Program Overview
Practical Nursing Credential
Diploma
Program Duration
- The face to face (in class) and blended delivery program is usually completed in two years.
- Learners are required to complete the program within five years of admission to the program.
- In order to graduate, learners must meet ALL course and program outcomes, including milestones and immunizations, as well as completion of a professional portfolio.
Program Philosophy/Rationale
The NSCC Practical Nursing program, through quality education and relevant experiences, prepares graduates to make meaningful contributions to the health and well-being of our population. The program is a client centered educational process which encompasses the major concepts of health.
The program will prepare graduates with the foundational knowledge required to provide safe, competent, and ethical care to clients in a variety of care settings.
Faculty facilitate learning through the creation of learning environments that stimulate inquiry, integration of knowledge and skills, critical thinking, and life-long learning.
Theory
The Practical Nurse Program takes a multi-theoretical approach to program delivery and is largely guided by three main theoretical considerations.
- Application of Nursing Theories
- Application of the Nursing Process – Assessment, Nursing Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation, and evaluation (ADPIE)
- Determinants of Health
While the nursing theorist, Dorthea Orem, is incorporated throughout the program, other social science and nursing theories will be introduced and applied where appropriate to the context of the learning.
Conceptual Model for the Practical Nursing Program
The Conceptual Model for the Practical Nursing (PN) Program of Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) incorporates the educational framework of NSCC, the mission, vision, and values of the School of Health and Human Services, the theoretical underpinnings of the Program and the expectations of the Nova Scotia College of Nursing (NSCN). It also acknowledges that practical nursing practice occurs in the context of the individual, family, groups, and community.
Program Description
The focus of the program is to provide care to clients throughout the life span with the goal of achieving high-level wellness. Areas of study are derived from health and human sciences and include both theoretical study and clinical experience under the direction of a qualified faculty. Learning is supported via simulated practice in a laboratory setting with ample opportunity to develop and demonstrate skills.
This diploma program is a blend of both theory and practice in each semester and is delivered over two years (6 semesters) in class or in the online/blended format. Following completion of the theory and practice, the learner will complete a 5-week internship experience with a Licensed Practical Nurse or Registered Nurse (Evaluating at the Entry Level Competency of the LPN) preceptor.
This aspect of the program is designed to enhance entry-level skills and prepare the graduate for successful adaptation to the workplace. A graduate of this program is eligible to write the Canadian Practical Nurse National Registration Exam (CPNRE), successful completion of which qualifies him/her as a Licensed Practical Nurse. Such qualification provides portability to most Provinces in Canada.
Education Framework
NSCC values prior learning experience and promotes the use of portfolios throughout all educational programs to provide the learner with the opportunity to take responsibility for monitoring, evaluating, and influencing their own learning. Prior to graduating from the program all learners must complete a portfolio.
NSCC uses service learning to foster a sense of the needs of the broader community and the role of students and graduates in giving back to the community.
Critical thinking and applied learning are pedagogical underpinnings of the program and the development of the competencies necessary for students to make sound judgments based on knowledge, understanding and contextual observations. Critical thinking is the result of logical informed evaluation which evolves through learning experience. Applied learning provides learners with context-based learning that is gained through first-hand client and professional interactions and through opportunity to experience integration of critical thinking in clinical practice settings.
Program Outcomes
- Attain the knowledge, skills, and judgment required to practice safe, ethical, and competent care in various clinical settings.
- Demonstrate personal and professional leadership in their role within the health care system by responding to emerging health care trends.
- Apply the nursing process in the provision of care to diverse clients across the lifespan.
- Incorporate the bio-psycho-social-spiritual and cultural attributes of the client into evidenced-based practice.
- Demonstrate professional, legal, and ethical accountability within the scope of practice.
- Demonstrate professional communication and behavior with their clients, families, and colleagues.
- Collaborate with clients and members of the health care team in the promotion of health and wellness by supporting population health strategies.
- Engage in self-evaluation processes to recognize their responsibility for professional growth and continuous learning.
- Demonstrates respectful, appropriate professional behavior and effective interpersonal interactions with others in the learning environment in accordance with their standards of practice as well as NSCC Student Community Standards Policy and the School of Health and the School of Health and Human Services Professional Conduct Self-Assessment Tool.
