While there's been a flattening of new hiring of nurses in Arkansas, the pace is expected to pick up as the economy improves and the population ages. The estimated 23,700 RNs and 12,010 LPNs in Arkansas are busy, but job mobility slowed down with the cool economy, reports the Arkansas Hospital Association. RNs are in demand in some locations and earn an average $56,500, compared to a national median wage of $67,720, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. LVNs, who earn an average $34,280 in Arkansas compared to $41,360 nationally, are finding an increase in job opportunities in home care and community settings. Anticipating a future nursing shortage, Jefferson Regional Medical Center's School of Nursing in southeast Arkansas has completed a $1 million campus expansion, which helped add classroom space and audio/visual equipment with capabilities for distance learning.
Arkansas has more than a dozen nursing schools that offer LPN to RN (ADN and BSN) programs. They include:
Arkansas Tech University in Russellville has a nursing curriculum that prepares students for professional responsibilities in a variety of healthcare settings and provides the foundations for graduate study. Licensed RNs, PNs and psychiatric technical nurses may receive 17 hours of credit for general education and nursing courses that are in the curriculum to obtain a BSN degree. ATU's Ozark campus also offers an LPN to ADN nursing program leading to RN licensure.
North Arkansas College in Harrison offers an LPN to ADN fast-track program, which leads to licensure as a registered nurse. Once admitted to the bridge program, nursing classes can be completed in one year of intensive study. LPNs must have 30 credits of prerequisite nursing courses and apply by September 1 for the program that starts each January.
University of Arkansas at Monticello offers an LPN fast-track program, which leads to an Associate of Applied Science in nursing and eventual licensure as a registered nurse. The LPN can be completed within a year, as long as all prerequisites and nursing support courses are done as well. The university also offers RN to BSN fast-track and LPN-BSN advanced placement programs.
