Licensed practical nurse

Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health, 20050229 by Lisette Hilton

Students in R.N. programs take courses in anatomy, physiology, microbiology, nutrition, psychology, chemistry, nursing, and other behavioral sciences. In addition to classroom instruction, nursing students receive supervised clinical experience in hospitals and other health care facilities. Nursing students received a variety of clinical experience in settings such as hospital maternity, psychiatric, pediatric, and surgical wards. They also gain experience in public health departments, home health agencies and ambulatory clinics.

Once they become RNs, nurses can go on to become advanced practice nurses, which include nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists and certified nurse-midwives. Advanced practice nurses generally have master's degrees or certificates. Nurse practitioners deliver front-line primary and acute care. They can prescribe medications and diagnose and treat common acute illnesses and injuries. Nurse practitioners provide immunizations, conduct physical exams and provide care to manage chronic diseases, such as diabetes. Certified nurse-midwives are trained to provide prenatal and gynecological care to healthy women. They also deliver babies in all types of settings, including at the patient's home, and provide postpartum care. Clinical nurse specialists specialize in areas such as cardiology, oncology and pediatrics. Certified registered nurse anesthetists administer anesthetics to patients in in-patient, outpatient and in-office settings. They are often the sole providers of anesthesia.

RNs can also go on to careers in teaching, research or administration. These areas require master's in nursing degrees or Ph.D. or other doctorate level degrees. Doctorally-prepared RNs tend to go into education or research.

Future outlook

The future looks good for L.P.N.s. Job growth in this area of nursing is expected to grow as fast as the average for all occupations through 2008. The job growth can be attributed to a rapidly aging population, which will require long-term care. The area that appears to be not as promising for L.P.N.s is in the acute care hospital setting, where the number of openings for L.P.N.s is expected to decline. This is due to an expected decrease in the number of admitted patients. Nursing home employment for L.P.N.s is expected to grow; in fact, geriatric care is where L.P.N.s will find the most opportunity. The growth is nursing home employment of L.P.N.s is not only attributed to the growth in the aging population but also to an expected increase in the number of patients who are released early from hospitals but cannot yet take care of themselves at home.

Home health care looks promising for L.P.N.s. Many of the aged and ill will prefer to stay at home rather than be admitted to a nursing home. Technological advances will make it possible for more people to live out much of their remaining years at home.

Employment also is expected to grow much faster than average in settings that will benefit from advances in health care technology, including outpatient surgery centers, emergency medical centers and some physicians' offices and clinics. Here, too, L.P.N.s will find more opportunity in the future.