If you are a Licensed Practical Nurse and are looking for free certifications for LPNs, gather here, as I will be curating those certifications in this blog post.
There are clear differences between a certificate and a certification. Simply put, a certificate is evidence of education, while certification is evidence of passing an exam or meeting industry standards. Various certificate examples that we commonly encounter include a certificate of achievement, completion certificates, or even appreciation certificates. There are courses learned online that have certificates attached to them after their completion, such as art courses for lovers of arts, medical programs, and even online bible schools.
Almost everything we learn online has certifications attached to them. There are easy certifications that pay well you can get online as well as esthetician certifications for individuals interested in the beauty industry. Some of these are quick certifications that you can get in a short duration of time and get paid well when the knowledge is utilized well. Certifications are offered by colleges and universities, trade schools, vocational institutions, organizations, and online learning platforms.
Since this article is focusing on the free certifications for LPNs, we have the right to know who an LPN is. A licensed practical nurse (LPN) also known as a licensed vocational nurse (LVN) is a nurse that performs basic medical tasks, including checking vital signs and feeding patients.
They are also responsible for maintaining a clear line of communication between a patient, their family, and their caregivers. They work under the supervision and direction of registered nurses and doctors. To become an LPN, you need to enroll in a vocational school diploma LPN or LVN program. You can even enroll in online nursing courses and get certified after their completion. Since we have little knowledge of the duties of a licensed practical nurse, without further ado, let’s delve straight into the free certifications.
Free certifications for LPNs
Online platforms like Alison, Coursera, and edX offer free certifications for LPNs. Listed below are the free certifications for LPNs that can be obtained online, and they are as follows;
- Knowledge and Skills for Dementia Care: the SSLD Approach – Coursera
- Nursing and Long-term Conditions – FutureLearn
- Diet Therapy – Alison
- Patient Safety and Quality Improvement: Developing a Systems View – Coursera
- Pediatric HIV Nursing – edX
- Nursing Home Infection Preventionist Training Course – CDC
- Training for Nurses on Shift Work & Long Hours – CDC
- Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care – Coursera
- Essentials of Palliative Care – Coursera
- Neuromuscular Monitoring Course – edX
1. Knowledge and Skills for Dementia Care: the SSLD Approach – Coursera
This course aims to inform learners about dementia and dementia care from an SSLD perspective, including, community care, in-home support, and long-term care. The course will cover the continuum of senior services and support across different settings, including, private caregiving, community services, and institutionalized residential care. Course components are designed to equip learners with practical knowledge regarding dementia and dementia care. It is the first on our list of free certifications for LPNs.
This course also features top-notch researchers and practitioners who will be sharing their expertise and experience on recent research developments about dementia and other related topics, including, advance care planning, elder abuse, management of behavioral and psychological symptoms associated with dementia, sexuality and intimacy, consent and capacity, legal issues, principles of designed space and aging-in-place, substance use and addiction in older adults with dementia, senior care models, etc. The course is made up of 7 modules.
Offered By – University of Toronto
Duration – Approximately 29 hours to complete
Course Instructor – A. Ka Tat Tsang
2. Nursing and Long-term Conditions – FutureLearn
The number of people living with one or more long-term conditions is on the rise. Nurses have responsibilities to reduce the risk of people developing long-term conditions and help people manage the conditions they’re suffering from.
In this course, you will explore the impact of long-term conditions on both an international and national scale. You will examine the perspectives of patients, their families, and professionals and apply these insights to your own experiences as a nurse.
Offered By – Coventry University
Duration – 6 hours of weekly study
Course Instructors – Sarah Fellows and Jane Irani
3. Diet Therapy – Alison
This course will first introduce you to the importance of diet therapy when treating patients. You will look into the three important functions of nutrients within the body and learn that diet therapy is individualized and is frequently the primary therapy in itself. The course will discuss the factors which influence a patient’s food choice and eating patterns, such as religion, emotional aspects, fads, and financial considerations to name a few.
You will then study the three factors which form the basis of care as well as the three general groups of organic diseases of the intestine. The course will also cover the three basic approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of food allergies. You will also learn the importance of mealtimes in a patient’s long day, as well as how a patient’s diet plays an integral part in their overall treatment plan.
4. Patient Safety and Quality Improvement: Developing a Systems View – Coursera
In this course, you will be able to develop a systems view for patient safety and quality improvement in healthcare. By the end of this course, you will be able to;
- describe a minimum of four key events in the history of patient safety and quality improvement
- define the key characteristics of high-reliability organizations,
- explain the benefits of having strategies for both proactive and reactive systems thinking.
There are 4 modules in this course.
