University of Washington ABSN Program

[amed0815]

Hello- I am a 37 year old stay at home mom of two amazing kids. My son is 11 and my daughter is 2. I am seriously considering applying for the ABSN program at UW. Can anyone who is currently in the program, or recently graduated from it, tell me what to exepct as far as schedule. I am expecting it to be pretty intense. I would like a realistic picture of what the year will be like while in the program. Thanks!

[suburbiafeelsu]

Hey amed0815, I recently graduated in August.

Do you want to ask some more specific questions?

I know they made some changes and continue to plan making changes, some for good, some for worse.

[tulipsweeti, BSN, RN]

@ suburbiafeelsu I would love to know how your life was impacted by doing the ABSN program? I plan to apply for both the ABSN and BSN program for entrance in 2018. I will have a 5 year old and 18 year old and I am married. I imagine it will be the most challenging 15 months of my life - but think finishing 9 months sooner will be worth it. What are your thoughts now that you have survived?

[suburbiafeelsu]

Hi! Alright, so I'm getting the hint that you both are concerned about how you'll be able to manage your time between family and school. There were 3 mom's in our cohort of 48 (or 49?) that went through what you'll be going through. From what they told me, it takes a patient partner / significant other to help you through this time, but by all means it is doable, I've seen it!

So let me give you a run down of how the 15 months are organized...

Summer (9 weeks): 17 credits / 5 courses

-NCLIN 306: Medical / Surgical Clinical (120 hours of clinical and lab combined)

-NCLIN 302: Health Assessment (class + lab time)

-NURS 304: Human Responses I

-NURS 309 & 310: Pharmacology I & II (the new cohort has this changed to 309 in summer and 310 in fall, rather than 4 weeks spent on each during the summer)

Autumn (11 weeks): 20 credits / 6 courses

-NCLIN 409: Community Health Clinical (120 hours of clinical and lab combined)

-NCLIN 418: Psychiatric Nursing Clinical (120 hours of clinical and lab combined)

-NURS 301: Clinical A&P (w/ cadaver lab - I think they dropped this for new cohorts because it's already met by pre-reqs)

-NURS 308: Human Responses II

-NURS 417: Psychiatric Nursing

-NURS 420: Comm. & Public Health Nursing

Winter (11 weeks): 18 credits / 4 courses

-NCLIN 403: Pediatric Nursing Clinical (120 hours + lab)

-NCLIN 416: L&D Nursing (120 hours + lab)

-NURS 401: Care in Illness I

-NURS 415: Childbearing and Childrearing

Spring (11 weeks): 21 credits / 6 courses

-NCLIN 407: Medical / Surgical II Clinical (150 hours of clinical and lab combined)

-NURS 303: Foundations of Professional Nursing

-NURS 404: Gerontological Nursing

-NURS 405: Care in Illness II

-NURS 410: Legal & Ethical Issues

-NURS 412: World Healthcare Systems

Summer (9 weeks): 18 credits / 4 classes

-NCLIN 411: Senior Practicum (270 hours of clinical and lab combined)

-NMETH 403: Intro. to Research Nursing

-NURS 407: Culture & Nursing

-NURS 419: Transition to Professional Practice

-Option of taking a EKG class that is 2 credits, which I recommend doing. Very applicable for your career and also useful during the NCLEX if you never use it in your career.

This is a big commitment, but really, it is doable, yet I don't have hands-on experience managing more than myself in nursing school, but I know the mom's in our cohort made it work! You can reframe this as comparing it to a normal 2-year nursing program. Those programs are 6 quarters overall, with 3 quarters each year, and summers off. This program (ABSN) is 5 quarters, without summer break, and you'll just be fitting those classes that would be in the 6th quarter into the 5 quarters that is this program. So rather than 24 months, you're done in 15 months, prepared to take your NCLEX and practice safely in your first job!

Ask me more questions as I know this is kind of a broad look at what you'll be doing.

Also, the ABSN program is (becoming more) responsive to the student government that you'll elect for your cohort to better meet the growing responsibility of the soon to be nurses and to not make this program redundant and disorganized. It may feel disorganized at times... but work with your instructors rather than hitting heads.

Here is a picture of my first summer quarter schedule...

[tulipsweeti, BSN, RN]

Thank you suburiafeelsu! This is great and I love seeing your schedule laid out - very contextually helpful.

What would you say was the most difficult part (s) of the ABSN program?

Do you feel, in the end, it was a good investment of the extra cost to finish 9 months earlier?

What do you feel was your most differentiating aspect which enabled you to gain entrance to the program?

Thanks again!

[amed0815]

Thanks suburbiafeelsu for your response! It is incredibly helpful and encouraging. One specific question I have is what does your daily hours look like. Specifically, what time do you start school and when does it end day to day? And was it every day? Did you ever do clinicals on weekends?

I'm trying to get an idea for my kids schedules... basically how long will I be away from the house everyday and what do I need to set up for them in terms of supervision, preschool hours, etc. ?

Thanks again!

Allison