Become a licensed professional health-care provider – a nurse – in one year. Admission to the Practical Nursing program is competitive. An Admissions Committee, composed of school faculty, will review all applications and determine admittance. After the application deadline, each application will be evaluated utilizing the selection criteria. The Admissions Committee will determine which applicants will be accepted based on the applicants’ score on the Selection Criteria Matrix. If there is a tie, an interview will be scheduled. A letter is mailed out approximately two weeks after the application deadline to notify the prospective student of their admission status. If an applicant is not selected for the upcoming class, he/she will be notified by mail and will be asked to respond, notifying the school of intentions to resubmit the Practical Nursing application or to seek enrollment in another program. Once selected, the student must attend a mandatory 2-4 hour orientation. If you enjoy caring for others, are extremely organized, and have an interest in health and medicine, this may be your dream career. Nurses help to preserve and protect the health and well-being of patients. Nurses must be totally reliable; everyone in a healthcare setting depends upon them in many ways. Doctors need them to assist with preparations and details involved in running medical offices, clinics and hospitals. Nurses are also the first to deal with all kinds of patients. They comfort the sick, support the recovering, and inform the healthy about protecting themselves against illness and injury. Because their jobs can be emotionally and physically strenuous, the best nurses are compassionate, patient and cool under pressure. Students will experience interactive simulated labs and actual clinic rotation in a variety of health-care settings; work as a key member of a professional health-care team to deliver skilled and compassionate patient care; perform advanced medical procedures; administer medications; collect patient data; monitor IV’s; and provide wound care. Not only will students study how the body functions, but also how emotional and mental well-being affect overall health. Students will learn how to do scientifically-based planning for the nursing care of each individual patient. Half of the program hours are in clinical settings such as Lee Memorial Health Systems, VA Hospital, and long-term care facilities. Successful completion of this class prepares students to take the examination for licensure in the state of Florida. The purpose of the Practical Nursing program is to prepare a student for employment as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). LPNs work in hospitals, nursing homes, doctors’ offices, and other settings where health care is delivered. The work week is usually 40 or more hours and may include 8, 10, or 12 hour shifts, weekends, nights, and holidays. The LPN must have the ability to respond calmly under pressure in emergency situations. The work can be physically demanding requiring the ability to bend, stoop, and lift. This program has been approved by the Florida State Board of Nursing so that qualified graduates may take the examination to practice as a Licensed Practical Nurse in the state of Florida. The content includes theoretical instruction and clinical experience in medical, surgical, obstetric, pediatric, and geriatric nursing; theoretical instruction and clinical experience in acute care, long-term care, and community settings; application of vocational role and function; personal, family, and community health concepts; nutrition; human growth and development over the life span; body structure and function; interpersonal relationship skills, mental health concepts; pharmacology and administration of medications; legal aspects of practice; and current issues in nursing. Additional information may be found in the Practical Nursing Handbook. This program offers a sequence of courses that provides coherent and rigorous content aligned with challenging academic standards and relevant technical knowledge and skills needed to take and pass the licensing examination (NCLEX) and gain employment as a Licensed Practical Nurse.