Resources for Students Attending Online LPN Schools

Due to the nursing shortage in America, pursuing a nursing degree continues to be an excellent career choice. That and the healthcare industry remains the single largest employer, with education running second. A Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) provides general patient care, as well as keeping track of patients’ vital statistics under an RN’s supervision.

This article contains 50 blogs with articles and helpful information for nursing students. Among the topics are general nursing student tips, career tips, input from current experienced nurses, information about other nursing specializations, and general healthcare news.

General Nursing Student Tips

Regardless of the area of specialization, every nursing student can benefit from general nursing student tips and advice. This section contains a variety of tips to help nursing students achieve success in their degree programs.

1. NurseWithoutBorders.com: What is a LPN, Licensed Practical Nurse
   This blog addresses the career options for RNs, CNAs, and LPNs. This article specifically describes the job responsibilities of an LPN, as well as career setting options and job outlook.
   
2. Nursing Research: Show Me the Evidence - For Nurses: Conducting an Advanced Literature Search
   This blog focuses on evidence-based nursing practice. This article focuses on the value of conducting advanced literature searches using PubMed’s search engine features.
   
3. NursingResumePros: Ten Success Tips for the NCLEX
   The very term, “NCLEX,” can raise anxiety levels in graduate nursing students. This article offers tips for successfully preparing for, and passing, the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination).
   
4. SquidQuiz: Nursing Trivia-Quiz
   Beth is an OR nurse. She created this blog to help nursing students and practicing nurses test their knowledge about nursing.
   
5. The Jury is Still Out: LPN vs. RN
   This blog’s author is currently a nursing student. In this blog post, she weighs the pros and cons of pursuing the LPN route vs. the RN route.
   
6. VirtualNurse.com: LPN to RN
   This blog serves as a directory of numerous resources on various topics. This section lists several articles addressing the process of advancing from an LPN to an RN program, and the differences between the two career options.
   
7. AllNurses.com: Nursing Blogs - Tips on dealing with the demented patient in the ER
   AllNurses serves as a community of nurses, written by nurses for nurses and nursing students. In this article, the author provides insight and tips for professionally dealing with patients with dementia.
   
8. Ausmed Online: Qualities You Need to Become a Nurse
   Based in Australia, this blog and the companion site serve as an online nursing education center. This article defines the optimal nursing qualities one needs for a career in nursing.
   
9. At Your Cervix: Medical Abbreviations Deciphered
   This RN works in the labor and delivery department of a large hospital. In this article, she shares a valuable list of medical abbreviations and their definitions.
   

   Nursing Career Tips

   Even before a nursing student reaches graduation, he or she should take the proactive step of job hunting. This section contains blogs and articles about career positions and resources.
   
   
10. Freedom Healthcare Staffing Blog: PBDS Test & Study Guide Information
    Freedom Healthcare Staffing provides assistance and leads for those interested in traveling nurse positions. This article provides information about the Performance Based Development System (PBDS) test.
    
11. National Living Providers Network: Hospice Industry Outlook - 2010 Report
    The National Senior Living Providers Network (NSLPN) offers news, resources, and job leads for those healthcare professionals who desire to provide healthcare services for seniors. This article presents the 2010 hospice industry outlook.
    
12. RN Network: Travel Nursing Resources
    The RN Network has the reputation as “one of the largest traveling nursing companies in the United States.” This article offers a comprehensive collection of online tools and resources for those interested in travel nursing.
    
13. Maxim Nurses: Nursing Staffing and Nursing Jobs - How Technology Helps Nurses Respond to Patients Faster
    Maxim offers employment information and leads for a variety of nursing positions in different settings. This article addresses the value of technology in eliciting faster response times from nurses for their patients.
    
14. Off the Charts: Finding a Job as a Nurse in a Digital Age - and Keeping It
    This blog’s sponsor is the American Journal of Nursing. In this article, the author addresses the challenge of finding and keeping nursing jobs in this digital age, particularly for older nurses or others unfamiliar with technology.
    
15. Travel Nurse Aim: Honest, the Patient was Dead When I Started My Shift
    Amy, aka Aim, is a traveling nurse. In this blog post, she describes the confusion over whose shift was responsible for reporting a patient’s death.
    
16. Travel Nurse Jobs Blog: Where To Go if You Need a Quick License
    This blog serves as a medical staffing resource for travel nurses. This article describes where to go and what to do in the event of needing to obtain a license for an urgent travel assignment.
    

