Medstar RN Refresher Program AZ

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I'm about to enroll for RN REFRESHER PROGRAM with Medstar RN REFRESHER PROGRAM here in AZ. It's a $3000+ program and I'm just so anxious about how expensive it is. Mostly because the program might not be able to find a placement right away for me after I finish the didactic portion. Have anybody in here been enrolled with this kind before? How was the preceptorship? How fast did you or your program got a preceptorship for you? Help! Any comment about refresher program might help, so please...comment. Thank you

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Have you also looked at whether it is listed on the Arizona BON approved programs and when the approval expires? If there is uncertainty about placement and BON approval renewal, I would find a different program.

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It is approved and about placement they said they will insure that qualified students will have a verified clinical placement within 12 months of program start time. I wanted to hear a successful story from this school, I guess. They also claim that they have committed falicities with them for clinicals. Just frustrated about it since I just passed my NCLEX last April this year and have to go through another bump. Thanks for the suggestion.

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Hey! Did you ever pursue this? MedStar is one of my main options as I need to complete a refresher course as well.

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Yeah, I started a week ago. I just passed my NCLEX so I don't find it that bad but I can't exactly tell until I finish the didactic part and clinicals. It's pretty expensive though. LOL. Books and other material are not included with the tuition. What's your situation, if you don't mind?

ddburkholder said:
Hey! Did you ever pursue this? MedStar is one of my main options as I need to complete a refresher course as well.
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Oh yay! Boy am I glad to find someone who is going through what I have to go through.

So I am foreign educated with a BSN degree and I graduated back in 2011. Took and passed the NCLEX in 2012. My application for licensure was withdrawn because of my immigration status. Now I am reapplying to start up my career again and I need to finish a refresher course. I just submitted all the other requirements that the BON is asking for and the next big step is to actually register for this course. I am really thinking of enrolling here. The cost terrifies me but at the same time at least I don't have to worry about preceptorship after the didactic. Can you tell me how the process was for you?

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ddburkholder said:
Oh yay! Boy am I glad to find someone who is going through what I have to go through.

So I am foreign educated with a BSN degree and I graduated back in 2011. Took and passed the NCLEX in 2012. My application for licensure was withdrawn because of my immigration status. Now I am reapplying to start up my career again and I need to finish a refresher course. I just submitted all the other requirements that the BON is asking for and the next big step is to actually register for this course. I am really thinking of enrolling here. The cost terrifies me but at the same time at least I don't have to worry about preceptorship after the didactic. Can you tell me how the process was for you?

Same thing here. This is the last step for AZ license. I'm hoping to get a preceptorship right after the didactic but school says they have up to 12 months to look for one so fingers crossed. After you enroll you got to buy your books which are Brunner and Suddarth MS books with study guide, drug calculations book, a skills guide dvd and a lab kit. There are NCLEX style questions in the study guide book which is the only required part. I was all over the place before I enrolled because I was scared. LOL. But I'm taking it easy now. I'm trying to finish the class in a month.

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Oh tell me about it. I don't exactly know what I'm doing here. lol

Did you try to look for your own preceptorship before you decided on MedStar? I don't have a clue how to even start looking for one. Also, the license application has an expiration, do you know if that means we need to finish the refresher course entirely before that deadline, or as long as we're registered for a course before it expires then we're good? Sorry for all the questions.

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ddburkholder said:
Oh tell me about it. I don't exactly know what I'm doing here. LOL

Did you try to look for your own preceptorship before you decided on MedStar? I don't have a clue how to even start looking for one. Also, the license application has an expiration, do you know if that means we need to finish the refresher course entirely before that deadline, or as long as we're registered for a course before it expires then we're good? Sorry for all the questions.

I didn't try to look for preceptorship at all, I didn't want the burden. This why I enrolled to this school. About the application expiration I haven't really thought of that, I've just been really focusing of finishing up but that's a good question.I'm not even sure how many months you have to finish all the required stuffs.Is your application expring soon?

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So I applied for the license and the board emailed me a deficiency notice that includes all the requirements they need from me. They gave me till May 2017 to accomplish everything, otherwise the application will be withdrawn and I have to reapply AGAIN. This is slightly stressful as you can imagine. I'm looking at Mesa CC or Gateway CC, both of which (I think) will take care of your clinical placement. But I just missed fall registration so I have to wait till January or something for the next semester. That'll give me about 4 months to complete the entire course, didactic and clinical. That's why MedStar is top of my list now, since it has continuous enrollment. But I just can't get over the fact that it's double, even triple the cost compared to others.

I guess I have to call BON again to clarify that deadline thing.

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I have until April 2017. So did you apply yet?

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I'm thinking of applying at either Mesa CC or Gateway CC. Both schools offer clinical placement. I'm still not 100% sure about that though. Downside is I have to wait till January for their spring semester. I called the board and asked about the deadline on the application, and they said they should be able to extend it if I need more time for the refresher.

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