Alternatives for students that fail out of traditional nursing schools

[sampson44]

There is another alternative for students that fail at traditional nursing schools that still have the desire to become a registered nurse. I've noticed that once students are unsuccessful in a traditional setting, they give up hope and end their pursuit.

However, many students ignore the fact that there are other paths to obtaining their degree such as attending schools such as Excelsior. I myself, chose to take this route although I've never failed at a traditional nursing school and passed my NCLEX exam the first time.

Taking this route requires a lot of discipline, but the quote is still relevant "anything worth having never comes easy". So before you give up and throw in the towel please consider other options.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Army ER/Trauma Nurse, currently deployed to Afghanistan. RN, BSN, NREMT-P, CEN, CPEN, and an EC ADN grad. The only state where I cannot get a license with more than 10,000 hours of time as an RN is in California, and frankly I am fine with that! I'm good enough to care for our wounded Soldiers, and that is what matters to me. I used to get all riled up when people said a cross word about EC, but after some years of working in various ERs plus a BSN plus half a semester and one Capstone from my MSN plus war zone nursing, I have gained some perspective about things that matter. EC is a great alternative for some of us, not just those who can't finish a traditional program (me, I was a paramedic). It is not an easy path by any stretch of the imagination!

Good luck to all my current EC peeps. :)

[V.A. Nurse]

Indeed, Excelsior is a rigorous program for those of us who choose it. An experienced R.N., M.S.N. mentor commented recently that, "you seem to know so much more" (than a recently hired R.N., B.S.N. from a traditional nursing school at a well regarded local university). She continued, "I don't know---maybe it's your program."

[ReneeJohnson]

If you think that Excelsior Nursing is easy. It isn't. Many people that I talk to are suprised when they hear that it is a self study program. Many don't have the drive and self discipline to finish the program. That in itself speaks to the person's self drive. The rw adings are long and the CPNE is not easy. This is such a slap in the face. Thoroughly disgusted.

[Ladysin21]

Boog is correct, as of two years ago, EC does not accept students who have flunked out of a traditional nursing school.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

The FACT remains, there are NO alternatives to those who fail nursing school-except for learning how to apply critical thinking and learning how to think like a nurse by entering nursing school (again), completing nursing school, pass the NCLEX, THEN transition to nurse though a novice to expert competency; that's something I think we can ALL agree on.

Just my humble opinion. :)

[sampson44]

sorry RJ failing students was a poor choice of words, it was extremely difficult, self motivation, we really caught hell,no cues about what to or not study,it really tells a lot about your character.

[sampson44]

thx tommysgirl

[sampson44]

Thats admirable,thank you for being on the frontline for the brothers and sisters that make it possible for us to taste freedom and let us be nurses by choice not by force.

[TC3200]

... If you happened to take some traditional nursing school classes after that but didn't continue - they DON'T transfer. You still have to take all of the regular ADN classes, the focused clinical exam and the professional nursing exam. Its HARD. Don't let anyone fool you, the program has a 40% pass rate - because its HARD. Unlike traditional nursing school, where you have an instructor telling you what to read, how to prepare for the test etc, you are given a list of books, a list of subjects and thats it. You have to learn it ALL because any of it can be on the test. We may not have traditional clinicals - but again you come into the program with a degree already in healthcare. You are expected to have most of the skills already, and teach yourself the rest either through workshops or on the job you are currently working...

I bolded that part. And for modern students who are highly accustomed to online learning and self-teaching, that may be no challenge whatsoever. The flexibility to do it at whatever hours suit YOUR schedule, and do it at night if you're a night owl, or work it in around a work schedule, or work it in around family obligations is an enormous selling point, to some people. Self-teaching, to me, is preferable to listening to hours of lectures, which I find to be merely a waste of time. Eliminate the lecture hours, and the travel time, and the set-up / tear-down time it takes to attend a classroom school, convert all of that to study time plus time to go over the exercises, and viola: No wasted time anymore. :-D

One point that I haven't seen mentioned here, regarding failed students, is that some brick and mortar nursing schools run a bizarrely organized and/or obsolete curriculum that just doesn't meet the needs of today's students, so a large % of students will fail it. Instructors and administrators always seem quick to pin the responsibility for failure on a student, as if the student has the ultimate control over success or failure in any given program. But, those same administrators might be failing to provide a curriculum that is feasible for the modern nursing student. Don't forget that today's students are a much more diverse population than in the past. You have youth, you have youth who are single parents, you have middle-aged career changers, you have men, you have ex-military, you have students who have already completed one college degree, you have some retirees, even. And you have an ever-increasing cost of education vs. an unstable labor market that seems to think that paying $10 - $11 per hour, no benefits, and a highly variable part-time schedule is just superdooper. You have more and more students working their way through college due to necessity, more parents who have lost jobs and can't pay for their kids' college, just a greater stress level overall.

ALL of these things have a cumulative impact. One or two stressors, and perhaps a student will be able to persevere and still succeed. A life full of stressors, and then YOU do your old-fashioned grind-them-into-the-ground program, and even students who have no intellectual deficiencies (they ARE more than smart enough) will not perform at the levels that they are capable of.

Remember, instructors and administrators, that as the populace changes, the nursing schools must also adjust, like it or not. It's like the dictionary of the American language: It's not carved in stone. It is dynamic. It might be slowly dynamic, but it is dynamic, nonetheless.

[CRCB, ASN, BSN]

Exactly [COLOR=#003366]preciouspkgs! Thanks for your Feb. 2nd posting, well said.

[WorkingStudent2011]

Kudos, Pixie.RN. The fact that you can't get licensed here in the Golden State with all your expertise tells you something about the disarray here. Trust me, you do not want to live here anyway. There are many things desperately wrong with California and nursing education/licensing (education in general) are a big part of the problem. I should go the EC route to force myself out of here. I've so had it with this place.

[WorkingStudent2011]

You are absolutely right, TC3200! Obsolete. Nursing education needs an overhaul, as the demographics have changed and the traditional "way we've always done it" approach no longer applies to today's students.

The problem with students failing has much more to do with the system failing us than anything else. There is a severe lack of creativity, lack of critical thinking, and lack of pragmatism on the part of educators that is preventing qualified students from entering the field. Maybe it's intentional? Maybe the preference for foreign nurses, the majority of whom would never make it past first semester here in the states. Sad.