Mission Statement
The mission of the Practical Nursing program is to pursue academic excellence to promote the preparation of students to become competent, safe, and caring individuals for entry-level positions in an ever-changing healthcare environment.
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Approval
The Practical Nursing program is approved by the Georgia Board of Nursing.
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Work Environment
Most licensed practical nurses work a 40-hour week. In some work settings where patients need round-the-clock care, LPNs may have to work nights, weekends, and holidays. About 18 percent of LPNs worked part-time in 2008. They often stand for long periods and help patients move in bed, stand, or walk.
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Nature of the Work
Licensed practical nurses (LPNs) care for people who are sick, injured, convalescent, or disabled under the direction of physicians and registered nurses. LPNs care for patients in many ways. Often, they provide basic bedside care. Many LPNs measure and record patients' vital signs such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration. They also prepare and give injections and enemas, monitor catheters, dress wounds, and give alcohol rubs and massages. To help keep patients comfortable, they assist with bathing, dressing, and personal hygiene, moving in bed, standing, and walking. They might also feed patients who need help eating. Experienced LPNs may supervise nursing assistants and aides.
As part of their work, LPNs collect samples for testing, perform routine laboratory tests, and record food and fluid intake and output. They clean and monitor medical equipment. Sometimes, they help physicians and registered nurses perform tests and procedures. Some LPNs help to deliver, care for, and feed infants.
LPNs also monitor their patients and report adverse reactions to medications or treatments. LPNs gather information from patients, including their health history and how they are currently feeling. They may use this information to complete insurance forms, pre-authorizations, and referrals, and they share information with registered nurses and doctors to help determine the best course of care for a patient. LPNs often teach family members how to care for a relative or teach patients about good health habits.
Most LPNs are generalists and will work in any area of healthcare. However, some work in a specialized setting, such as a nursing home, a doctor's office, or in home healthcare. LPNs in nursing care facilities help to evaluate residents' needs, develop care plans, and supervise the care provided by nursing aides. In doctors' offices and clinics, they may be responsible for making appointments, keeping records, and performing other clerical duties. LPNs who work in home healthcare may prepare meals and teach family members simple nursing tasks.
In some states, LPNs are permitted to administer prescribed medicines, start intravenous fluids, and provide care to ventilator-dependent patients.
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Employment
Licensed practical nurses (LPNs) held about 753,600 jobs nationally in 2008. About 25 percent of LPNs worked in hospitals, 28 percent in nursing care facilities, and another 12 percent in offices of physicians. Others worked for home healthcare services; employment services; residential care facilities; community care facilities for the elderly; outpatient care centers; and federal, state, and local government agencies. Employment of LPNs is expected to grow by 21 percent between 2008 and 2018.
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Earnings
Median annual wages nationally of licensed practical nurses were $39,030 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $33,360 and $46,710. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $28,260, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $53,580. Median annual wages in the industries employing the largest numbers of licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses in May 2008 were:
- Employment services-$44,690
- Nursing care facilities-$40,580
- Home healthcare services-$39,510
- General medical and surgical hospitals-$38,080
- Physicians' offices-$35,020
Source: U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 Edition (http://www.bls.gov/oco/)
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Student Learning Outcomes
Graduates of the diploma program in Practical Nursing will be able to complete the following tasks:
- Provide care for patients across the life span and their families within the practical nursing role
- Demonstrate the ability to make reasonable clinical judgments through the use of the nursing process
- Demonstrate the ability to work as an effective member of the interdisciplinary team in a collaborative environment
- Utilize effective communications techniques with individuals, families, and members of the healthcare team
- Demonstrate caring by recognizing the patient's holistic needs and promoting the patient's values and choices
- Assume responsibility and accountability in the practice of practical nursing as defined by the Georgia Nurse Practice Act and professional standards of the practical nurse
- Demonstrate the personal and professional ethics and interpersonal skills that are expected in the workplace
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Essential Functions
For admission and progression, all candidates for practical nursing must meet intellectual, physical, and social core performance standards necessary to provide safe patient care in an independent manner. The areas discussed in this section include examples of the abilities and skills necessary to provide safe, competent care to the patients for whom students will be responsible for providing care. The following list of necessary activities and skills is not all-inclusive.
