Hospitals paying for you to go back to school?

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · May 3, 2005

Just curious...
I am ADN student and I have heard that many larger hospitals/facilities pay for you to go back to school and achieve a higher degree.
I was just wondering what the limitations are for this type of assistance, what is typical. Have any of you used hospital funded tuition reimbursement to achieve a higher degree? If so, do they make you sign a contract to work for them x amt of yrs, require you to stay in one feild, or only offer this for the next step up (for ex: in my case a BSN)
I would love to go as high as I can go, NP or maybe all the way through medical school...

As with everything else, the facility gets to make its own rules.

Where I work, full time employees get a maximum of 18 semester hours per year paid for and part time employees get a maximum of 9 semester hours per year paid for. Both of them must continue working for the facility for one year after completion of the course(s) that the hospital paid for, or they must pay the hospital back. Not a good plan for someone working on their NP - our hospital doesn't employ NP's - they are employed by physician groups.

Are you really considering med school after NP? Seems like a waste of time to me. After all, MD is not a "step above" NP. They are 2 different professions. JMO, though.

nurse4theplanet, RN · May 3, 2005

Are you really considering med school after NP? Seems like a waste of time to me. After all, MD is not a "step above" NP. They are 2 different professions. JMO, though.

My original choice would have been MD...however, being too "rich" for financial aide yet too "poor" to support myself and give such a large amt of attention to my schooling...I chose nursing (no regrets). And I have been wondering how hard it must be to transition from NP to MD because they are very, very different...it would be like having to relearn everything and look at it from the opposite perspective. But if given the opportunity I would go for it. I want to give everybit of myself to my profession and make the biggest impact I can make...albeit nursing or in another form...maybe even education. Really, I just need some guidance from those who have been out there and know firsthand what is realistic and what is not...like yourself.

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · May 3, 2005

My original choice would have been MD...however, being too "rich" for financial aide yet too "poor" to support myself and give such a large amt of attention to my schooling...I chose nursing (no regrets). And I have been wondering how hard it must be to transition from NP to MD because they are very, very different...it would be like having to relearn everything and look at it from the opposite perspective. But if given the opportunity I would go for it. I want to give everybit of myself to my profession and make the biggest impact I can make...albeit nursing or in another form...maybe even education. Really, I just need some guidance from those who have been out there and know firsthand what is realistic and what is not...like yourself.

It is certainly not impossible, many nurses have done it - but I don't know about NP's doing it. There really is no transition, per se. You would have to attend all 4 years of medical school, then complete an internship and a residency, just like people just out of college. What I meant when I said it sounded like a waste of time was that if med school is what you want to do, I would do it after the BSN. I would not go through becoming a mid-level provider first. I have considered it myself, but have decided to take the NP route instead. I do not wish to sacrifice my lifestyle to devote all my time to med school, and then to an internship and several years of residency (some nice 80+ hour weeks). The payoff in the end just does not seem worth it to me - especially these days when malpractice insurance rates are high and reimbursement is a hassle. The medical field is not what it used to be. That is for sure.

One thing to keep in mind. If you wish to enter medical school, you need a year of general chemistry, a year of organic chemistry, a year of physics, a year of biology (all with lab) and at least year of calculus. These courses do not match most nursing curricula (we often take those courses, but not the same courses recommended for medical school admission). You will need to pick them up at some point.

If there is anything else I can tell you or do to help, let me know. Like I said, I've researched both options quite a bit. :)