Practical Nursing
Available as a two-year, five-semester program
Practical nurses are integral members of a health care team, providing care to patients of all ages. They combine nursing skill, knowledge and judgment to provide a full range of nursing care within their scope of practice.
NOTE: This program is available to domestic students only.
- Credential
Two-year Ontario College Diploma
- Start Date
September entry (traditional academic year) and January entry (NEW 2022: Five continuous semesters)
- Location
Belleville campus
Find your career
- Provide care to clients and their caregivers in hospital settings, including medical-surgical, maternal child, mental health and emergency departments.
- Community nursing settings such as: doctors’ offices, nurse practitioner clinics, home-care nursing agencies, ambulatory clinics and public health units.
- Promote community health and disease prevention.
- Work in leadership positions in retirement homes and long-term care facilities.
- Earn average starting salaries of $45,000 to $49,999.*
- Loyalist grads have historically scored above the provincial and national averages in all categories of the Canadian Practical Nurse Registration Exam (CPNRE).
- Loyalist received a Category 1, five-year program approval from the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) in March 2014 — the highest attainable rating.
*Source: Employment Profile Provincial Report, Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
Our grads get great jobs
- Registered Practical Nurse, Quinte Healthcare Corporation
- Registered Practical Nurse, Hastings Manor Long Term Care Facility
- Registered Practical Nurse, Lennox and Addington County General Hospital
- Registered Practical Nurse, Kingston General Hospital
- Registered Practical Nurse, Victorian Order of Nurses
Is it for you?
A career as an RPN is both challenging and rewarding. People of all ages can thrive in this program. They must be:
- Passionate about helping others
- Caring and compassionate
- Inquisitive and eager to learn
- Driven to make a difference in people’s quality of care
Experiential learning
Learn to assess clients’ health throughout the lifespan, and to plan, implement and evaluate appropriate nursing care, in the classroom and beyond:
- Small clinical and lab groups with intensive personal instruction.
- Participation in virtual simulation with realistic, interactive practice scenarios in our cutting-edge Human Simulation Lab.
- Develop skills during a community based blood pressure clinic.
- Engage with dynamic guest speakers from the health care field.
- Participate in clinical placements taught by expert nursing professors in hospitals and long-term care facilities.
- Gain a variety of clinical nursing skills in: medicine, surgery, paediatrics/obstetrics, continuing complex care and mental health.
- Work one-on-one with a Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) during an intensive eight-week clinical placement.
Please read the College of Nurses of Ontario Program Approval Review Summary for Loyalist College's Practical Nursing program here.
Outstanding faculty make the difference
- Faculty members are experienced registered nurses with varied backgrounds in mental health, maternal childcare, palliative care, acute medicine, long-term care and community nursing.
- Clinical professors continue to work in their field, bringing current knowledge and skills to their students.
- Respected faculty continually integrate best practices in nursing education and have presented provincially, nationally and internationally at practical nurse educator and simulation conferences.
- Loyalist's Practical Nursing program has been reviewed and approved by the College of Nurses of Ontario Council and meets all mandatory requirements. Graduates are eligible to register with CNO.
Belleville, Ontario, May 13, 2021 – Loyalist College students began administering COVID-19 vaccines at the College’s Immunization Centre this week. Directed by Hastings Prince Edward Public Health... 