What You Should Know About The Online LPN Degree

The demand for nursing training and education have become so high that nursing school programs have had to limit the number of students they accept. Because of these developments, more and more people are trying to find an online LPN degree to get to the top of these nursing school waiting lists.

Well, there's good news and there's bad news for those folks. The truth is, it just isn't possible to get your LPN degree solely online.

The reason for this is that a Licensed Practical Nursing degree requires hands-on learning and practical training. Student LPNs are tasked to work with patients under the supervision of registered nurses called proctors.

It is during the second year of learning that nurses learn the classes that they are able to take online. Those classes are more heavily focused on management and theory.

What you need to realize is that there are a lot of nursing skills that you can only learn by actually doing them and using them on patients. The very thought of having a practicing nurse who just got his/her degree online is simply unacceptable. In fact it's downright scary and dangerous.

On the upside, once you've attained a degree in the health care field such as LPN, Paramedics, and Respiratory Therapy, it's easy to find online "bridge" programs that can give you a Registered Nurse degree. You may also find these programs in private degree colleges which may be more costly, and even at community colleges.

So it makes a lot of sense for an aspiring nurse to get a licensed practical nursing degree (or, in some states, what is called a licensed vocational nursing degree). But it can't be done online.

However, the waiting lists for LPN schools are much shorter than those for traditional RN programs. And there are "career colleges" which, while more expensive than technical schools and vocational schools and community colleges, often have no waiting list at all. It is worth exploring those options, because one a student becomes a Licensed Practical Nurse, it is very simple to find a bridge program which will give them their degree as an RN.

But just remember, if you hear someone talking about an "online LPN degree" or "online LPN school" it's pie in the sky - because there truly is no such thing.