Offered By – John Hopkins University
Duration – Approximately 5 hours
Course Instructor – Melinda Sawyer
5. Pediatric HIV Nursing – edX
Taught by leading experts in pediatric HIV clinical care and treatment, nursing, and global health, this course will equip nurses and midwives with the skills they need to provide quality clinical care to children living with HIV according to the latest clinical guidelines from the World Health Organization. The course is self-paced to accommodate individual schedules and learning needs. You will learn the following;
- Early infant diagnosis
- Pediatric HIV case identification
- Care and treatment of children infected with HIV
- Care of adolescents infected with HIV
- Pediatric tuberculosis and opportunistic infections
- Psychosocial support and care
- Adherence and retention
Offered By – Columbia University
Duration – 2 to 3 hours per week
Course Instructor – Susan Michaels-Strasser, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology (in ICAP) and ICAP at Columbia University
6. Nursing Home Infection Preventionist Training Course – CDC
This course will provide infection prevention and control (IPC) training for individuals responsible for IPC programs in nursing homes so they can effectively implement their programs and ensure adherence to recommended practices by front-line staff.
The course will include information about the core activities of an effective IPC program, with a detailed explanation of recommended IPC practices to prevent pathogen transmission and reduce healthcare-associated infections and antibiotic resistance in nursing homes.
Additionally, this course will provide helpful implementation resources (e.g., training tools, checklists, signs, and policy and procedure templates). At the end of the session, the participant will be able to:
- Identify the ways pathogens spread in nursing homes.
- List risk factors among nursing home residents that contribute to the development of healthcare-associated infections and antibiotic resistance.
- Identify recommended infection prevention and control (IPC) practices for the detection, prevention, and control of pathogen transmission in nursing homes.
- Identify strategies for implementing the core activities of the IPC program.
- Describe how the infection preventionist (IP) works with nursing home staff and key partners (e.g., QAA committee, health departments, consultants) to implement IPC practices.
7. Training for Nurses on Shift Work & Long Hours – CDC
In this training, you will receive scientific information about the risks of shift work and long work hours and strategies to reduce these risks. The training contains 12 modules that are divided into two parts. Part 1 includes Modules 1 to 4. Persons completing Part 1 can obtain continuing education (CE) for nurses and other health professionals. Part 1 has three overarching learning objectives, which are;
- Explain why scientists think shift work and long work hours are linked to health and safety risks.
- Identify the health and safety risks that are linked to shift work and long work hours.
- Identify individual factors that can lead to differences in a nurse’s ability to adjust to shift work and long work hours.
Part 2 includes Modules 5 to 12 that cover strategies to reduce risks. Persons completing Part 2 can obtain continuing education (CE) for nurses and other health professionals. Part 2 has two overarching learning objectives, which are;
- Identify workplace strategies managers can implement to reduce risks from shift work and long work hours.
- Identify strategies nurses can implement in their personal lives to reduce risks from shift work and long work hours.
8. Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care – Coursera
This course presents basic principles of cancer survivorship to primary-care physicians. Developed by a team of experts in caring for cancer survivors, and narrated by a primary-care physician, this course provides practical tips and tools that can be easily integrated into medical practice.
You will learn about the complex physical and psychosocial needs and concerns of the growing number of cancer survivors, along with the key role that primary care physicians have in guiding these patients back to health, after cancer. This self-paced course takes approximately 90 minutes to complete with just 1 module.
Offered By – Stanford University
Duration – approximately 2 hours to complete
Course Instructors – Jennifer Kim and Lidia Schapira
9. Essentials of Palliative Care – Coursera
This course starts you on your journey of integrating primary palliative care into your daily lives. You will learn what palliative care is, how to communicate with patients, show empathy, and practice difficult conversations. You will learn how to screen for distress and provide psychosocial support. You will learn about goals of care and advance care planning and how to improve your success by having these conversations with patients. Finally, you will explore important cultural considerations and improve your cultural competency on the topics covered. It consists of 7 modules.
Offered By – Stanford University
Duration – approximately 10 hours
Course Instructors – Jan DeNofrio and Kavitha Ramchandran
10. Neuromuscular Monitoring Course – edX
Through this course, you will learn more about the residual neuromuscular blockade, as well as the different types of neuromuscular monitoring (subjective vs. objective neuromuscular monitoring) and stimulation patterns. You will be shown a step-by-step approach to assembling objective neuromuscular monitoring equipment. You will be able to discuss factors impacting the duration of action of non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs and address the different reversing agents.
Offered By – Stanford University
Duration – 1 week long, 1-2 hours a week
Course Instructors – Christiane Klinkhardt and Pedro Tanaka
Conclusion
All these courses that I have talked about have free certifications for LPNs. You can enroll in any one of them and obtain the certificate after completion.
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