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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Health Care
They are talking about this topic: Educational Partnerships
The quotes below are about this issue:
Employers express concern about accreditation changes and the possibility that LPN programs may disappear altogether.
| "What I'm looking for from MnSCU is to help ensure that we have LPNs—that we do now and that we do in the future. I've attended meetings here in Bemijdi, and I think you're continuing with your LPN program. But what's very concerning to me is that we're hearing, here in Bemijdi, that this program may be eliminated in the future. And if we think we have problems now with staffing, they're going to be incredible in the future." | Northwest |
| "Employer 1: We would agree that LPNs are an important part of the workforce. We're in a situation where we are under the Board of Nursing of [?]. And they have now identified that we need to be nationally accredited, which is a cumbersome and new process. And part of that is the need to eliminate half of the credits in the LPN program. Which means it won't be the same product that you're getting today. So, my question back to you is, 'What would you recommend we remove from the curriculum? From that program?' Employer 2: Did you say half the credits? Employer 1: Yes. It's a 63 credit program. And the state is now looking at having RN programs at 64 credits. That's a one credit difference, so to be responsive to students' needs, I think it's a fair question to ask, 'How do we eliminate significant parts of the curriculum, and provide you with a product that you haven't had in a number of years?' Employer 2: Yeah, I know NAC is challenging some of the status quo. Employer 2: That's the national accreditor." |
Northwest |
| "I heard that we're suspending the LPN and doing a two-year RN. And so that is creating—like where are we getting our LPNs? It's really the accreditation that's challenging the number of credits that we've traditionally offered through LPN. Where a diploma was 53 credits in our state—not for every program—but ours was 53 for a diploma and 63 for an AAS. And accreditation says, 'That's not okay. You have to be down in the low 30s.' So, that would mean cutting the credits. The courses—everything that we offer—you'd have to get that squeezed into a much smaller package. And so you would no longer get the types of person that you now have working for you as LPNs. And I know—I teach at the ADM Program—and some students are working as LPNs while they're getting their RN degrees. But they're also flirting with their scope of practice. I'm not going to name the names of the facilities, but working with central lines and things that are—it's not the best thing for nursing, it's not the best thing for the patient, and it's not the best thing for our profession." | Northwest |
| "We know there are a lot of challenges with an LPN and accreditation. We know that there have to be curricular changes, but hopefully we can get input from all of the facilities, and try and meet this head on. We still have two or three years before we have to get everything all figured out. But we're working towards that, and it is a big challenge. I went to a seminar in Atlanta and they said, 'Only about eight percent of practical nursing programs are nationally accredited across the country.' So, this is a huge movement. I think they said about 50 percent of the associate degree nurses and almost all of the bachelor's programs are accredited. But, at the PN level there is a lot of uncertainty right now. And, you know, I'm posing this credit value and trying to figure out the challenges—all that is going to take input and help from the industry. So, there's going to have to be a lot of partnership building in the future to work through this. But we're committed to figuring that out." |
Northwest |
| "Well, I just want to add one other thing, which are the mandates that are coming from organizations that are licensed, doing licensure. I believe, in Minnesota, we've talked about it. It used to be that they used to have in the Minnesota Board of Nursing [lost in transcription], I think it's 2016 that the Board of Nursing says you're going to follow that National League of Nursing criteria. But the Board of Nursing for Minnesota is changing the criteria. But to get that accreditation is a process, and some of your programs will not be able to—may not be able to get in time—it's 2016, isn't it? We need to jump in. So, that's another issue." | Northwest |
| "If they don't get accredited, then some of those programs may go away. And so now we're back to losing some programs that are producing LPNs or RNs. Question: These are educational programs that might not be able to meet the national certification, so then they go away and we have fewer sources? Employer: Yeah. Those schools, if they don't get accreditations, may be going away. So, you have to look at—well, if it's difficult to get employees now—then what will it be like if you take those rural or smaller schools out of the picture? Then you really don't have the potential for employees." |
Northwest |