In Alaska, mountains rise in full grandeur above forested valleys and grey oceans. Bald eagles wheel in the blue sky, salmon struggle upstream to their home water, and bears forage among bushes and evergreens. And you, an Alaskan resident, may be searching for information on potentially beginning a profession as a Licensed Practical Nurse in Alaska and requirements for LPN licensing that Alaska holds. This page contains information that might prove fruitful to your search. The beginning section explains what a program for LPN schooling in Alaska may entail, the second section provides a summary of usual tasks that LPNs may be requested to do, and the next section presents various bits of information relating to LPN licensure in Alaska. Lastly, the final section includes some schools in Alaska that may have LPN education programs.
LPN Schooling Programs in Alaska: Fundamental Information
In Alaska, students wishing to become an LPN must enroll in a program, which generally resembles a nursing program—complete with various education courses, nursing-specific classes, as well as labs, and outside clinicals. Examples of general courses that a student in an LPN program may be need to complete include English and psychology. The core of an LPN student’s schooling consists of nursing classes covering a variety of medical topics. Several of these courses may be accompanied by labs, where students can practice the practical skills they are learning on one another or on a mannequin in an environment supervised by a teacher. Students usually go on to practice these skills in a real world setting during clinicals, which may occur one to a few times a week and allow students to perform some LPN job duties. Students in clinicals tend to start out with fewer responsibilities and gain more as time progresses and they learn more in the program.
Common LPN Job Responsibilities in Alaska
LPNs in Alaska tend to have similar job duties to many LPNs in the Lower 48. Checking in on patients, tending to their bedside needs, and other various specialized tasks are all things an LPN may do. While performing bedside care tasks, an LPN may dress patients, bathe patients, change bandages, cleans wounds, and assist patients with personal hygiene needs. As a part of monitoring patients’ statuses, LPNs may need to take and record , blood pressure, temperature, height, weight, and other vital signs. They may also be a mediating communicator between the patient and his or her doctors, finding out how the patient feels about his or her health and relaying any other important patient information to the rest of the medical team. LPNs may also work other duties depending on location, such as feeding bottles to infants, billing insurance companies, performing supervisory tasks, and administering medication, either orally or by injection. These duties may be different from one work environment to another; for example, most likely an LPN in nursing home will not be bottle-feeding infants, and an LPN working in a very large hospital will probably not be doing any insurance billing paperwork. LPNs may work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, physician’s offices, clinics, private care settings, and other various places.
Information on Alaskan LPN Licensing
Practicing as an LPN in Alaska is governed by certain state laws, one of which requires that LPNs have a license. To have a license, LPNs must graduate from an LPN course, send in certain items, and pass a licensing exam known as the NCLEX-PN.
Items that LPN applicants must send in include a notarized application, a passport-quality photo on photo paper that has been taken within the past 6 months and signed and dated on the back, a fingerprint card for a background check, and appropriate fees. If the student wants a temporary permit, an extra fee must be sent in. The nursing program that the student graduated from must also send in a nursing program verification form and an official transcript to the Alaska Board of Nursing.
The NCLEX-PN is a fully computerized exam specifically for LPNs. Each student is given six hours to take the test, which may be less than 100 to over 200 questions. Questions may be different from applicant to applicant; this is because the exam assesses the student based on the previous answer and chooses a question based on the previous answer. Students pass or fail the exam according to a preset requirement. There isn’t a minimum number of correct answers or a minimum correct percentage to pass the test. They are also not graded against each other.
Because licensing information and laws often change, please refer to the Alaska Board of Nursing for the most accurate and comprehensive information on LPN licensure requirements in Alaska.
Alaskan Colleges & Technology Schools
The colleges and technology schools below might (you would need to contact the school for specific information) offer programs for those who are interested in studying to become a practical nurse.
AVTEC – Alaska’s Institute of Technology
1251 Muldoon Rd, Anchorage, AK 99504
(907) 334-2230
Kenai Peninsula College
156 College Rd, Soldotna, AK 99669
(907) 6-0330
Kodiak College
117 Benny Benson Dr, Kodiak, AK 99615
(907) 486-4161
Matanuska–Susitna College
8295 College Dr, Palmer, AK 99645
(907) 745-9774
Prince William Sound Community College
303 Lowe St, Valdez, AK 99686
(907) 834-1600
University of Alaska – Ketchikan Campus
2600 Seventh Avenue, Ketchikan, AK 99901
(907) 796-6100
UAA Community and Technical College – University of Alaska
3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99508
(907) 786-1800
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