Continuing Education

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Specializes in OB/GYN, NB Nursery.

I am interested in taking a Refresher course (non-credit) at one of the local Community Colleges. I have only been out of work for about 8 months; after 20 plus years of working OB/GYN. My goal is to do agency nursing. One of the schools is NLN approved and the other is ANCC approved. Which is better?

When I went to Nursing School (1980), NLN was the Gold Standard. Has that changed? Perhaps, it doesn't matter unless I was applying for a BSN or MSN program. (Which I would love to, but we still have to pay off some of our kids' college loans.)

Also, the NLN program is only 2 weeks long and costs $800. while the ANCC program is in 2 parts running the whole Fall semester; the second half being mostly clinical. (Total cost is about $1200.) I would prefer to take the longer course, but then was not sure when I saw that their program was not NLN approved.

Any info on this subject is appreciated; and I hope I posted in the correct forum!! Thanks.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

Do you know anyone at a hospital or other healthcare facility who can give you advice? Personally I doubt if there is much difference. I do know that most states require certification standards from higher education providers. You might check with your state's higher education certification board or the BON to see what each school's performance stats are like.

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Specializes in critical care, management, med surg, edu.

Are you planning to restrict your agency jobs to just OB/GYN? If so, the short course would probably be sufficient. However, if you are planning to take shifts in med surg type settings, I would think that the extended clinicals would be beneficial.

I certainly respect the NLN accreditation, but know there are many fine schools that just don't want to jump through all the hoops. Since this course is not for credit, it would not have any bearing on admission to a BSN program anyway. Good luck to you!

I agree with Classicdame that it would be a good idea to check out the pass rates for both schools since that would be an indication of their standards. You may also want to contact area employers to see if they have an opinion.

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