Nursing School Programs

Pensacola Junior College has received a grant from several partners and is expanding a number of its programs. They will be accepting more paramedic to RN students ( a two-year associate’s degree program.)

Recently many paramedic students suffered a big letdown when Florida’s Board of Nursing decided that they were not going to accept the Excelsior online Paramedic to RN program  - even while some students were halfway or all the way through the program.  However, Pensacola Junior College is just one of many community colleges in the State of Florida which offer state accredited paramedic to Rn programs - so there’s no reason to give up.

And here’s an exciting option that we haven’t come across before: CNA to LPN! Apparently it’s a brand new program, and 60 students will be enrolled. Check out the information at the Florida Center for Nursing Webpage, which also has information about other Florida schools which have recently received various nursing grants.

Once you pass the NCLEX, a whole new universe of job opportunities opens up to you. Some types of nursing careers will require an additional degree. Any type of management position is likely to require a minimum of a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and possibly a master’s degree.

Don’t worry that you won’t be able to advance if you are going to start your nursing career with a degree in Licensed Practical Nursing or an Associate’s Degree in Nursing. It is very easy to continue your education and advance to a BSN degree by pursuing an online nursing degree or by attending a local community college or university. Best of all, you can do it part-time while working, and your employer will very likely pick up most or all of the cost!

Among the types of career paths you may consider as a registered nurse (some of these are open to Licensed Practical Nurses as well) are:

School nurse
Home Health Nurse
Emergency Room Nurse
ICU nurse
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
Ob-gyn nurse
Hospice nurse
Military nurse
Nurse Midwife
Clinic
Long-term care facility
Rehabilitation Facility
Nurse Practitioner
Neonatal nurse
Surgical nurse
Travel nurse
Travel nurse - cruise lines
Travel nurse - resorts
Nursing research
Forensic nurse
Pediatric nurse
Psychiatric nurse
Correctional Institution Nurse
Camp nurse

Nursing students, prospective nursing students…you’re not alone! Others who are going to nursing school or who have been through nursing school are out there blogging, and they have lots of great resources to help you.

Here are some of our favorite blogs about being a nursing student, or going to nursing school:

lilk8tob
Cybernurse
Codeblog
Emergiblog
Columbia University student nursing blogs
Mediblogopathy
The Unlikely RN
Intelinurse2b
Aunt Pickle
A Fledgeling Nurse
I am a nursing student 
You Know You Wanna 
Somedaynurse 
Nurse Ratched’s blogspot 
Medi-Smart tips from former nursing students 
Student Nurse’s Study Lounge 
Brain Scramble: another nursing student blog

Every state has a Board of Nursing, which regulates the practice of nursing in their individual state. Before you make the final decision on which nursing school to attend, you need to check with your state Board of Nursing to make sure that they are accredited.

Most Board of Nursing websites have a list of currently accredited nursing schools in their state, which can be found by looking for the link on “resources” or “education”. However, nursing schools can lose their accreditation, so you want to double-check that they are currently accredited before making your final decision.

The role of the Board of Nursing is to ensure the health and safety of all those patients who are cared for by nurses in their state. The Board of Nursing does this by ensuring that nursing schools are properly preparing their students for a career in nursing, and by ensuring that nurses are competent and appropriately educated to provide skilled nursing care.

If a complaint is made against a nurse or a nursing facility, the Board of Nursing will review that complaint to determine if there is any merit to it. The Board of Nursing can take actions ranging from a written reprimand to suspension or revocation of a nurse’s license.

If you have ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony, you need to check with the Board of Nursing to see if you are still eligible to become a nurse. This is decided on a case-by-case basis.

Here is a link to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, which has links to all of the State Boards of Nursing.

While you are a nursing student, you are going to need to watch every penny, and the cost of textbooks sure adds up quickly.

Here are some sources we love for cheap textbooks.

Bigwords.com

Half.Ebay.com

TextbookAce.com

Bestbookdeal.com

Bestwebbuys.com

CampusI.com

Books A Million (You pay ten dollars a year to join their “millionaire’s club” but more than make up for it in discounts.)

As the nursing shortage grows worse, many nursing schools are offering Paramedic to ADN programs. These nursing school programs can be found at online nursing schools, community colleges, and other types of schools.

In some cases these nursing school programs are available to people with other health-related degrees or certificates, such as respiratory therapists.

It is VERY important to make sure that you check with your State Board of Nursing before you enroll in a Paramedic to Associate’s Degree in Nursing (ADN) bridge program.

You must make sure that the program is accredited in your state and that after you complete the program you will be eligible to take the NCLEX-RN in your state. Some states that do accept LPN to RN online programs will not accept online Paramedic to ADN programs, and you do not want to spend your time and your money on an online nursing program, only to find that you have either thrown your time and money away, or you need to move to another state to use your hard-earned expensive online degree.