    Stories from Nursing and Medical Students

    Nursing students can usually relate to stories from other nursing and medical students. This section contains blogs and articles from nursing and medical students on a variety of issues.
17. Nursing Student Chronicles: Flustered Much?
    Laney is a nursing student in her senior year. She continues to chronicle her journey, including this blog post about having a challenging time with a particular patient and the patient’s family.
    
18. Adventures of Student RN Tiffany: Some things I've learned in clinicals
    Yes, Tiffany is a student nurse. In this article, she shares some valuable insights about her experiences in clinicals.
    
19. How I Spent My Nursing Education: Books to Read Before I Die
    The blog’s author is a single mom, working towards her BSN. In this blog post, she provides a list of books she plans to read “for pleasure” in between her studying for nursing.
    
20. Jennifer Vitti: Catch-up, Babies, Pedi, Exams- Round 2 and Puppies!
    Jen is a second-year nurse practitioner student. In this blog post, among other things, she describes her experience observing a vaginal birth on her last day of her maternity clinical.
    
21. AZ Mom in Nursing School
    Christine is a recent LPN grad, now on her path towards her RN career. She uses this blog to share her journey through nursing school.
    
22. The Makings of a Nurse: The CNL
    Nurse Teeny is an RN, currently pursuing her MSN degree. In this blog post, she discusses the new nursing career position known as the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL).
    
23. The One Year Nurse: UCSF MEPN Interview
    Nat is an RN, on a journey to become a Critical Care/Trauma Clinical Nurse Specialist. In this article, he shares the steps he took in preparing for his interview into his current program (MEPN=Master’s Entrance Program of Nursing).
    
24. The Dog Ate My Care Plan: My Strong Therapy
    This senior year BSN nursing student chronicles her experiences with a sense of humor. In this article, the author shares how her nursing studies began to manifest in her daily family life.
    
25. Asystole is the Most Stable Rhythm: Thanks for the Memories, Thanks for the MRSA
    This former Canadian emergency/outpost nurse is currently studying in Ireland to become a doctor. In this article, she discusses the tendency of medical students to self-diagnose and the paranoia it causes.
    
26. Emergiblog: It's Not Good
    Kim is an Emergency and Critical Care nurse. In this article, she shares her frustrations about the abuse of the healthcare system, when ER patients come in to obtain drugs also false pretenses.
    
27. Weird Nursing Tales: "Snort, snort"
    Tex shares his “weird” real-life adventures as a Critical Care Float Nurse. In this blog post, he discusses how he discovered a patient snorting his medication, and the consequences.
    
28. Man Nurse Diaries: Gimme your assessment in five words or less!
    This male nurse works as an RN in an intensive care unit at a large urban trauma center. He shares his frustration in this article about how the shift resident condensed his careful and thorough neurological assessment into a brief, somewhat vague report.
    
29. Mom's Tinfoil Hat: Reply turned post, a VBAC reality check
    Hilary is a midwife, currently studying to become an OB/GYN doctor. In this post, she discusses the pros and cons of an elective cesarean vs. a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) attempt.
    
30. The Unnecesarean: "Obstetric Violence" Introduced as a New Legal Term in Venezuela
    This patient advocacy blog highlights the disturbing practice of “routine cesareans” instead of allowing women to deliver naturally if no medical conditions exist to threaten the lives of mother and baby. The author shares this article about a new legal term, “obstetric violence,” and what practices it includes.
    
31. Rebirth Nurse: From the Other Side
    This nurse-midwife states her goal is to “improve maternity care.” In this article, she shares her thoughts on nursing care in times gone by, vs. the “new care” in the technological age.
    
32. Lydia's License: A Good Question
    Lydia is an RN who had to battle “the powers that be” to transfer her nursing license from one state to another. In this blog post, she describes the process.
    
33. Musings of a Highly Trained Monkey: Darwin 1, Monkeygirl 1
    The author works night shifts in the ER. In this article, she describes “cardiac night” in the ER.
    

    Specific Nursing and Healthcare Specializations

    In addition to the LPN position, many other nursing and healthcare specializations exist. This section contains blogs and articles from a variety of perspectives, including OB nurses, FNPs, traveling nurses, and healthcare educators.
    
