LVN to RN 30-unit Option

The LVN to RN 30-unit option is available to any applicant to the Registered Nursing program at Merced College who is a vocational nurse licensed in the State of California.  The graduate of this LVN to RN 30-unit option is eligible to submit documentation to the California Board of Registered when applying for licensure as a registered nurse. The graduate of this LVN to RN 30-unitoption is eligible to apply for licensure as a registered nurse if the applicant has successfully completed the courses below. Merced College will provide objective counseling of this option and evaluate each licensed vocational nurse applicant for admission to our registered nurse program. The 30-unitoption does not qualify graduates to apply for out-of-state licensure.

Supply--analysis of the program data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) included the TOP code and title:  123010 - Registered Nursing.  Analysis of the last three years of data shows that, on average, 769 awards were conferred in the Central Valley/Mother Lode region each year.

Bakersfield               118

Fresno City               231

Merced                       56

Modesto                    110

Porterville                   19

Reedley College         15

San Joaquin Delta     103

Sequoias                    85

West Hills-Lemoore   31 

There is an undersupply of 483 LVN to RN Pathway workers in the NCV/NML sub-region and 1,339 workers in the region.

 The LVN to RN 30-unit option certificate program is created to meet Section 1429 of the California Nurse Practice Act, which states:

(a)  An applicant who is licensed in California as avocational nurse is eligible to apply for licensure as a registered nurse if such applicant has successfully completed the courses prescribed below and meets all other requirements set forth in section 2736 of the code.  Such applicants shall submit evidence to the board, including a transcript, of successful completion of the requirements set forth in subsection (c) and of successful completion or challenge of courses in physiology and microbiology comparable to such courses required for licensure as a registered nurse.

(b)  The school shall offer objective counseling if this option and evaluate each licensed vocational nurse applicant for admission to its registered nursing program on an individual basis.  A school’s determination of the prerequisite courses required of a licensed vocational nurse applicant shall be based on the analysis of each applicant’s academic deficiencies, irrespective of the time such courses were taken.

(c)  The additional education required of a licensed vocational nurse applicants shall not exceed a maximum of thirty (30) semester or forty-five (45) quarter units. Courses required for vocational nurse licensure do not fulfill the additional education requirement. However, other courses comparable to those required for licensure as a registered nurse, as specified in section 1426, may fulfill the additional education requirement.

Nursing courses shall betaken in an approved nursing program and shall be beyond courses equivalent to the first year of professional nursing courses. The nursing content shall include nursing intervention in acute, preventative, remedial, supportive, rehabilitative and teaching aspects of nursing.  Theory and courses with concurrent clinical practice shall include advanced medical-surgical, mental health, psychiatric nursing and geriatric nursing.  The nursing content shall include the basic standards for competent performance prescribed in section 1443.5 of these regulations.

The LVN to RN 30-unit option certificate will offer an alternative route for License Vocational Nurses to become eligible to complete the courses required for licensure as a registered nurse in the State of California.  Graduates of this option will receive a Certificate of Completion rather than a degree in Registered Nursing.  The LVN to RN 30-unitoption students are subject to the same educational standards as the basic RN students.

Required units: 30 semester units

Communication, natural and social science, and nursing courses must be completed with a grade of “C” or better to be eligible for licensure requirements of the State Board of Nursing (Board of Registered Nursing).

The LVN to RN 30-unit option students are subject to the same educational standards as the basic RN students.

Prerequisite Courses

  Second Semester

  Third Semester

  Fourth Semester

  **Only with an approved LVN License, completed pre-requisite Science courses, and space availability.

*** Space in the RN program is determined based on the number of RN students progressing from the second semester to the third semester.

Total Units toward the Certificate:  30 Units