Accelerated nursing schools in Switzerland?

[marmic]

Hi everyone!

I was wondering if anyone had info about regular or accelerated nursing programs in Switzerland.

I was born and raised in the US, but also have Swiss citizenship. I'm conversational in Swiss German (mostly just day to day stuff though, so my vocab isn't great) and can read some German (would have to look up a few words if I was reading the newspaper, for example).

I am looking into accelerated BSN programs here in the US, since I already have a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and have done the nursing pre-reqs. I was wondering if there is anything similar in Switzerland. I did find 3- and 4-year BSN programs, as well as Master's programs. However, 3/4 years seems a bit long since I could do it in the US in 15 months. And the Master's program requires a Bachelor's in Nursing, which I don't have.

One school I was looking at is the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (http://www.zhaw.ch). Their english site can be found here: http://www.gesundheit.zhaw.ch/en/health-professions-g/study/bachelors-degree-programmes/nursing.html Their German site says the program is 3 years long, with the first two years in classes on campus, the last year in clinics.

It would be nice to live in Switzerland because I have a lot of family there, it would be a great opportunity to improve my language skills, and it's so much cheaper than the US (about $500/semester vs. about $5,000/semester)!

Any info would be appreciated! Thanks!

[maggus]

Hi marmic,

I've just finished my BSc degree in Nursing over here in Switzerland, so maybe I can be of some help.

Think you'd have to contact the institutions directly since your case seems a bit special. Afaik "accelerated nursing schools" don't exist in Switzerland, but they might be willing to accredit your experiences so you'd not have to do the full programme.

BSc programmes in nursing were introduced Switzerland just a couple of years ago. In the german speaking part of Sw., still 90% of all nures do obtain a non-academic degree. In frensh speaking Sw, since 2004 all nurses are trained exclusively at Universities of Applied Science obtaining a bachelor's degree (in fact, this is one single University of A.S. which several local sites: www.hes-so.ch).

I was doing my BSc at the HES-SO in Fribourg, which has the particularity of being bilingual, offering the curriculum in french as well in german, I did it in german. Info: www.heds-fr.ch . However, not sure whether they would let you do the studies in less than three years, probably not. I'd propose you contact Mme Piller for more information. You can find her email under Schule - Personalverzeichnis - Dozentinnen.

The Universities of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschulen) in the german speaking part of Sw. are:

• Berner Fachhochschule Gesundheit: http://www.gesundheit.bfh.ch/
  
• Fachhochschule St. Gallen: http://www.fhsg.ch
  
• Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften: http://www.gesundheit.zhaw.ch
  

The Hochschule Gesundheit We'G in Aarau is also offering a bachelors curriculum, however I think this is mainly for nurses already holding a non-university diploma in nursing. http://www.weg-fh.ch/studium/bscn/

The University in Basel is doing the same, however I am pretty sure there you'd already need to hold a diploma in nursing: http://nursing.unibas.ch/studium/bachelor/zulassung/

Good Luck!

[marmic]

Maggus,

Thank you so much for your help!

When you say 90% of German-speaking Switzerland nurses obtain a non-academic degree, is this similar to an RN in the US? In the US, you can be an RN and practice, and there are also programs where RNs can earn their Bachelor's of Science in Nursing (BSN) as well.

If this is similar, perhaps I could look into the non-academic "RN" programs in Switzerland - I wonder if these would translate well enough to the NCLEX and RN certifications in the US... I'll have to do a bit more research into that.

Also, I'm a bit unsure of how the whole education system functions, but are the Universities of Applied Sciences the only ones that would have nursing, or do other Universities as well?

Thanks again for all your information and help!

[maggus]

I didn't forget you, just a bit busy these days - I'll reply asap!