Essential Function: Critical Thinking
- Critical thinking ability sufficient for clinical judgment
Examples
- Identifying cause/effect relationships in clinical situations
- Developing care plans
- Transferring knowledge from one situation to another
- Evaluating outcomes
- Problem solving
- Prioritizing
- Using short- and long-term memory
Essential Function: Interpersonal
- Interpersonal abilities sufficient to interact with individuals, families, and groups from a variety of social, emotional, cultural, and intellectual backgrounds
Examples
- Establishing rapport with patients, families, and colleagues
- Negotiating interpersonal conflict
- Respecting cultural diversity
Essential Function: Communication
- Communication abilities sufficient to interact with others
Examples
- Explaining treatment procedures
- Initiating health teaching
- Documenting and interpreting nursing actions and patient responses
- Preparing written reports and oral reports for other healthcare professionals
Essential Function: Mobility
- Physical abilities sufficient for movement from room to room and in small spaces
Examples
- Moving around a patient's room, work spaces, and treatment areas
- Administering cardiopulmonary procedures such as resuscitation
- Sitting or standing and maintaining balance for long periods
- Twisting, bending, and stooping throughout the day
- Moving quickly in response to possible emergencies
- Pushing, pulling, lifting, or supporting a dependent adult patient
- Squeezing with hands and fingers
- Performing repetitive movements
Essential Function: Motor Skills
- Gross and fine motor abilities sufficient for providing safe, effective nursing care
Examples
- Calibrating and using equipment
- Positioning dependent adult patients
- Grasping and manipulating small objects and instruments
- Using a computer keyboard
- Writing with a pen
Essential Function: Hearing
- Auditory ability sufficient for monitoring and assessing health needs
Examples
- Hearing monitor and pump alarms, emergency signals, fire alarms, auscultatory sounds, and cries for help
Essential Function: Visual
- Visual ability sufficient for observation and assessment necessary in nursing care
Examples
- Observing patient responses such as respiratory rate and depth, skin color, and other physical signs
- Seeing and reading monitors, watches with second hands, medication labels and vials, and increments on a medication syringe
- Seeing objects from 20 inches to 20 feet away
- Using depth perception and peripheral vision
- Distinguishing colors
- Reading written documents
Essential Function: Tactile
- Tactile ability sufficient for physical assessment
Examples
- Performing palpation, functions of physical examinations (such as the discrimination of pulses and detection of temperature), and functions related to therapeutic intervention (such as the insertion of a catheter)
Essential Function: Emotional
- Emotional stability sufficient to tolerate rapidly changing conditions and environmental stress
Examples
- Establishing therapeutic interpersonal boundaries
- Providing patients with emotional support
- Adapting to changing conditions in the work environment and stress level
- Dealing with unexpected or unpredictable events
- Maintaining focus on task
- Performing multiple tasks concurrently
- Being able to handle strong emotions
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Program Expenses
The Higher Education Act requires all colleges and universities to notify students and prospective students of all program costs for which they will be responsible. Students will be responsible for the following expenses each semester (unless otherwise noted):
- Tuition ($75 per credit hour)
- Registration fee ($39)
- Student activity fees ($30)
- Accident insurance fee ($6)
- Instructional and technology supply fee ($55)
- Admissions placement examination ($60)
- Background check and drug screen (Approximately $105 per required check)
- Basic cardiac life support certification ($40)
- Hepatitis B Immunizations ($200)
- Malpractice insurance ($11 per year)
- National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) application fee ($200)
- NCLEX-PN licensure examination ($200)
- PNSG 2110 supply kit ($45)
- State Board licensure application fee ($40)
- State Board background check with application ($50)
- Supply Fee (Varies - See course descriptions for exact costs)
- Textbooks (Approximately $1,550 for entire program)
- Uniforms (Approximately $175)
These expenses are based on costs in effect at the time this catalog was published. Prices are subject to change.
