Practical Nursing

Practical Nursing

Certificate

Start your career as a licensed practical nurse providing hands-on bedside care to patients with GCC’s practical nursing certificate program

Program Contacts

Laura Earl, Health Occupations Admission Coordinator
(413) 775-1816
earl@gcc.mass.edu

Rebecca Wolf, Practical Nursing Program Coordinator
(413) 775-1623
wolfr@gcc.mass.edu

Upcoming Events

Health Occupations Career Fair GCC event

Health Occupations Career Fair

Wednesday April 30 - 1:30pm

Practical Nursing Program Pinning Ceremony GCC event

Practical Nursing Program Pinning Ceremony

Saturday June 21 - 11:00am

If you’re excited about a career in direct patient care, GCC’s practical nursing certificate program is a great place to start. In as little as 10 months, you’ll be prepared to provide high-quality, patient-centered nursing care to adults and children in long-term and subacute care facilities, outpatient settings and acute care hospitals. In addition to general patient care, licensed practical nurses (LPNs) administer medications and patient treatments, assist with diagnostic procedures and organize the care of their patients. You’ll take a combination of science, liberal arts and nursing courses with hands-on clinical training, which will prepare you to take the NCLEX-PN licensure examination.

43

credits

Certificate

Certificates are typically completed in one (1) year and designed for immediate workforce entry

CORI/SORI

CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) and/or additional background checks required for participation in this program.

Approved by the Massachusetts Board of Registration for Nursing (MABORN) Learn More

Practical Nursing is a health occupations program with a special admissions process and health requirements. You must submit a separate application to this program in addition to a general application for admission to GCC. Please review all criteria prior to applying!

Program Learning Outcomes

Patient-Centered Care
Provides holistic care that recognizes an individual’s and family’s preferences, values, and needs, and respects the client or designee as a full partner in providing compassionate, coordinated, age and culturally appropriate, safe and effective care.

Professionalism
Deliver standard-based care that is consistent with moral, altruistic, legal, ethical, regulatory and humanistic principles.

Leadership
Guide the behavior of individuals or groups within their environment in order to facilitate the establishment and achievement of shared goals.

Systems Based-Practice
Demonstrate the ability to effectively apply work unit resources to provide care that is of optimal quality and value while maintaining awareness of and responsiveness to the larger context of the healthcare system.

Informatics and Technology
Use technology and information to analyze as well as synthesize information to make decisions that optimize patient outcomes.

Communication
Interact effectively with patients, families, and colleagues, fostering mutual respect and shared decision making, to enhance patient satisfaction and health outcomes.

Teamwork and Collaboration
Function effectively within nursing and interprofessional teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, shared decision-making, team development.

Safety
Minimize risk of harm to patients and providers through individual performance within health care systems.

Quality Improvement
Uses data to monitor the outcomes of care processes, and recommend improvement methods to design changes to continuously improve the quality and safety of the health care systems.

Evidenced Based Practice
Integrate the best current evidence coupled with clinical expertise for the delivery of optimal health care.

Expected Level of Achievement for Approval

  1. 80% of students will pass the NCLEX PN exam within 12 months after completion of the program.
  2. 85% of students will complete the program within 36 months of enrollment in the first nursing course.
  3. 80% of students who respond to the post-graduation employment survey will be employed 16 hours or more within 6 months after graduation.
  4. 100% of students enrolled on the first day of classes are filled by qualified applicants meeting the PN nursing admission requirements.
  5. 0% of complaints to the MA Board of Registration in Nursing.

Graduate Outcomes

Graduating Class 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
First-time pass rate on National Council Licensure Exam for Nurses (NCLEX-PN) 90% 77% 100% 79% 82%
PN program completion rate within 36 months 85% 63% 83% 76%
Graduates employed as PNs within 6 months 100%

Melanie Ames Zamojski MS, RN, CHSE

Dean of Nursing

Academic Affairs

A.S., Greenfield Community College
B.S.N., University of Phoenix
M.S.N., Western Governor's University

E120C 1-413-775-1763 ZamojskiM@gcc.mass.edu

Melanie Ames Zamojski is the Dean of Nursing at Greenfield Community College. She oversees the Associate Degree and Practical Nursing Certificate Programs. Melanie has been with GCC since 2011 instructing in Fundamentals, Pediatrics, and clinicals. She has more recently coordinated the simulation and skills lab. Her experience is primarily in prehospital, critical and emergency care. Melanie is a proud graduate of the GCC Nursing Program! She lives locally with her husband, David and has 2 adult children, Meghan and Brian, and one grandchild due in 2023!

Melissa Davis CMT

Administrative Assistant I

Academic Affairs

E120D 1-413-775-1753 DavisM@gcc.mass.edu

Lisa Janovsky

Faculty

Nursing

A.S., Greenfield Community College
B.S.N., M.S.N., Elms College

JanovskyL@gcc.mass.edu

Crista Klein MSN

Faculty

Nursing

A.S., Greenfield Community College
B.S.N., California State University
M.S.N., St. Joseph's College of Maine

E121H 1-413-775-1620 KleinC@gcc.mass.edu

Rachel Porter

Instructor

Academic Affairs

A.S., Greenfield Community College
B.S.N., Elms College

E121J 1-413-775-1630 porterr@gcc.mass.edu

Rebecca Wolf

Faculty / Practical Nursing Program Coordinator

Nursing

A.A., A.S., Greenfield Community College
B.S.N., M.S.N., Southern New Hampshire University

E120A 1-413-775-1623 wolfr@gcc.mass.edu