A bill that would allow Indiana’s high-school students to enroll and participate in a licensed practical nursing (LPN) program before receiving their high-school diploma passed unanimously in the Indiana House Thursday.
Senate Bill 176, authored by Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, and Sen. Tyler Johnson, R-Leo, aims to tackle the state’s shortage of nurses and introduce high-school students to a potential career pathway.
A LPN is essentially an assistant to a registered nurse (RN). Depending on the setting they work in, a LPN may take a patient’s vitals, feed and bathe them, administer medication, and communicate with a patient's family and other health-care professionals about treatment plans as well as the patient’s needs.
During a House Public Health Committee meeting on March 11, Kimberly Wiegand, assistant vice president for nursing at Ivy Tech Community College, said her school now allows high-school students to enroll in the LPN program. The pilot group for this initiative will begin classes in December on campuses in Sellersburg, Richmond, Evansville and Madison.
Weigand said earlier enrollment in nursing education could address the need for these types of health-care providers as the demand for them will only increase over time. A study by the Indiana University School of Medicine found that by 2037, the national supply of LPNs will only suffice for 64% of the demand.
“Ensuring an adequate and active supply of licensed practical nurses is essential to meet the growing demands on the Indiana health-care workforce,” she told the committee. “The need for LPNs and RNs in long-term services and support settings is expected to rise significantly.”
Amanda Leffler is the founder of Leffler Academy, a nursing school that allows high schoolers, and other types of nontraditional students to receive a LPN’s license or a nursing associate science degree.
Right now, Leffler said she can have a high-school student conditionally admitted to her academy, but they can’t receive a license or take the licensure exam until they have received their high-school diploma.
Leffler said SB 176 clarifies the rules for academies like hers and encourages LPN schools to admit and educate younger students.
“When I go in and see my nurse practitioner, I don’t ask her how old she is,” Leffler said. “I just trust that she’s been trained.”
According to Leffler, her school provides a good entry point for students who might want to pursue nursing further but also thoroughly equips them to become LPNs, which is a viable career on its own. In Indiana, an LPN could make nearly $40 an hour.
“It's a great place for students to start when they’re younger,” Leffler said. “Indiana is making a strategic path … to the entry point into nursing. They’re lifting barriers for students who are ready to achieve higher education to, like I said, get out and have access to gainful employment.”
Entry-level programs, like Leffler Academy, put students into what Leffler calls a “pipeline,” which helps them gradually gain knowledge of the nursing profession and possibly pursue higher education like a bachelor’s degree in nursing to become an RN.
Although Leffler equips her students to level up as they learn, as a self-proclaimed trailblazer and disruptor of higher education, she said she wants universities to understand that there are other pathways for students than just going straight to college.
“I’m paving the way and showing higher institutions that there are nontraditional ways of doing things and having great outcomes,” she said.
Dr. Caron MacPherson, a nursing professor at University of Indianapolis, said early access to LPN programs will be good to bring students into the nursing profession as long as they consult experts in the nursing education field when creating accreditation standards for the schools.
“Having, you know, people in there who have expertise in order to offer input to ensure that if we are going to have these programs that are developing new nurses to enter practice, then a nurse who has expertise should be involved,” MacPherson said.
When it comes to maturity and ability to handle the LPN profession, MacPherson said it will be up to the schools themselves to give students that skill.
Dr. Tia Bell, dean of nursing at Marian University, echoed MacPherson’s sentiment that as long as a student in a LPN program can meet that accredited program’s admission requirements, then it is an appropriate next step for them educationally.
Leffler said her academy’s staff members ensure that her students are emotionally and intellectually ready to enter the workforce.
“What makes my school special is, I feel like we have the staff and the family that truly love on these students hard and make sure that they are emotionally ready for what they are going to experience out in the real world,” Leffler said.