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Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hi all, I've been reading this forum for quite a while, there is just so much helpful information to be gained from this place. I finally decided to join up, and wanted to get some opinions from others on if my plans sound like I am on a good track.

2 years ago I went to a local technical college, and got my CNA certification. Due to not being able to be hired anywhere that would pay me much more than minimum wage (around 7.50 an hour is what was offered), I didn't do much with it, and eventually began working jobs that were not CNA related.

I've wanted to be a nurse a long time, so I decided to go back to school. I've enrolled into another local technical college that is offering a 2 year LPN program. I passed the COMPASS test, and my TEAS test is in 4 days.

My plan is, after I graduate with my LPN, I plan to begin working in that field, while going back to school. The community college in the city offers a 2 year LPN to RN program.

I figured going this route, I'll be working as soon as I finish my LPN program (as LPN's are in high demand where I live) while going back to get my RN. And being that the RN program is at a community college, it'll be much more affordable. I know two people that have graduated the program, loved it, and found jobs almost instantly.

My long term plan, if I survive all this (LOL) is to one day go to the local University and finish things off by obtaining my masters degree. But, that's years off, so I'm focused on one step at a time.

Thoughts? Does all this sound like a good and stable plan? Thanks guys! :)

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Specializes in Making people feel better.

Congrats on the move forward!!! Sounds amazing that you have all these aspirations to do others well...and to find a career which will make you happy!! Kudos and best of luck-- sounds to me like you're gonna kick some nursing ***!

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Sounds like a good plan to me if it is really important that you need to work while in school. If you don't need the income I would just to the straight RN program, but I don't know what your school offers. What are you planning on obtaining your masters in? I ask because I wanted to go to school to be a Nurse Practitioner, but the government is actually doing away with the Master's in Nursing as of 2015. You can google it. You HAVE to go get your Ph.D, and in 2017 having your BA will be a requirement. Anyone correct me here if I am wrong, but this is what I have been told through nursing students that just graduated and also through research online. The only reason I am saying these things is if you want to think about time crunches.

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I think this a great idea especially if money is tight. I just graduated from a BScN program in Canada which is 4 years in length. I know a lot of nurses up here who have gone that route, so I would run with it if that means you will be successful! In terms of them discontinuing the masters I couldn't comment on that for the states. In Canada, you must get a masters before getting a PHD. It is a prerequisite, so it will never go away. You could always consider getting your masters online with Memorial University, which is a Canadian University on the east coast. They have an online masters program, and as far as I know, there is a clinical component that could be added should that be required. Anyways good luck!

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Specializes in PICU.
Sounds like a good plan to me if it is really important that you need to work while in school. If you don't need the income I would just to the straight RN program, but I don't know what your school offers. What are you planning on obtaining your masters in? I ask because I wanted to go to school to be a Nurse Practitioner, but the government is actually doing away with the Master's in Nursing as of 2015. You can google it. You HAVE to go get your Ph.D, and in 2017 having your BA will be a requirement. Anyone correct me here if I am wrong, but this is what I have been told through nursing students that just graduated and also through research online. The only reason I am saying these things is if you want to think about time crunches.

Wow, this is completely wrong. Google does not know all, nor do other nursing students. AACN has recommended that a DNP (not PhD) be the entry level to practice as an NP with a goal date of 2015. This is not required, it is a recommendation at this point. There is still a lot of controversy and variance in DNP curricula, so I think we are a long way off from a mandate. At some point it might be hard to find schools that offer an MSN, since many have switched to DNP programs, but for now the certification exam only requires the MSN.

I have no idea where you got the 2017 date, I have never even heard that one before. What does a BA have to do with nursing? That doesn't even make sense. If you are talking about a BSN being required to be an RN it won't happen anytime soon. It has always been discussed, but we are decades off from making it a mandate. The insane nursing shortage it would cause will prevent this from happening.

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You could be a little more respectful with your reply. I meant no harm to anyone and clearly stated "correct me if I am wrong." I did not say that GOOGLE knows all. I am actually getting my information from very accurate resources. If you read the links below you will find that the information does state that ARPN programs are being phased out in order to transition into DPN and that many school have already started doing away with the program all together. You can, of course, still get your masters in other areas and practice as an ARPN if you already have the education.

http://www.nursing.ufl.edu/prospective/prospective_DNP_FAQs.shtml

* Be sure to read paragraph 2

http://nursing.yale.edu/Academics/DNP_FAQs.html

http://www.aacn.nche.edu/dnp/pdf/faq.pdf

With these resources you can take the information and determine what this means for you and how to continue forward best with your education.

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I am not sure about the bachelors requirement for nursing. That is information that I was told by newly graduated nurses, but I will be sure to continue doing research. If that is not the correct information than I am sorry. As I stated earlier I was not saying that I had 100% truth. Just that I would research these things while trying to make a time line.

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Specializes in PICU.

I'm sorry I didn't mean to be disrespectful. Many schools have started to transition to DNP programs, which is why I said it may become difficult to find MSN programs as we get closer to the 2015 date. However, at this point the certifying bodies have not said that they are going to change the requirement for testing yet. The only group that has mandated the change at this point is for CRNAs. And they have mandated a date of 2025, which I think is more reasonable to make the transition. (Source: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/DNP/pdf/DNPForum3-10.pdf) Eventually a DNP will be required to be an NP, but I don't think it will happen by 2015. But who knows, things are changing rapidly with nursing and nursing education right now. There is also something called The Consensus Model that has a goal date of 2015 which will change some of the specialty certifications and categories of APRNs. (http://www.nursecredentialing.org/APRN-ConsensusModelReport.aspx) Also, there is a lot of work being done right now by various nursing organizations to promote independent practice of NPs and CRNAs. So it is likely that things will continue to change and evolve over the next 10 years.

As for the OP's question, I think by taking things slowly you will be able to go back for a master's after a lot of this change has taken place and that might be a good thing, lol. A lot of places offer tuition reimbursement, so if you can work as an LPN while going to school it might save you a lot of money. The only change I'd recommend is if you're planning on getting your BSN at some point, then I would say just work on that and skip the ADN step, only because it would save you some time. Every school requires different courses for their nursing programs so you might find that courses don't transfer and you may have to repeat stuff. It is at least something worth looking into before going back to school. I know people that have had to repeat classes like A & P or statistics and it doesn't save money when you have to pay for the same classes twice.

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