Advice

[Dijonnae]

I am currently active duty Air Force with no prior nursing experience and I am looking to start. I am stationed in North Carolina and plan on going to school online and doing my clinicals at a local college, is this possible? Is it possible to do an online bachelors program without having an associates already?

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

I am currently active duty Air Force with no prior nursing experience and I am looking to start. I am stationed in North Carolina and plan on going to school online and doing my clinicals at a local college, is this possible? Is it possible to do an online bachelors program without having an associates already?

Doing schoolwork online with in-person clinicals is only possible if you have such a program where you live. You can't just stop in at a local school and tag along to their clinicals. Have a you discussed your intentions with your chain of command? Nursing school is very time-consuming and for many prelicensure students, it is next to impossible to work full-time and go to school. If the Air Force is anything like the Army, your supervisors will probably want your AF mission to come first.

A lot of active duty personnel interested in nursing start by taking typical pre-requisite courses at local community colleges - classes such as A&P I and II, Microbiology, math, English, etc. That might be a good start for you, especially since the military loves to move people all over the world without too much warning. Obtaining credits that are likely to transfer to other schools is wise.

Good luck, and welcome to allnurses!

[Liz_hover]

The only way you could really do an online version of nursing is if you already have an associates degree. The bridge programs for an associates top bachelor's can be fine all online.