Mount Wachusett Community College

Nursing Programs Offered

LPN Program Details

A licensed practical nurse (LPN) participates in direct and indirect nursing care, health maintenance, teaching, counseling, collaborative planning, and rehabilitation. LPNs work under the direction of registered nurses, physicians, and/or dentists. MWCC's Practical Nursing Certificate provides short-term education leading to a rewarding health care career. The college credits earned in this program may be applied toward a nursing degree. The PN Certificate is approved by the Massachusetts Board of Nursing. Graduates take the National Council Licensure Exam for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN). See the selective admissions section in the front of the preliminary guide for application requirements.

Students entering these programs must be able to demonstrate the ability to:

-Comprehend textbook material at the 11th grade level.
-Communicate and assimilate information verbally or in a printed format.
-Gather, analyze, and draw conclusions from data.
-Stand for a minimum of two hours.
-Walk for a minimum of six hours, not necessarily consecutively.
-Stoop, bend, and twist for a minimum of 30 minutes at a time and be able to repeat this activity at frequent intervals.
-Lift a 40-pound person or assist with a larger person and transfer the person from one location to another.
-Determine by touch: hotness/coldness, wetness/dryness, and hardness/softness.
-Use the small muscle dexterity necessary to do such tasks as gloving, gowning, and operating controls on machinery.
-Respond to spoken words, monitor signals, call bells, and vital sign assessment equipment.
-Identify behaviors that would endanger a person's life or safety and intervene quickly, with an appropriate solution, in a crisis situation.
-Remain calm, rational, decisive, and in control at all times, especially during emergency situations.
-Exhibit social skills appropriate to professional interactions.
-Maintain cleanliness and personal grooming consistent with close personal contact.
-Function without causing harm to self or others if under the influence of prescription or over-the-counter medications.

Upon graduation from this program, students shall have demonstrated the ability:

-Use the nursing process in meeting self-care requisites of culturally diverse groups of clients with defined self-care deficits.
-Collaborate with interdisciplinary health team members in meeting the needs of culturally diverse groups of clients with defined self-care deficits.
-Modify strategies to advocate for culturally diverse groups of clients with defined self-care deficits.
-Use knowledge of nursing to deliver safe, individualized care to culturally diverse groups of clients with defined self-care deficits.
-Employ health education plans based on the learning needs of the culturally diverse groups of clients experiencing self-care deficits.
-Apply principles of therapeutic communication skills in interactions with culturally diverse populations and the health care team.
-Practice within the legal and ethical framework of practical nursing in the management of groups of culturally diverse clients with defined self-care deficits.
-Assess own actions in meeting the practical nursing program outcomes as evidenced by journaling and submission of anecdotal records.
-Demonstrate accountability for personal and professional conduct within the practical nurse student role.