Community college will offer LPN classes again

Art Nadler

Monday, March 8, 1999 | 10:46 a.m.

Community College of Southern Nevada will once again offer licensed practical nursing courses.

The Nevada State Board of Nursing approved the community college's fall program Friday, allowing 16 students to enroll as LPN undergraduates this September.

The college had a program until 1996, when it was ended in response to feedback from local hospitals, who preferred to hire certified nursing assistants and registered nurses, Fran Brown, dean of health services at the college, said.Unlike certified nursing assistants, a licensed practical nurse can administer medications, start certain intravenous lines and perform more complicated nursing duties. It takes two years to become an LPN and four years to become a registered nurse.

With Southern Nevada's growing population and demand for more skilled nursing, the medical facilities are demanding the specialty nurses again, Brown said.

A recent report commissioned by the state Board of Regents, "Health Care Education in Nevada," found that the projected job demand for LPNs through 2006 would be 200 positions. In comparison, the report showed that the University and Community College System of Nevada would graduate only 54 LPNs in 2000-2001.

"This is important to providing care to all of Southern Nevada," Brown said. She expects rural areas to benefit greatly from having more LPN nurses graduate from Nevada schools.

Brown said long-term care facilities and hospitals will benefit from having more LPNs graduate from Nevada schools.

Brown said she is hopeful that the community college program will eventually increase to 24 students.