This program is designed to launch your career in Practical Nursing and meets the rigorous standards for accreditation by the Accreditation Committee for Education in Nursing (A.C.E.N.). The part-time, 60-week program was developed to accommodate nontraditional students who are balancing additional commitments to family and work. Meeting the requirements of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing, the program offers comprehensive, student-centered instruction in the care of diverse clients in structured healthcare settings with a concentration on caring for older adults. Healthcare trends, issues, the newest technologies, and community nursing needs are also addressed. Upon completion of this program, you will be prepared to take the National Council Licensing Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN) and begin your career in the healthcare industry.

  

• Patient-centered holistic care

• Professionalism and ethics  

• Leadership and teamwork

• Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)

• Quality improvement

• Nursing competencies

• Nursing theory

• Pharmacology

• Apply the nursing process using critical thinking skills to care for culturally diverse clients throughout their life span with common, well-defined healthcare needs in various structured healthcare settings.

• Communicate effectively with clients, client families, and the interdisciplinary healthcare team, using therapeutic communication skills and technology to promote health and prevent disease.

• Perform nursing skills based in theory and guided by the nursing process in the provision of safe, competent, effective care to ensure a secure physical and psychosocial environment for the client, family, and healthcare team in an ever-changing healthcare environment.

• Demonstrate a caring and empathetic approach to safe, therapeutic, and individualized care for each client or group of clients.

• Utilize teaching-learning principles of goal-directed educational plans to promote health, health maintenance, and disease prevention for clients or groups of clients within their communities.


Job Growth
The employment of licensed practical nurses is projected to grow 12 percent from 2016 to 2026, faster than the average for all occupations.


Career Opportunities
Upon completion of the program and successfully passing the NCLEX-PN exam, your career opportunities include:

• Practical Nursing in office settings, clinics, public schools, outpatient and long-term care centers, urgent care, and acute care settings, including rehabilitation centers

• Bridge into an LPN to BSN program.