Some online nursing schools that offer paramedic to Associate’s Degree in Nursing programs are The College Network, University of Phoenix, and Excelsior.

Trinity Valley Community College in Kaufman, Texas, offers a nursing school program for Licensed Vocational Nurses and paramedics to receive an Associate’s Degree in Nursing.

Jefferson College of Health Sciences in Roanoke, Virginia offers a nursing school program for respiratory therapists and paramedics to receive an Associate’s Degree in Nursing.

Montgomery College in Conroe, Texas offers a nursing school program for paramedics and Licensed Vocational Nurses to receive an Associate’s Degree in Nursing.

Lansing Community College offers a nursing school program for paramedics and Licensed Vocational Nurses to receive an Associate’s Degree in Nursing.

Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Florida, has a nursing school program for paramedics to receive an Associate’s Degrees in Nursing.

The nursing school programs at technical and vocational schools, community colleges, and state universities are low-cost, high-quality, pathways to a career in nursing. They are much cheaper than private nursing schools and most online nursing schools. So why would you want to consider any other option?
Because it is very rare to find any of the aforementioned types of programs that do not have a waiting list. A very, very long waiting list. Some of them have waiting lists that are three or four years long. Some of them have no waiting lists, which sounds like good news but it’s not; if you apply and are not accepted, you just have to try again next year against hundreds of other hopeful, well-qualified candidates vying for dozens of slots and hope for a better result.
Nationwide, colleges and universities are faced with a shortage of nursing teachers, because nurses who are qualified to teach can earn significantly more money working for hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, clinics and agencies. This means that there are not enough nursing teachers to teach nursing classes to all the students who want to get in, the waiting lists to get into traditional ADN and BSN nursing programs are only getting longer.

So should you just give up? Of course not! Here, we offer several alternative ways to get into nursing school faster and get that nursing degree!

Click here to continue reading »

There are numerous options for those seeking a nursing degree.

To start with, you will need to decide whether you are going to seek a degree in Licensed Practice Nursing, generally a one-year-program, or in Registered Nursing, which will generally take three to four years from start to finish.

Vocational and technical schools and private career colleges are more likely to offer the LPN course, although some community colleges do as well. Many LPN programs have a part-time, evening class option, which takes about 18 months to complete and allows students to work during the day.

There are a couple of different choices for those seeking a career as a registered nurse. You will need either an Associate’s Degree in Nursing, which takes two years, (with about eight to ten college-level prerequisite classes which must be completed before acceptance, which can add a year or two to your time in school), or a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Nursing, which takes four years.

Community colleges are generally the cheapest route. Their cost can start in the area of $8,000 and upwards, for a two-year-program, not counting the costs of textbooks and other supplies.

Four year degrees at state or private universities, which offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, are another option. State universities are much cheaper. Competitition to get into those programs is quite intense.

More expensive, but much quicker, options include private for-profit schools such as Keiser University, Americare School of Nursing (central Florida), Galen College of Nursing, and many others that are opening up and getting accreditation across the country as the demand for nurses increases; and online nursing programs.

There are currently only a couple of online registered nursing degree programs in the country. The State of Tennessee has collaborated with Regents College to begin offering an online degree which will not require an LPN license, and which will allow the student who completes the program to take the NCLEX-RN exam and be licensed as a Registed Nurse if they pass. This program is currently expected to start in 2009. This program is an ADN (Associate’s Degree in Nursing) program.

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh offers an Accelarated Second Bachelor’s Degree Program that is given mostly online, although students must travel to the campus for some of their tests and clinicals. There is a lot of competition for admission, and not all states offer the local preceptorships that are required.

Much more common are online nursing degree programs which offer Licensed Practical Nurses the ability to get their Registered Nursing Degree online, and which offer Registered Nurses the ability to get a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree online.

When you are accepted into nursing school, the school that you are attending will have insurance, and so will the facilities where you will do your clinicals.

So why, when you’re a starving student, would you want to consider parting with what little money you have to pay for your own insurance as well?

Because this is America, and anyone can sue anybody for anything. This doesn’t mean that they’ll win, but it means that the person being sued has to undergo the stress and expense of a lawsuit. No matter how careful you are, no matter how responsible you are, if you are carrying out your duties as a student nurse and something goes wrong - you can be sued.

Now, if you are named as a party in a lawsuit for something that happens while you are a nursing student, you should be covered by either your school, or the facility that you are in, or both. SHOULD. That’s the operative word here. What if the school or the facility’s interpretation of the facts is different than what you believe is true? What if you feel that they are not defending you to the extent that they should?

You are much better off self-insuring, for a small amount of money per month that will give you huge peace of mind. NSO is one insurance organization that comes highly recommended, and is used by nurses throughout their career.