The school I'm going to has always used a 1+1 curriculum this means that to become an RN you have to first go threw an LPN program and get your LPN license. Altogether you have to take 40 credits of perquisites (A&P, Patho, Micro, math for meds, psyche, social science) and about 60 credits of nursing classes to become an ADN. Altogether it takes about 4 years to finish the program 2 years of nursing classes and 1 1/2 - 2 years for prerequisites or about 1 semester less then it would to become a BSN. I like most of my classmates choose the A.D.N. route because it has allot more clinical time then the BSN program in our area.
They have decided to scrap the 1 + 1 curriculum and go to a strait curriculum. A.D.N. students will no longer need to become licensed as LPN's or complete any prerequisites they will instead go threw a 6 week orientation (meant to replace the 40 credits of prerequisites) and then go right into the A.D.N program with no prerequisites and be done with the program in a year and a half. They are also planing to cut about half of the clinical time they currently have and focus more on theory.
This doesn't effect me I have already finished my LPN year and am registered for the old A.D.N. program in August.
The school says they are changing things due to the community's need for nurses. I agree that our city is in desperate need of nurses and that some changes to the current curriculum could get people out faster but cant help feeling that the new graduates will be under prepared.
I enjoyed my nursing theory classes but they honestly haven't helped much sense I started working on the floor. I feel that most (95%) of useful information I learned was in clinical and that much of my critical thinking is based on the things I learned in prerequisites.
I live in Colorado and I know that other states have used this type of strait curriculum for some time. What do you think about the strait curriculum?
