Anyone else in a diploma program?

Streamline2010 · Oct 15, 2011

Just out of morbid curiosity, how many hours of lecture do you get per week, and how many clinical hours?

I'm in a diploma program. It's 24 months without the college part, which they want you to complete first. I sorely wish I had just gone to a regular college or university, either AS or BS, R.N. program instead. For the block schedule, logical sequencing of course material, and consistent daily schedule instead of one that is based on shoving people through the hospital's limited facilities.

Stuff happens in this program I'm in, like you find yourself doing your OB / Labor & Delivery clinical before you've had any lecture on it. Or, you have 35-40 clock hours per week tied up in lectures + actual clinical time, and piles of paperwork on top of that, and then also a major exam on Monday morning, and all of that pile of paperwork is also due Monday morning before you can take the exam. And on some exams, literally 75% to 80% of the class fails. There literally are no As, only a few Bs, and a lot of Cs and flunkouts for final grades every term. And the director left abruptly or was fireed, and was just replaced with a new director.

ashleyisawesome, BSN, RN · Oct 15, 2011

Just out of morbid curiosity, how many hours of lecture do you get per week, and how many clinical hours?
I'm in a diploma program. It's 24 months without the college part, which they want you to complete first. I sorely wish I had just gone to a regular college or university, either AS or BS, R.N. program instead. For the block schedule, logical sequencing of course material, and consistent daily schedule instead of one that is based on shoving people through the hospital's limited facilities.
Stuff happens in this program I'm in, like you find yourself doing your OB / Labor & Delivery clinical before you've had any lecture on it. Or, you have 35-40 clock hours per week tied up in lectures + actual clinical time, and piles of paperwork on top of that, and then also a major exam on Monday morning, and all of that pile of paperwork is also due Monday morning before you can take the exam. And on some exams, literally 75% to 80% of the class fails. There literally are no As, only a few Bs, and a lot of Cs and flunkouts for final grades every term. And the director left abruptly or was fireed, and was just replaced with a new director.

wow sounds nightmarish.. im sorry

we had two semesters of medsurg with are weeks were three days of 4 hour lecture with 2 days of 9 hour clinical. im in specialties now, which are 7 week semesters. I just completed Peds which was the same kind of schedule- 3 days of ~4 hour lectures with 2 9 hour clinicals. only 5 of those clinical days were on the regular peds floor of our hospital, we had observation days at a ped ltc, rehab facility, school nursing, and peds clinic. the first two semesters we lost quite a few people, i think we have 45 now from 62ish that started.. but i dont think anyone is failing specialties right now. they split us up into four groups so i dont know for certain but i dont think anyone failed peds. I actually have an A this semester, i got a B first semester, but worked my tail off to get a C+ (minimum passing grade) for the second semester of med surg.

i actually completed one semester of an ADN program and did not like it at all.. i got a B for the class and failed clinical for still unknown reasons other than the clinical instructor had it out for me and that she "just had to weed some people out"- her own words.

i do miss the option of experiencing other hospitals other than ones in our network though. im worried it will make it harder to transitional if i get a job in a different hospital. but overall i think i get a LOT of clinical experience (ie we were able to do all meds (iv, injections, po), almost every skill except for trach care, assessments and pretty much anything that needed to be done on our pts by the end of first semester), and my schools nclex pass rate is in the 90s so all in all i think its a good school.

also mine is 20 months year round, so things go kinda fast too.. they used to be 24 months and decided to accelerate it a guess?

33762FL · Oct 15, 2011

I recently graduated from a hybrid AS/Diploma program. I loved the program and the amount of clinical time I got, although I didn't have any solid information regarding how much clinical time other programs have (my other choice was an ABSN program, which I "heard" had less clinical time for double the price). I loved the program, I am now working in med-surg and doing my BSN. I had a previous BA, so I only need 8 classes to get my BSN. If I didn't already have a degree I would have chosen a traditional 4-year program, since doing an RN-BSN after a 2-year degree would be a real hassle with all those extra gen-ed classes.

Bob_N_VA · Oct 15, 2011

I'm in an eve/weekend diploma program. We are really the last diploma program in the area, the other major hospital based school has gone to a 2.5 format BSN program. I think the difference is more between hospital based and non-hospital than it is diploma-degree as far as clinical time is concerned. We get first dibs on the clinical time since we are all part of the hospital system. From what I am told, we also get a good shot at jobs at graduation too. My sister went through a hospital based diploma program 30 years ago and it was the same back then, max amount of clinical time and hands on learning.

As far as Streamlines experience, all I can say is that our clinical rotations are geared to each class we are in so we never put in a spot where we have no previous classroom knowledge to back us up. Our program is geared to increase our knowledge and up the clinical complexity as we move along. Sure, you can run into an unusual case at the hospital that is not related to any of your previous classroom lectures, but that is usually not the case.

Now would I rather have a BSN at the end of all this? Probably, it can only help in the long run. Eventually the school will transition to it. And it wont change the entrance requirements all that much. We already had to have quite a few classes in terms of pre-reqs so the extra few needed to make up the 1.5 part would not be all that onerous. As it is, the vast majority of my peers in the nights program all have previous degrees, several have masters. I may or may not go ahead and pick up a BSN, I'm at a later stage of life and am not looking to get into management or anything along those lines. The younger folks probably will do it. It would be great if the school developed a program to help its diploma grads finish up a BSN. Will just have to see how that goes.

Streamline2010 · Oct 16, 2011

Thanks for the replies, everyone. So I suppose I was correct in thinking that three entire days of yap per week is detrimental to my education. I have been through the entire range of emotions since I started this program. Anymore, I am just hanging in there because I have invested a year, and none of this will transfer to any other school. As near as I can determine their philosophy, they want us to be nurses, like at LPN level or higher, at the end of Year 1 (we've covered M/S, OB, some peds, LTC, and basic psych, passed all kinds of med and hung IVs), and they they spend Year 2 honing your RN skills by adding the "abnormals," increasing your patient load, and adding patient teaching. I am so, so, so disappointed in this program. No matter how hard we try, we're failing exams, cramming instead of learning, and constantly running on 4-6 hours of sleep at most. Single parents, working students, and average learners have already been failed out.

After reading some of the posts here, I think I am ready to send in my withdraw notice, tied to a rock, thrown through a window, and go elsewhere.

Jayden8139 · Oct 16, 2011

I'm in an RN diploma program in Pa. I absolutely love it. We get excellent clinical time 2 days a week and we switch hospitals every semester (8 total). So we get a wide variety of hospitals and different experiences. My program is 21 months has a dual admission to one of the best schools in the country Jeff so I plan to apply next near and transfer right over seamless effort.