Allina Health not hiring online NP grads

Trauma Columnist · Jul 11, 2016

Uh - not sure what the point of this post is? Can you elaborate?

Jules A, MSN · Jul 11, 2016

Good for them! I have no clue which schools they aren't interested in hiring from but have to applaud someone for finally deciding we need better standards. The lack of admission criteria, lack of instructor experience, minimal hours and weak nursing theory oriented curriculum in NP schools who are now doing little more than attempting to hold on to undergrad alum and continue to suck their money is frightening. I'm glad someone is actually taking a stand and attempting to ensure a quality background before they hire anyone with a BC and prescription pad. Just my opinion as someone who went to a well respected school which was very weak also and my subsequent work experience with NPs who are woefully unprepared to practice.

elkpark · Jul 11, 2016

Good for them. I wish more organizations would take a stand on this.

danielle2000, MSN, RN · Jul 12, 2016

Well who died and made Allina the gold standard? Uh, there are many opportunities for NPs believe me I would not be discourage finding employment. This elitist mentality is why this profession never will be where it should be. I did not take an online course as an advanced practice student but there is no reason to deny others who may have only that option to pursue their advance practice degree. I realize that is what one puts in their education endeavor than the actual curriculum itself. Just because someone goes to Harvard Law School does not guarantee they will be a better lawyer. It depends on how well that person engages his/her learning in law as well as other professions.

allnurses Guide · Jul 12, 2016

They are painting all on-line programs with a very broad brush. There are many long-standing reputable schools (Simmons and Frontier come to mind) that have on line programs. Then, there are the for profit schools whose standards can be questionable.

That being said, I hope the students from the good programs are not being denied employment.

elkpark · Jul 12, 2016

They are painting all on-line programs with a very broad brush. There are many long-standing reputable schools (Simmons and Frontier come to mind) that have on line programs. Then, there are the for profit schools whose standards can be questionable.
That being said, I hope the students from the good programs are not being denied employment.

They don't say "all on-line programs." The statement says that they don't hire graduates of all institutions (which I would imagine is true of many employers -- they just don't make a statement to that effect on their website), and then go on to say that many (not all) proprietary (I'm guessing this is the key word here) on-line schools don't meet their standards, and they identify what specific concerns they have about some programs. I'm reading this an objection to the low-quality, "diploma mill," proprietary programs, not on-line education as a whole.

Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP · Jul 12, 2016

I have nothing against NPs who choose to go to one of these schools...I appreciate the struggle. However, if more companies take this stance it will force the powers that be to create some better standards for NP schools and it can only be good for our profession. The only way things will change is when the money is cut off. If facilities do not hire grads from these schools then fewer people will enroll there and choose better schools, and hopefully ones that find preceptors for their students. Without the money they will die and standards will increase. It will also reduce the number of NPs released into the market therefore increasing demand and in turn wages.

VerticalHorizon · Jul 12, 2016

Well who died and made Allina the gold standard? Uh, there are many opportunities for NPs believe me I would not be discourage finding employment. This elitist mentality is why this profession never will be where it should be. I did not take an online course as an advanced practice student but there is no reason to deny others who may have only that option to pursue their advance practice degree. I realize that is what one puts in their education endeavor than the actual curriculum itself. Just because someone goes to Harvard Law School does not guarantee they will be a better lawyer. It depends on how well that person engages his/her learning in law as well as other professions.

They can hire whoever they want, there is obviously a reason why they are choosing not to hire people from certain schools. Why would they hire a NP from an unknown online program whenever they can hire one from a well respected local school that they know puts out good students. There are 6-7 ASN/BSN programs in my city and not all of them have the same reputation. A couple of the schools are top tier and put out well prepared students which have the hospitals fighting over them before they graduate, other schools graduates take time to find jobs because they do not have a good history and the hospitals are more reluctant to hire them. While there are obviously well respected online NP programs, in the current economic situation employers are allowed to be picky about who they want to hire.

Borntobenurse? · Jul 12, 2016

Finally, someone doing the obvious. I wouldn't hire any NP from an online only school without a very through interview and training process/residency. They are so inconsistent.

NP school shouldn't be allowed to not set up clinical's or preceptors for their students. That is crazy. I was shadowing a DO a couple years ago and I had PA student and NP student with me. The DO was grilling them. The PA Student was from a normal brick and mortar program and the nurse from one of the 'online, you never go to campus, we don't require GRE's and take everyone' kind of programs. Both are smart people, but the PA student had an obviously better base. He would get stumped, cause eventually you just run out of ideas when people say 'and then what if that doesn't work?' But he was impressive.

The NP Student, on the other hand, wouldn't even get the first question right, and then ended up crying when she couldn't answer anything. She asked me (who was not in any graduate program at the time) how I had answers sometimes. I felt terrible for her, she was in her second year of her masters, her school was supposed to prepare her, she wasn't dumb. And yet she knew less than I did. And the thing was, she was getting a good rotation, cause as the DO said to her 'Look I don't know where you are gonna do other rounds, I don't know if they will be any good, I am just trying to coach you up.'

She was getting a good clinical experience that happened just cause she knew the hospitalist. Imagine how many other nurses who are just taking the NP only without working and rotating outpatient (if they aren't faking it) are doing. There was a different nurse I used to work with who had quit her job completely after a couple years and decided a couple years after that to do one of the online NP programs. She literally had no connections to the hospital anymore, and is supposed to set up her own rotations?

NP programs need to be weeded out big time. I personally have decided that if I do an NP, it will be brick and mortar and ranked. I am not messing with that online only nonsense.

whichone'spink, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2016

Many brick and mortar schools have a hybrid program which is online and in-person. Clinical hours are completed in-person of course. University of Minnesota has close to 1,000 hours required for clinical time, and has one of the best DNP programs in the nation. Allina can get plenty of local talent that they don't need people from questionable online "schools".

RockMay · Jul 13, 2016

I imagine a large part of the ban on online NPs is from Allina's legal department. They realize they would be unable to defend and lose in any malpractice lawsuit which went into the depth and training of online NP programs.