Approved VS Accredited

Nursing Students General Students

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Nursing has job opportunities for technical, professional and administrative roles for all new graduates. Each job opportunity will inform the individual applicant what quality of education is required for the position they are applying.

Programs that are only approved by the state board of nursing aids and assists with meeting the demands of the nursing shortage. These programs also get students back to the workforce faster. Returning students to work promotes economic development, positively impacts family dynamics, and enhances the state of individual communities.

Approved schools or schools that only meet minimum requirements are just as valuable if not more as accredited schools. Traditional accredited schools are not meeting the demands of the growing population of individuals needing healthcare. People are living longer through the advancement of new technology and pharmaceutical drug therapies.

Even after obtaining a practical nursing license some students go to approved schools to become registered nurses. Some registered nursing programs are not accredited and they grant degrees. These students individuals classes may not transfer to other colleges or universities. Despite not transfer of individual courses obtaining a license through examination may offer some advance placement.

Accreditation is important for two reasons at the Registered Nurse level. Reason one is earning college credit for individual classes taken to transfer to other schools. The second is earning acceptance to test for national nursing certifications after being licensed.

All practical nursing programs don't need to be accredited, they only need to be approved by the state board of nursing. Practical nursing students are earning a diploma not a degree. As a practical nursing student your goal is not to attend the school with the best accreditation.

Nursing has job opportunities for technical, professional and administrative roles for all new graduates. Each job opportunity will inform the individual applicant what quality of education is required for the position they are applying.

Programs that are only approved by the state board of nursing aids and assists with meeting the demands of the nursing shortage. These programs also get students back to the workforce faster. Returning students to work promotes economic development, positively impacts family dynamics, and enhances the state of individual communities.

Approved schools or schools that only meet minimum requirements are just as valuable if not more as accredited schools. Traditional accredited schools are not meeting the demands of the growing population of individuals needing healthcare. People are living longer through the advancement of new technology and pharmaceutical drug therapies.

Even after obtaining a practical nursing license some students go to approved schools to become registered nurses. Some registered nursing programs are not accredited and they grant degrees. These students individuals classes may not transfer to other colleges or universities. Despite not transfer of individual courses obtaining a license through examination may offer some advance placement.

Accreditation is important for two reasons at the Registered Nurse level. Reason one is earning college credit for individual classes taken to transfer to other schools. The second is earning acceptance to test for national nursing certifications after being licensed.

All practical nursing programs don't need to be accredited, they only need to be approved by the state board of nursing. Practical nursing students are earning a diploma not a degree. As a practical nursing student your goal is not to attend the school with the best accreditation.

No idea where you are getting this all from, but a considerable amount of what you wrote here is incorrect. Non-accredited schools are designed to meet the demands of WHAT nursing shortage? Aside from the fact that there isn't much of a shortage at all throughout most of the United States, accreditation certainly doesn't hinder anyone from graduating and entering the workforce.

How do you get the idea that traditional, accredited schools are not meeting the demands of the growing population of individuals needing healthcare? How so? Certainly a school that has met the standards of accreditation SHOULD be doing exactly this, obviously.

Becoming certified by individual specialty organizations has nothing to do with the route one took to become an RN (accredited school or not), and everything to do with time in the field (experience), testing requirements, CEU requirements, etc.

Whether any specific courses will be transferrable to any individual program isn't based on whether the school of origin was accredited, it has to do with the standards and requirements of the school approving the receipt of transfer. It's not unusual for courses from one accredited school to NOT be taken by another accredited school, but be acceptable from a non-accredited one, so......that's not it.

I'm sure there's more to discuss, but those parts jumped out at me.

If this post was meant to be informative, you really should have done quite a lot more fact checking than you appear to have done; as it is it's misleading at best, wrong at worst.

Specializes in ICU.

Let me guess, you are currently a sales person at one of these non-accredited for profit schools and are losing students due to that fact. So much more goes into accreditation than just the transferring of credits. Maybe you need an education on nursing and what accreditation actually is and means before posting nonsense like this.

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Take a stroll through OP's other posts here on AN.....

And I see it gets even better: you have posted this very same text under different thread topic titles in different forums. Why the need to spread so much misinformation widely?

Take a stroll through OP's other posts here on AN.....

Yah...was just doing that when you were typing this out :)

When I was first applying to NS last summer, I didn't know the difference in accreditation. I chose a school that was only ACICS accredited with BON approval. It was direct admittance without having to do pre-reqs.

During my first semester I heard nothing but how former graduates were struggling to find employment. That may be true of graduates from regional / national accredited schools, but the fact that a local regional accredited school's graduates are gaining employment after graduation and graduates from my school weren't spoke volumes. Some employers are particular about the school's accreditation.

I then began researching my RN to BSN options. They were slim to none. One school would take me (the local regionally accredited school which I'm applying to now for their ADN program), but only after being admitted as gen ed which would require me to complete 4 additional courses; 2 nursing and 2 gen ed. Then I would only be accepted if there was a spot for me. Anyone graduating from a regionally accredited school would have a spot before I would.

Besides that, with a tuition of 40k for the two year program, the instruction was less than stellar. The best instructor there was not a nurse, but still could only skim the important topics of subjects such as A&P and Chemistry because the program's set up does not allow enough time for in depth instruction. This is a problem especially when A&P is such an important foundation in our nursing courses. In fact, the last couple of chapters in Chemistry were never even covered because there wasn't enough time.

While I excelled, the nursing courses left me with little confidence of graduating and being able to practice safely as a new nurse. It's true I only took a couple of nursing courses, but if that was what was to be expected of the remaining courses with the same instructors, it's not for me.

The class started with 32 people and are now down to about 14. About half that are no longer there withdrew while the other half failed out. I withdrew after the end of the first 8 week courses to pursue acceptance into a regionally accredited program. Since I've left, others have left and the program is now on probation.

While I can't say this holds true for all non regionally / nationally accredited programs (those that just have BON approval) or that you won't find this at some of the regionally / nationally accredited schools, but my experience was a lesson learned that accreditation is absolutely important. Even if you have excellent instruction, it may limit you in employment (depending where you want to go) and/or continuing eduction.

Nobody will say that you absolutely cannot become a nurse (or a good nurse) if you just go to a non-accredited, BON approved program. Some may have excellent programs and are working towards accreditation, but people should be aware of any limitations that it may cause by going that route. After fully realizing the ways it would limit me, I decided it was too expensive with too much time away from my family to be so limited. I have hopes and dreams in what I'd like to do, and I don't want to be limited because of my schooling choice. For some, such as some of my former classmates, it's their only option, and they're aware of what that means.

So I have to disagree. Accreditation matters very much.

Should probably mention that NOT having a nationally-accredited program on your resume also bars you from some very desirable government positions.

Should probably mention that NOT having a nationally-accredited program on your resume also bars you from some very desirable government positions.

Plenty of other desirable healthcare employers, also, will only hire graduates of ACEN- or CCNE-accredited programs.

Thanks for positive feedback. The post I originally made was my desire to open a discussion on the topic of accreditation. Opening a discussion allows for meaningful insight on the given topic. I do not wish to be associated the writings of a scholar. This site is to cultivate a learning experience for individuals who wish to be "inspired" not "discourage and chewed out". The conversations posted here are personal views that are always open to correction and perfection. In the field of heathcare our goal is to promote wellness through holistic and theraputic communication.

ESL? Copy and paste skills a bit weak? Not clear on the content before paraphrasing?

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