Why You Should Enroll in a VN Program: What’s My Destination?
Date: June 22, 2022
`Butcher, baker, candlestick maker?’ With a swirling kaleidoscope of professions about you, finding the perfect-for-you vocation can be daunting. Trade schools and colleges offer their hands—matching ambitions to acumen as academic advisors attempt to proffer professional life prescriptions based on personality traits or career tests. A battery of online messaging promises one’s future as “just a click away.” Perhaps you feel you’d have better luck untangling the wind than making this major life decision.
Thankfully, there is a better way. It starts with answering two primary questions:
- What is my destination?
- What method or vehicle should I take to get there? How to find a good VN Program. (For Part II, go to this link).
This article attempts to answer the first question and is Part I of a two-part series.
1. Let Nursing Do You a Solid
Not based on the latest consumer whim or shifting technology, healthcare demands are actual and not going away anytime soon. Medical professionals and nurses are needed in the US and almost every area of the world, which is why a Licensed Vocational Nursing vocation is worth exploring. Currently, there is a crippling shortage of well-trained Licensed Vocational Nurses, rendering requests for qualified practitioners the globe over.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, projected employment growth for Licensed Vocational Nurses between 2019–2029 is upward of 9.1 percent, with an estimated 65,700 job openings.1 Growth forecasts for the field are anticipated to double or even triple in upcoming years. The unemployment rate for the profession is a mere 2.4 percent.1 While job security and unemployment are modern concerns, the Licensed Vocational Nursing trajectory may go far in assuaging financial instability, making it an opportunity to consider.
2. Ease of Access
Joining the healthcare field may be more attainable than you previously imagined. One may gain entrance into a professional, educational Vocational Nursing program with a high-school diploma or GED. Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts requires one to complete a prerequisite in Essential Medical Bioscience, an 80-clock-hour general biology course. (Similar classes can sometimes be substituted.) With an increased number of accelerated programs making provisions for one to complete the program in just over a year, it’s easier now than ever to achieve a Vocational Nursing course.
Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts offers an accredited Vocational Nursing program in a short 13 months or 52 weeks/1,570 clock hours, including clinicals and labs within four modules. Additionally, the last four weeks of the Academy’s program are devoted to preparation for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX)—further easing work-readiness barriers. As a result of preparation and fast-track offerings, students may feasibly graduate and begin working sooner than in other healthcare professions.
3. Bridge to Other Programs
“Is Licensed Vocational Nursing for me?” or “What is my real destination?” are questions best answered by distinguishing if Licensed Vocational Nursing is a stepping stone or a final destination. Many use Licensed Vocational Nursing as a bridge to becoming a Registered Nurse (RN). “Bridge programs are designed specifically for one group of nurses, in this case, Licensed Vocational Nurses wishing to become Registered Nurses. Due to this specific cohort of students, programs are streamlined to get students through relatively quickly.”2
Some Vocational Nursing classes can be credit-granted into Registered Nursing programs, helping graduates `shave off’ months of schooling.
Other healthcare professionals use Licensed Vocational Nursing as a dynamic placeholder collecting valuable work experiences and networking opportunities while moving through a waiting list for entry into another program, such as the four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Still, others use the lower-rung time commitment a Vocational Nursing program offers to “wet their feet,” sampling if nursing is a road they want to continue. Still others, for work-life balance or financial reasons, leverage the economic security a Licensed Vocational Nursing role affords to reap gainful employment and take on their higher education goals incrementally. Still, countless others find Licensed Vocational Nursing their only path, a comfortable space, and a forever healthcare landing place.
Whether a bridge, temporary pathway, or landing destination, a Vocational Nursing education can offer many new options and opportunities.
4. Rewarding
Licensed Vocational Nurses most often enjoy living wages, benefits, job flexibility, ease of relocation, and median annual salaries of around $47,480.1 Additionally, the vocation receives high rankings within multiple core employment areas. US News ranked Vocational Nursing #19 out of 100 Best Health Care Support Jobs for 2021. Using an elusive mix of factors, overall satisfaction of the vocation was classified and calculated according to the following categories:1
- Median Salaries
- Unemployment Rates
- 10-year Growth Percentage
- 10-year Growth Volume
- Future Job Prospects
- Occupational Stress Levels
- Work-life Balance.1
More than ratings for the profession, these professionals speak to a sense of altruistic satisfaction. Licensed Vocational Nursing allows daily closeup interaction with fellow healthcare staff members, patients, and patient families for those genuinely wishing to make a difference in others’ lives. Serving between a Registered Nurse and a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) within the nursing hierarchy, a Vocational Nursing role offers many opportunities to be at the front of healthcare and make a real impact.
“The nature of their work means Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses often have the most intimate, hands-on relationship with patients of any other professional in this industry’s sphere. Having a professional bedside manner isn’t just a catchphrase for this job—it’s necessary for the patient’s well-being and the nurse’s career advancement.”1
5. Stable, Accessible, Rewarding
`Butcher, baker, candlestick maker,’ or Vocational Nurse? A Vocational Nursing education remains a solid choice with so many professions of choice available. This niche role is not dependent on consumer trends or outside markets in a kaleidoscope society filled with industrial whims and ever-blowing winds. Further, a good Vocational Nursing program is generally accessible and has a relatively moderate effort-to-gain ratio. Finally, it can bridge one to the larger healthcare world while providing tangible and intangible rewards.
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Do you think a Licensed Vocational Nursing vocation may be for you? Find out by taking the Vocational Nurse Career Readiness Quiz.
Citations:
1^a, b, c, d, e———.“How US News Ranks the Best Jobs.” US News. US News and World Report, LP. 2021. (Assessed Jan. 12, 2021).
2 Contributing Authors. n.d. “LPN to RN Programs-Online and Campus Bridge Programs|PracticalNursing.org.” Practical Nursing. Practical Nursing. (Accessed May 13, 2021).