    
34. OB Nurse: Someone asked how you become an OB nurse
    Kim transitioned from being an ER nurse to an OB nurse, and loves the change. In this blog post, she answers the question about how she became an OB nurse.
    
35. What school doesn’t teach about being a nurse practitioner: NewFNP, that’s who
    This blog’s author is a new Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP). In this article, she discusses two frustrating behaviors she routinely views in her clinic.
    
36. Badinage: Put it in my pocket
    Diana has a BSN degree and works in a telemetry unit (connects patients to various machines that measure statistics such as heart rate and blood-oxygen level, then reads and interprets results on the computer). In this blog post, Diana shares a moving story of a deceased patient’s relative who praised Diana for her loving care and told her she was the “perfect person” to be a nurse.
    
37. Miss-Elaine-ious RN: Thoughts on Losing Enthusiasm
    Elaine is an ER nurse, who started this blog while she was in nursing school and continues it to journal about her nursing career.  She shares her honest thoughts in this article about having some ambivalent feelings about continuing as an ER nurse.
    
38. Adventures of GuitarGirl RN: No Angels Here
    The blog’s author is an ER nurse. In this article, she refutes the notion that nurses are “angels of mercy.”
    

    General Healthcare News and Topics

    Healthcare is certainly a hot topic as 2010 winds down. This section contains a variety of blogs and articles covering general healthcare news and relevant nursing topics.
    
    
39. Health Plans Plus
    This blog addresses general healthcare news and topics, including healthcare costs and alternative medicine. In addition, the blog offers options on healthcare plans and discount programs, such as Ameriplan.
    
40. Taking Charge of Your Health Blog: Healthy Eating, Healthy Living - Taking that First Step
    This blog’s purpose is to provide individuals with the tools to develop and maintain healthier lifestyles. This article addresses taking the first step of eating healthier.
    
41. Health Care Law Blog
    This timely blog, authored by health care lawyer Bob Coffield, attempts to help health care professionals navigate their way through the various state and federal healthcare laws and regulations. Nursing students can benefit from the numerous topics covered in this blog, including HIPAA, e-prescriptions, home health, and technology.
    
42. The New Health Dialogue Blog: HEALTH POLITICS - A Balancing Act
    The New America Foundation sponsors this blog to address the changing healthcare climate, as it attempts to manage problems with “quality, cost, and access.” This November 2010 article addresses the future of healthcare reform following the election results of a Republican majority in the House.
    
43. Pioneering Ideas: Why I Want a Blue Button
    This blog addresses “breakthrough ideas in health and health care…” through the contributions of a team of writers. This article addresses the idea of making patients’ medical records available to them online in digital form by accessing the “blue button.”
    
44. Emergency Physicians Monthly: Thank God
    Various professionals who work in emergency rooms contribute to this blog. In this article, the author vividly describes the team effort that saved a patient’s life.
    
45. Women's Health News: When the Care Isn’t Evidence-Based, and the Provider Doesn’t Listen: Why Patient Empowerment Matters
    Rachel, a medical librarian, uses her blog to share “women’s health news, politics, information, and resources.” In this blog, she presents a strong case for patient empowerment through self-advocacy, vs. being a passive recipient of advice from a medical provider.
    
46. Disruptive Women in Health Care: The IOM Report on the Future of Nursing and the AMA's Response
    This blog serves as a “platform for provocative ideas, thoughts, and solutions in the health sphere” primarily from women, but men’s perspectives are also welcome. In this article, the author reviews the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report about the future of nursing, as well as the response from the American Medical Association (AMA).
    
47. Archelle on Health: Doctor Shortage - A Blessing in Disguise?
    Archelle is a medical doctor who has served in various capacities within healthcare for 25 years. In this article, she addresses the 2010 healthcare reform drama, particularly its potential impact on access to healthcare.
    
48. Suzanne Gordon: Nursing and the Peril of Success
    Suzanne is an award-winning journalist and published author; she also serves as a Visiting Professor and Adjunct Professor for schools of nursing departments in various colleges and universities.   In this article, she explains how a nurse’s primary role is a preventive one – to do something, to make sure nothing (bad) happens.
    
    This article endeavored to provide nursing students with relevant, valuable information within its list of 50 blogs. Nursing students can review the blogs and their articles for general nursing student and career tips; enjoy articles about experiences in nursing from those currently working in the field, including a glimpse into other nursing specializations; and review general healthcare news.

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