NursingLink

Hello everyone, I really hope you can help me.  I have recently decided that I would like to become a nurse, however my problem come in on where to start!  I have a Bachelors in Business and am wanting to get a Bachelors in Nursing.  I have come across many sites that say go from RN to BSN and even a few accelerated BSN programs.  According to most of the sites the only courses I lack from being able to apply for the accelerated BSN program is Anatomy & Physiology and Microbiology (I took Psych, Sociology, Chemistry, etc previously.)  I guess what I want to know is what is going to be my best route with obtaining my BSN or should I just start from scratch and get a regular RN?

Any help would be greatly appreciated and please be specific if possible.  Oh located in South Carolina by the way.

Thanks in advance,

Samantha

Samanatha,

A BS in business is great. Not sure how you can bridge that over to a BSN in nursing. I do not have my BSN. I started college right out of high school. Had to  change school because I didn't make it in to one nursing program. They picked 100 students for their program meanwhile 1,700 students had nursing as their major.

THe school I am in now will only give me my ADN. Tha'ts fine for now. I graduate in May 2009. After I pass the NCLEX, God willing, I will look into taking classes for the BSN. I might do this online and I also want to see if the hospital I work for will pay for this. Does anyone know if hospitals pay for you to continue your education while you are employed by them?

Good luck to you Samantha. Let us know how it goes for you and what path you take. 

I am seriously considering taking the few courses I need and then going the Accelerated BSN route, however I have been reading alot about this method and most say if you have a job it's hard enough but that if you have a kid or kids and a job it's impossible!?  Does anyone know from experience or from others if this is the case?  I have always been good in school and eased through with very little effort, however I am older now, I work full time and I have a daughter that will be two soon.  I know that you don't know me personally but how feasible does it sound, because I can't afford to quit my job until I have another one and I definately am not going to put my daughter off on my family when I barely get to see her now!  Is there a happy medium?

   With the load you're carrying, you're almost certainly taking on too much.

   In my own RN-nursing program, the casualty rate was approximately 50% from one semester to the next. Some estabished nurses from different nursing programs mentioned to me that their own programs had similar casualties.

   Some of the students I knew who flunked were very-smart-and-determined single moms with full-time jobs--typically smarter than me, but with far less time for memorizing, studying, and sleeping.

   After recently hearing about accelerated programs, I've started wondering why some people no longer regard conventionally-paced programs as accelerated. I seem to recall several of my instructors volunteering that the current semester-long grind that they must manage is rushed.

   The word is that some requirements for nursing programs have also become stiffer than in the past. In my own program, if you flunked a lecture or lab or clinical, you had to reapply to gain entry into the nursing program; that readmission might take a year, and possibly  longer. If you flunked another lecture or lab or clinical, you were out of the program. One instructor warned us early, flunk out of one program, and  then God-help-you gain admission elsewhere to another conventional program:  admissions had grown much more restrictive in recent years.

    I realize this probably sounds very gloomy. My pessimism is the product of watching scores of very good people, some of them good friends, fall short for reasons like an extended illness, or a chronic lack of time and sleep.