- Blend service and learning in ways that use program-related skills, knowledge and behaviors to serve others at the campus, within NSCC and in the community.
- Apply a Portfolio approach to the personal management of learning and career planning relating to the learner’s occupational readiness.
- Apply the Essential & Employability Skills needed to enter, stay in, and progress in the world of work, productively contributing to the economy and the community.
Essential Skills
Nova Scotia College of Nurses (NSCN) outlines these essential skills as requisites and abilities for becoming an LPN (Becoming a Licensed Practical Nurse in Canada: Requisite Skills and Abilities). These include (but not limited to):
- Focus and manage multiple pieces of information at the same time.
- Remember information.
- Apply mathematical skills (add, subtract, divide and multiply).
- Ability to speak, write and read English and/or French.
- Recognize your own non-verbal signals and interpret those being received.
- Communicate information for documentation through, written, spoken and electrically.
- Develop and create positive relationships.
- Manage self-behavior in a safe, competent, and ethical manner.
- Admit mistakes.
- Engage in self-reflection.
- Provide safe care through senses: sight, hearing, smell, and touch.
- Be able to: stand and maintain balance; possess manual dexterity; move within limited spaces; push and pull; perform repetitive movements; walk, lift, bend and reach etc. in a safe and controlled manner.
- Be able to function in unavoidable environments such as: distractions, noxious odors, noise, chemicals, unpredictable behaviors.
“Human Rights legislation prohibits discrimination on a number of characteristics, including physical and mental disabilities. Accommodation is the adjustment of a rule, practice, condition or requirement to take into account the specific needs of an individual or group with one or more of the protected characteristics in, as may be applicable, provincial or territorial human rights legislation of the Canadian Human Rights Act3. Reference would need to be made to the human rights legislation and law applicable to a particular province or territory to determine if and to what extent principles of accommodation may apply to occupational standards for the practice of a licensed practical nurse.” (LPN_RSA.pdf (nscn.ca))
These skills and opportunities to learn and enhance them are embedded throughout the PN program.
Employability Skills
The design of this program, in keeping with the expectation of the practical nurse outlined by the NSCN, prepares students with employability skills.
Employability Skills are defined by the Conference Board of Canada (Employability Skills – The Conference Board of Canada ) “ Are the critical skills you need in the workplace, whether you work on your own or as part of a team. Employability skills include communication, problem-solving, positive attitudes and behaviours, adaptability, working with others, and digital skills. Fundamental skills, like solving problems and using digital tools, are the basis of your employability skills. Social and emotional skills, like active listening and resilience, help you be not only a great employee, but also a great friend, family member, and co-worker. Personal management skills, like demonstrating a positive attitude and being adaptable, give you more ways to achieve your goals. Teamwork skills, like working with others and participating in projects, allow you to contribute to a group productively.”
These skills and opportunities to learn and enhance them are embedded throughout the PN program.
Entry-to-Practice Competencies for Licensed Practical Nurses 2019
Entry level competencies have a strong foundation in nursing theory, nursing knowledge critical thinking, health sciences, humanities, evidence-informed practice, and ethics.
Critical thinking is an active and purposeful problem-solving process. It requires the practical nurse to advance beyond the performance of skills and interventions to provide the best possible care, based on evidence-informed practice. It involves identifying and prioritizing risks and problems, clarifying and challenging assumptions, using an organized approach to assessment, checking for accuracy and reliability of information, weighing evidence, recognizing inconsistencies, evaluating conclusions, and adapting thinking”. (Entry to Practice Competencies for Licensed Practical Nurses)
Nursing Scope of Practice
It is expected that graduates are aware and well versed in the scope of practice of the Licensed Practical Nurse and upon graduation exhibit entry-level competencies as identified by NSCN. Graduates from the practical nursing program at NSCC base their judgment primarily on theoretical knowledge, which is applied in clinical placements throughout the program.
It is expected that learners conduct themselves in accordance with NSCC policies as well as the standards of practice and code of ethics of NSCN.
