Any online RN nursing schools

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Hi allnurses,

I'm new here and I am currently a Pharmacy Technician who wants to change my career. I have always wanted to be a nurse but went with pharmacy instead just to get in the health field to take care of my children. My mother was a cancer patient and was taking many pills a day and that prompt me to get into pharmacy. When she spent her last hours dying from cancer, I wanted to really become a nurse. When I see people anywhere sick I get bothered and I want to help. It's just in me to become a nurse and it always has been. It is now my passion. I think I need to do it asap and not waste anymore time.

My question is, are there any online RN nursing schools that I can get into? I'd really like to start somewhere and because of my work schedule, I cannot study in the classroom and that's my problem just as many. If anyone knows of what I can do to get into the nursing field, please do tell.

Thanks

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.
Hi allnurses,

I'm new here and I am currently a Pharmacy Technician who wants to change my career. I have always wanted to be a nurse but went with pharmacy instead just to get in the health field to take care of my children. My mother was a cancer patient and was taking many pills a day and that prompt me to get into pharmacy. When she spent her last hours dying from cancer, I wanted to really become a nurse. When I see people anywhere sick I get bothered and I want to help. It's just in me to become a nurse and it always has been. It is now my passion. I think I need to do it asap and not waste anymore time.

My question is, are there any online RN nursing schools that I can get into? I'd really like to start somewhere and because of my work schedule, I cannot study in the classroom and that's my problem just as many. If anyone knows of what I can do to get into the nursing field, please do tell.

Thanks

A lot of ADN programs offer many THEORY courses online, but of course lab time and clinicals cannot be done online. IMHO, it's impossible to complete an entire RN degree online.

I did quite a chunk of my theory classes online and it's HARD! You have to be focused and have the ability to "teach yourself". You don't have the luxury of in-class feedback (comment boards are helpful, but not a replacement for face to face interaction). Many people have the attitude that online is "easy", especially when it comes to tests b/c "you can look everything up and noone knows any better". Sure. BUT, those tests are timed and you do NOT have time to look things up---you'd better know your stuff.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

Yeah your clinicals have to be in person. :/ There are no completely online RN programs. I believe Excelsior and Indiana State University are a couple of the few who do online theory, but even then you are required to do clinicals in person.

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Yeah - that is what I understand - the clinicals have to happen in a live setting, but the parts that you can do online would be all the other things -- like learning and taking the tests. There are programs out there, but it depends on whether state's regulatory board for RNs approves the program. A lot of RN programs that seem to make sense for working people do a cross between online and live class attendance, and other than that, schools like Indiana State University, Western Governors, and Excelsior College might have an online program that is approved in your state - but like I said, you would do the study online with your clinicals in person somewhere.

There are way more options for you once you get your RN. If I understand how the online programs work (and I'm very open to correction on this) you usually have to do a bit more legwork to make sure you get everything done, but the upside is that they usually cost less than private schools and the online ones don't have the set-in-stone class hours or the long waiting lists you need to expect at a regular college.

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FYI a friend is taking an online RN program and it is costing appox. 17K

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.
FYI a friend is taking an online RN program and it is costing appox. 17K

Completely online? What about skills and clinicals?

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I'd be pretty leery of any complete RN degree (meaning not a bridge program) that is totally online.

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NEVER go through College Network!!!!! it is a rip off!

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please, reconsider your plan to do an online course. first, you need to know that many online "universities" are for-profit entities who do to the student population exactly what unscrupulous bankers did to homeowners-- they want your money whether or not you are capable of paying the mortgage after they sign you up and get their coommission. google the names of some of them and "+problems" or "+fraud" and weep. call one or two and listen for the pressure. and they are enormously expensive.

some of them may give you a degree but not leave you able to sit for the nclex licensure exam because they aren't fully accredited. some are sort of accredited and you could take the nclex, but some states won't license you if you do because they don't recognize your progam, and you never know when you might have to move.

if you really, really must do this and have the money (and it ain't cheap), use a legitimate, accredited, brick-and-mortar university with an online component.

second, nursing is a collaborative profession. i know some people will tell you they have great relationships with their virtual classmates, but it is so totally not the same as interacting with your peers in the classroom, faculty who you see in clinical, and other folks who have a shared interest in nursing education (namely, yours).

third, online courses are taken at different times than your clinical rotations, and so you don't have the benefit of learning about things on monday and then going right to see them in action on tuesday. sure, you could remember them for three to six or nine months, but then can you go into lecture on thursday and ask your faculty about what you did on tuesday?

if you have a bs in phcy already, why not look into an accelerated bs-in-anything-to-bsn or -msn? you'll be done fast (18 months, usually), and have a good credential to boot.

good luck on whatever you decide.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

You can do some of the subjects like math and biology online but as one poster said it is VERY hard. You have to have a lot of self discipline and be ready to do a lot of independent learning.Many parts of nursing cannot be learned online. Tasks and physical skills such as providing personal care, giving injections, inserting catheters, doing a physical examination and assessment and transferring patients must be learned and practiced in a skills lab before they will turn you loose in a clinical setting.

As others have said, many of the programs that claim to teach you the whole profession online are not legitimate or accredited.

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Wow thanks for the help. I will consider just going to college. I just have to apply myself and try to make the time. I don't want to run into problems with studying online or problems with these schools.

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