who have no intention of being an RN, or those who are so far back on the RN admission eligibility list -- and have their prereqs out of the way -- that they have time to kill. I don't think either of those apply to you.

One benefit to being an LVN first is that it gives you a better paying, more flexible job to count on while going to RN school, but there are more negatives than positives to that. The LVNs I went to nursing school with had a lot of problems because they were too prone to do what they've always done, instead of what RN school was trying to teach them. I saw several fail because of that. It's just like EMT-Bs with too much experience have the same problem in many paramedic programmes.

And there is also zero benefit to going the Excelsior route. Especially in Kalifornia, where you cannot get licensed as an Excelsior grad. You could still work the VA and other federal facilities without a state licence, but the military facilities are now requiring a BSN, and who wants to work at the VA?

RN school has become SO competitive in Kalifornia that the best way to do it is to slowly and deliberately get all the prereqs out of the way, working as little as possible during that time, so you can focus very hard on maintaining close to a 4.0 gpa, because every point off of that 4.0 puts you another year back on the waiting list. It's not like it was in my day, when everybody who had the prereqs went on the waiting list and advanced with time. Now, they re-rank you every semester, and if you are carrying a 3.5, you could be there forever as all the fresh-out-of-high school kids with the 3.7s go ahead of you.

Half-stepping is strictly an EMS thing. Although it is pointless in EMS too, but the system requires it. But in nursing and medicine, it is not required. And half-stepping your way to your destination is really a bad plan. Focus on your goal and commit one-hundred percent to it. That will get you much farther, much faster, than the stepping stone route.

Good luck!

[zzyzx]

Yeah, it's really hard to get into a nursing program here in California. It's also frustrating that each program has different prerequisites. I'm going to have to do a lot of research to see what program is best for me.

[VentMedic]

In California, if you can get a position even if just for the duration of RN school, the big hospital systems will help get you in to a program, pay for your classes, and may pay for you to attend class instead of working. University of California, Kaiser, SDA and Sutter are all known to have programs like this. Most will also reimburse you up to $40- $50k for approved schools. The SDA also have their own RN degree programs. Kaiser has its own health care schools for various technology oriented degrees in healthcare such as Radiology and Nuclear Medicine with an agreement from local colleges for the prerequisites.

[Dustdevil]

Good point. I know several hospitals in Riverside County pay tuition for employees. If you can get an ER tech or Telemetry Tech job, or something, that could be very helpful to you.

But yeah, it is unbelievably competitive in Kalifornia. There's a lot more people trying to get into the ADN courses than the universities though, so you can get a little bit of an edge by getting all your support courses out of the way and going straight for a BSN programme. In fact, you can probably do that in the same time it takes to get through most ADN programmes, simply because of the longer waiting lists.

[chbare]

Consider relocation?

Take care,

chbare.

[vivibonita]

I cannot see any benefit whatsoever to taking LVN school before RN school. Total waste of time. You would be much better off spending that time getting your college classes behind you. The only people that go to LVN school are either those who have no intention of being an RN, or those who are so far back on the RN admission eligibility list -- and have their prereqs out of the way -- that they have time to kill. I don't think either of those apply to you.

The last one applies to me. Here in California you are not even considered to any RN program unless you have ALL your prerequisites done... and darn there's not even an admission list except for a few schools (Palomar and College of the Desert, that I know of) and their waiting lists are going as far as 3-4 years wait. For the ones that don't have a wait list, you have to keep applying every semester to see if they even consider you on the lottery list. It is extremely hard to get accepted to any school like zzyxz said, the prerequisites change from school to school it is SO frustrating. You can spend 4 to 5 years (if you are working) trying to get them out of the way.

The schools that I've found that have any connection with hospitals are requiring also that you have ALL your prerequisites done, if you don't ... well they won't even put you on a list. Riverside Community College and Riverside Regional Medical Center have the 20/20 program but you have to already be an LVN to even be considered. (I pm'd you the phone # for that)

I applied to as many RN programs I could when I was done with my pre's, only program that took me? the LVN program and I only applied to it as a "just in case" solution... and do you know how many prerequisites are required for that??? about 4 (Basic A&P, dosage calculation, English 100, and math) . I dont' think going the LVN way isn't a bad choice (when is the only choice to get you in the career) they only downs to it... it's hard to find a job as one (without experience), and you can pick really bad habits. The good part...the experience opportunity, the transition programs, and the hospital-school programs that can get you into your RN.

Good luck.

[JPINFV]

^

You're also forgetting about the insufferable lottery process used to fill seats in nursing programs in California.

Also, in case you didn't know it (it's only a few years old), UC-Irvine has a BSN program as well as an LVN-RN track (not degreed though).

http://www.cohs.uci.edu/nursing/up_prospec..._students.shtml