Become a Nurse without Nursing School

[PMFB-RN, RN]

I became n nurse without ever setting foot in any college or nursing program. It can still be done today.

[No Stars In My Eyes]

I became n nurse without ever setting foot in any college or nursing program. It can still be done today.

Curious: how?

[dallas_fan]

I'm here for the bogus classes. Stupid A&P, micro, pharm, etc. Who needs it?!?!?!?!?

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Curious: how?

Military training

[cbear25]

sorry to say unless you want to try a certified nursing program that is the closest thing i can think of no you won't be a registered nurse but you will be physically doing some hands on nursing things...and the program is a month

[cbear25]

Curious: how?

yes please inform me lol because i never heard of that

[roser13, ASN, RN]

sorry to say unless you want to try a certified nursing program that is the closest thing i can think of no you won't be a registered nurse but you will be physically doing some hands on nursing things...and the program is a month

Certified nursing assistant, I believe you mean.

[noelly10]

Extra butter and salt, please! Make it a large.

Ooooo me too! I like kettle corn!

[No Stars In My Eyes]

I'm here for the bogus classes. Stupid A&P, micro, pharm, etc. Who needs it?!?!?!?!?

Does "Stupid A&P" mean anybody can pass the class?

[PMFB-RN, RN]

Curious: how?

I am from California. California allows military corpsmen, who can show they have the required hospital experience and training, to challenge their LVN boards.

I don't know about the other services but when one is discharged from the army you can get a transcript for recommended college credit you should receive for military training.

https://www.otc.edu/Documents_Veterans_Affairs/AARTS_transcript_instructions.pdf

Certain colleges and universities who are designated servicemen's opportunity schools will accept all of these credits and put them on their transcript for the veteran. My AARTS transcript recommended a total of 83 college credits for training I received in the army. In subjects from A&P (10 semester credits recommended) to marksmanship (2 credits).

I chose to get my RN at one of these colleges. To this day I have never taken and A&P class in school, but that is not to say I didn't learn A&P. It just wasn't in a college and my A&P was taught by an army officer physician who was a vascular surgeon and who also had a PhD in physiology. In stead of 4 hours of class time a week for 2 semesters, we spent 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for six weeks learning A&P. We had an animal dissection lab, a microbiology lab, and a cadaver lab.

When I went for my associates degree I had to take Psychology, Sociology, developmental psychology (human grown and development), Microbiology (program required 4 credits and my AARTS transcript only granted me 2 credits), Chemistry, algebra and English. A total of 23 credits. I earned 16 of them in one afternoon sitting in the program counselors office taking CLEP tests. There was no CLEP for micro, and I failed the CLEP for English. The college gave LPNs credit for the whole first year of their nursing program and allowed LPNs to enter the second year of the program. I took the program's 3rd semester nursing classes and microbiology in MY first semester, and the programs 4th semester nursing classes and English the second semester.

Ended up being a total of 36 college credits I earned actually taking classes. I got out of the army in July, challenged the LVN boards in early August, applied and was accepted to the LPN to RN program at the community college and started classes on August 24th.

I graduated after 2 semesters, a total of 9 months, including a month off for the holidays. By June, 11 months after getting out of the army, I was an RN in an intensive critical care nurse residency program designed to train new grads to be ICU nurses.

It's my claim to fame. You will never meet an RN who spend less time and money on their license than I did. Assuming you don't count the 5 years I was a medic in the army, but I was getting paid pretty well for that and having fun. The LPN to ADN program cost $2,600 and that was WAY more than covered by my GI Bill.

[No Stars In My Eyes]

PMFB --

Very interesting and informative! Thanks

[ajmclean]

I want to be a millionaire but I don't want to work or play the lottery.

See how that works?

Great analogy! Love it as it's right on point.