Need Advice On The Excelsior Program

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Hi, Does Anyone Know What Is The Shortest Amount Of Time That Other Students Have Completed Their Ec Rn Program. I Will Be Graduating From My Lvn Program In About 1 Week And Plan On Taking The Ec Program To Become An Rn Right Away. I Plan On Doing The Program In The Least Amount Of Time. Is It Possible For Me To Take The Boards For Rn Let's Say By January Of 2006 Or Before? Am I Being Realistic, Or Would It Take Longer? Any Advice Would Be Greatly Appreciated. Thank You

Carlos R.

yes sir/maam

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Is Thread there?

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The fact is, no school's grads are 100%.

And how many nursing schools can honestly say they've never had a graduate who was shady or lost their license or did something they shouldn't. Since when is that the school's fault?

You're right. No school's grads are 100 percent. There have been a couple of problems with new grads or soon to be new grads in my program. Some were kicked out before they were licensed but a couple weren't caught in time.

Seems like the school did feel it was their fault because once the hospitals reported these incidents, the school changed the cirriculum and rules to try to prevent those incidents from happening again. To my surprize, the instructors have been really open and gone out of their way to mention these incidents so we know the reason for the rules and, also, so we know why we will be automatically kicked out of the program if we don't follow the rules.

I don't know if EC has something like this in place or if they track new grads with hospitals, but it might help with the previously mentioned issues on this thread.

:coollook:

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It really just boils down to common sense....there will always be good and bad nurses no matter where they graduated from. I work with 2 other Excelsior grads and they are way better nurses than most of the others on the unit. One is agency and one does much of the precepting on the unit. One new grad that started when I did, who graduated from a local traditional school, has already been deemed incompetent and won't make through her 90 day trial period. Yes, Excelsior is not without error, but so many traditional schools let incompetent nurses loose every year as well. One thing I can compliment Excelsior college on is teaching INDEPENDENT and CRITICAL thinking skills. I recently took PBDS and was the only new grad to pass that thing in a year on my unit. I have spoken to other EC grads who have taken and passed it on the first attempt while other new grads from traditional programs fail. Several Excelsior grads pass NCLEX with the minimum 75 questions. I recently attended a GN orientation course at the large hospital system I started at and was amazed that no one else passed PBDS and most who passed NCLEX took well above the minimum. The nurse educators had to coach all the other nurses on how to pass PBDS...show and example and discuss it. I came out of Excelsior knowing how to think independently. I know several other new grads from traditional schools pass these tests with colors as well. There are good and bad to both types of schools.

Karen

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Yes, Excelsior is not without error, but so many traditional schools let incompetent nurses loose every year as well.

I dunno if that's true. I guess it depends on how you define incompetent. It may also depend on the individual program. At my school, there have been problems with two new grads who lost their licenses out of a total of 450 new grads in six years. That's less than half of one percent. Now, if you define incompetent in other ways, that number would probably expand but I'm not sure by how much.

Don't get me wrong. I have serious doubts about some of my classmates. The instructors are already doing interventions with them so we'll see if they shape up before graduation (assuming they even make it that far). They do surveys with all of the hospitals to track new grad performance so at least the school is trying to improve and change the cirriculum to avoid problems, even if they're not always successful.

The biggest mistake EC made, IMHO, was letting non-LVN's into the program, especially people like MA's. After doing so many clinicals where there is so much to learn, I can't imagine how an MA would know what they are doing, even if they managed to pass CPNE. I know EC doesn't allow MA's anymore but I think it really did a lot of damage to their reputation when they did.

:coollook:

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Specializes in ER.
Most of the lvn's that i know that started the ec program are still lvn's, and will be until they go through a conventional program. I've heard there are alot

of hassles and that it is extremely expensive. You have to do a clinical rotation with their instructor before you can graduate and the pass rate is something like 60%. The clinical itself is like 3000 dollars. I've also heard that some states are no longer accepting EC grads, but I don't know that for sure.

Obviously, you have not done the program.

I did it - and did it in 9 months. I would have done it faster, but got married in the middle of it.

The whole program cost me about $5000. That included the CPNE, grad fees, other fees, exams, etc.

Please, do not spread rumor about what you do not know anything about!

Chip

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I dunno if that's true. I guess it depends on how you define incompetent. It may also depend on the individual program. At my school, there have been problems with two new grads who lost their licenses out of a total of 450 new grads in six years. That's less than half of one percent. Now, if you define incompetent in other ways, that number would probably expand but I'm not sure by how much.

Don't get me wrong. I have serious doubts about some of my classmates. The instructors are already doing interventions with them so we'll see if they shape up before graduation (assuming they even make it that far). They do surveys with all of the hospitals to track new grad performance so at least the school is trying to improve and change the cirriculum to avoid problems, even if they're not always successful.

The biggest mistake EC made, IMHO, was letting non-LVN's into the program, especially people like MA's. After doing so many clinicals where there is so much to learn, I can't imagine how an MA would know what they are doing, even if they managed to pass CPNE. I know EC doesn't allow MA's anymore but I think it really did a lot of damage to their reputation when they did.

:coollook:

I 100% agree with you on the non LPN students being admitted into the program. They did some damage. I define incompetent by several facors--safety. critical thinking, time management, making priorities, personal communication skills...............

Karen

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It was also interesting when you mentioned this ...

I have also heard from local CC instructors that students who can't make the traditional program tell them they will just do Excelsior...hence the easy out stigma as well.

That actually happened at my school, although obviously before the California decision. People still talk about it since, apparently, it was a bit of a drama at the time. I have no idea if those people actually made it through EC, but they apparently were pretty angry and made a big deal about how they would go to EC after they didn't make it through the conventional program.

Again, don't get me wrong. I do see a lot of problems with conventional programs and voice those concerns to faculty just about every chance I get.

:coollook:

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Obviously, you have not done the program.

I did it - and did it in 9 months. I would have done it faster, but got married in the middle of it.

The whole program cost me about $5000. That included the CPNE, grad fees, other fees, exams, etc.

Please, do not spread rumor about what you do not know anything about!

Chip

Thanks for the info, Chip. I am getting ready to start the EC ADN program and your info. is exactly what I was needing to hear.

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Thanks for the info, Chip. I am getting ready to start the EC ADN program and your info. is exactly what I was needing to hear.

Yes, Chip is right, the program is about $5,000. This includes all testing fees and clinical fees. You can get the books from half for a fraction of the price. You really only need some basic books like fundamentals, med-surg, peds, and maybe psych. A great book that has it all combined is Lippencott's manual of nursing.

Good luck,

Karen

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Yes, Chip is right, the program is about $5,000. This includes all testing fees and clinical fees. You can get the books from half for a fraction of the price. You really only need some basic books like fundamentals, med-surg, peds, and maybe psych. A great book that has it all combined is Lippencott's manual of nursing.

Good luck,

Karen

Karen,

Thanks for concurring with what Chip said. I appreciate your input because I haven't had the opportunity to be in contact with anyone that has been thru the EC ADN program. (This forum is a blessing) Do you have suggestions on where to get the discount/used books? Also, any tips on anything that you think I should be aware of (i.e. study outlines, tutoring assistance online, etc.) that would be of benefit. Thank you, dcudoc

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Specializes in ER, IICU, PCU, PACU, EMS.
Do you have suggestions on where to get the discount/used books?

Go to http://www.campusi.com

I have saved plenty of $$$ with this site. Get the ISBN number of the book you want. Excellent search engine!

Best of luck to you!!

:balloons:

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