Evidence informed practice is a cornerstone of practical nursing care. Current literature, best practice guidelines and trends in practice are used throughout the program to illustrate how research informs practice.
Code of Ethics for Licensed Practical Nurses in Canada
As with the scope of practice of the Licensed Practical Nurse, graduates are expected to be aware and well versed in the Code of Ethics for Licensed Practical Nurses. “The Code of Ethics articulates the ethical values and responsibilities that Licensed Practical Nurses uphold and promote, and to which they are accountable”. (Code of Ethics for Licensed Practical Nurses in Canada)
Standard First Aid and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) level C
All students must successfully complete a Standard First Aid Course (2 day) either prior to or upon entrance to the program. The Standard First Aid course is valid for three years. All students in the Practical Nursing Program are required to hold a current CPR level C course (two-person adult, child and infant).
Criminal Record Check
All learners are required have a Criminal Record Check (CRC) and Vulnerable Sector Check (VSC) completed in Year 1 of their program. While NSCC will NOT be collecting the CRC/VSC for the subsequent year of study, the clinical agencies can request to see a recent CRC/VSC, therefore it is strongly recommended that the learner to keep these records current. If a learner is not able to attend placement due to not having current documents, they will not be able to move forward in their program and will not graduate as expected.
In addition to the CRC/VSC, a Child Abuse Registry Check (CAR) is required for participation in various clinical settings.
If the learner is absent from the program for four months or longer, they will be required to resubmit a new/current CRC/VSC and CAR.
The NSCN requires a current Criminal Record Check to be completed after applying to write the Canadian Practical Nurses Registration Exam.
Additional Information
Any individual with disciplinary action by a regulatory body will be required to self-disclose this information at the time of application. Applicants must disclose if they have failed a clinical course or been removed from a program of study at a community college, private career college, or university due to professional misconduct issues. The final decision of entry into the program will rest with the Dean.
Recognizing Prior Learning (RPL) Statement
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a way of obtaining credit for college-level knowledge, skills and competencies gained outside the classroom. RPL matches prior learning from work, training, education, learning from experience and personal study to the learning achieved in NSCC courses.
If the learner can demonstrate prior learning and if it matches what would be acquired through our courses in their chosen area of college study, then credit is granted.
Milestones AND PLACEMENT REQUIREMENTS
Learners are required to:
- Complete the “Introduction to WHMIS” course
- Complete the “Introduction to NS OH&S Act” course
- Complete the “Standard First Aid, CPR Level C” course
- Complete the Immunization requirements for the program
- Have a clear Criminal Record Check/Vulnerable Persons Check
- Complete a Child Abuse Registry Check
- Complete a portfolio appropriate to the learner’s career goals and program
These milestones MUST be completed in full by a date specified by your campus. Incomplete milestones will result in not being able to attend lab and / or clinical and may postpone graduation.
Graduation Requirements
To receive a Practical Nursing Diploma, learners must:
- Successfully pass all program outcomes including Professional Conduct Outcome
- Successfully complete all classroom, skills labs, and clinical courses
- Complete all milestones, which includes a portfolio
- Pay all outstanding financial commitments to NSCC, including returning all books and/or equipment (such as laptop or tablet) to the library
PN Program Pass Mark
Pass mark for this program is 65%.
To be eligible for a supplemental evaluation the learner must have participated in 55% of the assignments/tests etc. which make up the evaluation scheme for the course and have a minimum mark of 55%. Learners are eligible to write one supplemental exam per semester. Please refer to the Policies and Procedure page on the NSCC website.
Lab components of any Skills based course is graded as a PASS or FAIL. Learners must pass both the theory portions and lab portions of those courses.
Clinical placements are graded as a PASS or FAIL.
Employment Opportunities
Graduates may find employment in health-care settings such as hospitals, long-term care facilities, retirement homes, occupational health, physician’s offices, community, and home care.
TEXTBOOKS
Please contact your local campus bookstore for the complete list of textbooks that are required for this program. Textbooks will be offered in either printed editions (when available) or e-copies. Due to some courses requiring e-labs, the e-textbook option may be the only availability. Please discuss your options with your bookstore.