Returning Enlisted Veterans–Upward (to) Professional Nursing: Not All Innovative Ideas Succeed

Military licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) provide nursing care for the ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled persons. Those who have deployed both for humanitarian and wartime situations have a tremendous experiential base in stabilization of life-threatening frontline injuries and critical care intense facilities. An educational program was created called Returning Enlisted Veterans–Upward (to) Professional Nursing for retired/discharged U.S. Army LVNs to acknowledge their special military education and experiences. This educational model represented one step in the right direction to increase men and minorities in the professional nursing workforce, yet the program had to be dissolved. “Lessons learned” are presented so others might consider a similar project.