A question that I have encountered in another class.

One of the big questions that I not only heard throughout the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)course last year, but as I have ventured out into the work force as a nurse is, "Should the LPN program be extended to two years instead of 12 months?" This opens alot of room for debate from both sides of the arguement. On one hand, in the next five years Interior Health will be losing a copious amount of nurses, RN's and LPN's, to retirement and the nursing shortage will be worse than ever. So the 12 month LPN program gets nurses out in the work force fast and effeciently. On the other hand, the LPN program tries to cram two years of the RN program (16 months) into 12 months for their students. The 12 months also includes practicum time, so really the time in class spent learning concepts is less than that. Another issue with the 12 month LPN program as opposed to a two year academic one, is that almost all of the classes taken in the program are not transferable to the Bachelor of Science Nursing (BSN) program at the University of B.C. Where as if it were a two year course, LPN's could take more prerequsite and transferable courses, instead of having to go back and do upgrading before even being able to apply for the BSN program. For the benefit of BC, and for that matter, Canadian Healthcare I feel that this would be a great question for debate.