NLNAC Accredidation

ccwva · Jan 14, 2008

I spoke with the director of nursing at one of the major hospital chains in my area. She basically told me that as long as the school is approved by the state it doesn't matter to them what school a nurse has gone too.

Has this been your experience with the hiring process?

nurz2be · Jan 14, 2008

Would you attend a school that wasn't NLNAC accredited? even though it is approved by the state?

Only, as I plan on, being a travel nurse and leaving my current state. I don't want anything standing in the way of me being able to practice in other states.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jan 15, 2008

Would you attend a school that wasn't NLNAC accredited? even though it is approved by the state?

Yes, I would.

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 15, 2008

There are 2 nursing accrediting agencies -- the NLN one and the AACN one. Accreditation from one of those is very important -- but either one is OK. I would not attend a school that was not accredited.

Definitely investigate WHY the school is not accredited and before attending. Are they a new program in the process of earning their accreditation and are well on track to get it? ... Or ... Did they lose it recently because the quality of the program was so bad? Those are 2 very different situations.

Is the school too cheap to pay fee? If that's true, what else are they scrimping on? Do they not have enough staff to meet the standards, prepare the reports, etc.?

etc. etc. etc. Don't waste your money and your time on a bad school. It's too important.

ccwva · Jan 15, 2008

All good advice. I will plan a visit to the school and ask some hard questions. So state accred. is not enough in your opinion?

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 15, 2008

All good advice. I will plan a visit to the school and ask some hard questions. So state accred. is not enough in your opinion?

All the state does is say that they are a legitimate school and its graduates are allowed to take the exam to get a license. The state only requires a minimal level of quality to make the program "legitimate." The nursing professional organization (NLN and AACN) set higher standards that schools have to meet in order to earn their "seals of approval" (accreditation).

You can take the licensing exam (NCLEX) and get a job as an RN from a school that is not accredited. However, if you ever want to further your education, you might have a problem getting the new school to accept your credits from the non-accredited program. There may also be certain scholarships that you won't be eligible for as a student there. You also might have a harder time finding a good job if the school has a bad reputation within the community -- or if you move out of that community and employers unfamiliar with the school are leery about hiring a nurse with a questionable educational background.

It's one of those things that may never hurt your career -- but then again, it might. I wouldn't want to take the chance.

Also, I come back to my earlier questions? Why are they not accredited? Is there something wrong with them? It might not be the lack of accreditation that hurts you later -- it might be the reasons behind the lack of accreditation that hurt you.

Ask not only why they are not accredited ... ask the following questions:

1. What percentage of students who enter your program actually graduate in the expected amount of time (without having to repeat any courses)?

2. What percentage of your graduates pass the NCLEX on their first try? (That might be published on your State Board's website.)

Those 2 questions will tell you a lot when you put the information together.

3. Tell me a little about your facult. What is their educational background? How many PhD's, MSN's, BSN's, etc.? How long have they been teaching? Do the clinical instructors also work as staff nurses periodically to maintain their clinical skills? How many of your instructors are certified in Nursing Education? What kind of training in nursing education do your clinical instructors receive?

Schools will be surprised by those questions about their faculty, but that's where a lot of "bad schools" have problems. They have lousy, minimally qualified faculty. What you are looking for is a clinical faculty that has BOTH some training in how to be a teacher and also maintains their clinical competence in some way. You are also looking for a faculty at the upper levels of classroom teaching and administration with higher academic degrees -- PhD's and MSN's who have experience running a school and doing scholarly work. The best schools have a good mix of faculty that covers all the bases -- both clinical and scholarly.

Let us know what you find out. I'm always interested in this topic -- and how bad schools dupe good students into enrolling there.

Let's hope that you are dealing with a good school -- perhaps a new program that is well on its way to earning its accreditation soon. Good luck!

ccwva · Jan 15, 2008

I contacted the RN-MSN program that I would like to enter and they told me they will only accept applicants that have gone to a NLN approved nursing school. So that makes the decision easier for me!