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Gainful Employment
Information on graduation rates, job placement rates, median loan debt incurred by students and other gainful employment information is available on the college website.
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Admission Requirements
The Practical Nursing program uses a competitive admission process to select students. Program faculty and the Admissions Office staff designed the process to ensure maximum opportunity for student success in the program and on the licensure exam. The Practical Nursing program admits students once per year at the beginning of Spring Semester. Prospective students may gain admission to the college initially as Healthcare Assistant program students/applicants to Practical Nursing in order to complete any learning support classes and required general core and health core courses. During the competitive admissions process, preference will be given to graduates of the Health Care Assistant TCC.
Applicants must submit all required documentation to the Admissions Office by July 1 to receive consideration in the selection process. Applicants who are on academic probation or are academically dismissed from the college as of the application deadline will not be considered for admission. Applicants not selected for the program may reapply during subsequent admission intake periods. There is no waiting list between intake periods; applicants must complete the application process for each attempt for entry into the Practical Nursing program. To receive consideration for admission to the Practical Nursing program, applicants complete the following steps by July 1:
- Submit completed and signed application for admission and a $20 nonrefundable application fee
- Submit official transcripts showing that applicants earned a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in high school and for all college work attempted (applicants transferring from other colleges will not be required to submit high school transcripts if they completed 30 semester or 45 quarter credit hours at other colleges)
- Provide official birth certificates, passports, driver's licenses, or state-issued photo identification cards to document that they are at least 17 years of age
- Submit NLN Pre-admission PN Examination scores of no less than the 75th percentile that are less than five years old on the application deadline (see Selective Admission Examinations)
- Submit valid COMPASS, ASSET, SAT, or ACT test scores (see COMPASS and ASSET Placement Tests)
- Submit completed and signed Intent form (blank forms are available in the Admissions Office and online at www.athenstech.edu/oldcatalog/programsofstudy.cfm - select Selective Admissions Forms)
- Satisfactorily complete general and health core courses in English (ENGL 1010), mathematics (MATH 1012), psychology (PSYC 1010), anatomy and physiology (ALHS 1011), and diet and nutrition for Allied Health Science (ALHS 1060) by July 1 of the year applicants are seeking admission to the program (applicants transferring from other colleges must confirm the transferability of credit for these courses with the college's director of registration and records before the July 1 application deadline)
- Attend a mandatory pre-admission orientation session if invited (failure to attend or to make alternate arrangements to obtain necessary information will result in the forfeiture of admission to the program)
Applicants to this program must take the NLN examination no later than June to receive consideration in the selection process (see Selective Admission Examinations). Applicants selected to the program must complete all general and health core courses prior to enrolling in PNSG 2030. Prior to beginning the first set of clinical rotations, students must have the following documents on file in the Practical Nursing Office:
- Basic cardiac life support certification
- Verification of health and malpractice insurance (see Malpractice Insurance)
- PPD and/or chest x-ray results
- Record of physical exam with physician's statement that the student is in satisfactory health
- Hepatitis screen results (students should start the Hepatitis-B immunization series) and documentation of immunity to varicella, rubella, measles, and tetanus
- A signed document acknowledging that the commission of a felony before or during their enrollment in this program may prevent graduates from taking the licensure exam to become licensed practical nurses and that they may be required to complete drug testing and/or background checks at their own expense prior to participating in internships, practicums, or clinical activities at certain host sites for these activities (see Drug Testing/Background Checks) (blank documents are available from the program chair or the Admissions Office and online at www.athenstech.edu/oldcatalog/programsofstudy.cfm - select Selective Admissions Forms)
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Readmission Policy
If students withdraw from the program for any reason, they must follow the steps detailed under Life Sciences Programs Readmission. In addition, students seeking readmission will abide by all policies and procedures in place at the time of their request for readmission.
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Residency Policy
Only in the event that the program slots cannot be filled with Georgia residents who meet the minimum admissions criteria can out-of-state students be admitted to the Practical Nursing program.
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