Nursing School Programs

Parade Magazine recently discussed the nursing shortage, citing the very same reason that I’ve frequently mentioned here on this site: not enough nursing teachers. Which means not enough nursing classes. Which means not enough students can graduate from nursing school to replace all of those registered nurses who are leaving the field.

Nationally, the article says, 42,866 qualified applicants were turned away from nursing school programs last year. That is very unfortunate; think how much better off patients everywhere would be if all of those qualified, eager nursing school applicants had been accepted. Eventually, of course, some of those applicants are going to get discouraged and give up and seek other fields.

Before they do, of course, I would suggest that they explore some alternative methods of getting past the nursing school waiting lists.

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!

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