The Practical Nursing program prepares students to attain licensure as practical nurses (LPNs) who work with interdisciplinary teams of healthcare professionals to provide holistic, culturally safe care across the lifespan. The program focuses on delivering healthcare in rural Alaska. The certificate provides students with core professional skills and prepares them to sit for the national licensure exam in practical nursing.

Students completing the certificate in practical nursing can apply to the associate’s degree in nursing. Selected courses completed for the certificate or as a prerequisite to the certificate can apply to the ADN.

As of June 2021, the Practical Nursing program is candidacy eligible for accreditation by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing. For further information on accreditation status, please contact the Nursing program.

Learning Outcomes

The certificate is designed to meet the following End-of-Program Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety: Explain various ways of knowing and healing from Alaska Indigenous populations in the delivery of holistic nursing care across the lifespan in a variety of settings.
2. Professional Communication and Collaboration: Recognize culturally safe communication within the context of a collaborative team approach to improve client safety and quality improvement.
3. Professional Care: Provide culturally safe focused individual assessments through the integration of foundational concepts, critical thinking, clinical reasoning, evidence-based practice, and the use of the nursing clinical judgement model.
4. Evidence-Based and Technology-Assisted Assessment: Develop evidence-based nursing practice to improve client outcomes.
5. Personal and Social Responsibility: Discuss nursing advocacy through adherence to professionalism, ethical and legal frameworks, and patient-centered care as part of individual nursing practice.

Licensure

The State of Alaska licenses nurses. To receive initial licensure as a practical nurse (LPN) in Alaska, candidates must have received their degree from a nursing-board approved program that is nationally nursing accredited, receive a passing score on the NCLEX-pN exam, and pass a background check. Each LPN candidate for initial licensure through examination must submit a notarized application, a completed fingerprint card, official transcripts, and nursing program verification forms when applying to take the NCLEX through the Alaska Board of Nursing. For information about licensure in other states, see https://www.ncsbn.org/.

Admissions

The general requirements for admission to undergraduate professional studies at APU are found in the Admissions section of the catalog. In addition, the following is required for admission to the Practical Nursing Undergraduate Certificate:

• SC 26500   Essentials of Human Anatomy & Physiology or equivalent
• Applicants are also required to have CNA or Health Aid certification.

Students who are accepted into the program must submit evidence of:

• Cleared background check in compliance with ICPA standards;
• Drug test negative of all federally controlled substances;
• Successful completion of mandatory training for compliance with Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act;
• Successful completion of mandatory training for compliance with occupational safety and health administration requirements;
• Current Basic Life Support (BLS) for Healthcare Providers certification from the American Heart Association or other approved alternate providers;
• Current physical screening with a health provider to confirm that students can safely participate in clinical activities;
• Up to date evidence of screening for tuberculosis;
• Up to date evidence of required immunizations:
  • Current Tetanus/Diptheria/Pertussis (Tdap)
  • Current Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR)
  • Current Varicella (chicken pox)
  • Current and complete Hepatitis B series
  • Current seasonal influenza (must be updated yearly)

Students must submit evidence within three weeks of receiving their admission to the PN program; otherwise, students will not be allowed to register nor continue in the program. It is necessary to maintain current immunizations, tuberculosis screening, CPR, HIPAA and OSHA for clinical placement. Additional compliance requirements may be required based on the requirements set forward by each clinical site. These requirements can include, but are not limited to: site orientations, additional background checks, additional vaccinations, medical screenings, computer or electronic health record trainings, other screenings such as drug screenings, etc. Information will be submitted to a credential & compliance management service to facilitate easier tracking and to alert students when items need to be renewed.