Paramedic considering Excelsior

Published

Hello,

I am a 23 year old paramedic who is married with one 5 year old son and my second child is on his way any day now. I have been a paramedic for 4 years with most of it being in a busy (18-20 runs per day) system as well as working in the critical care transport setting as well. I work full time as a paramedic and am considering pursuing my RN through Excelsior. My wife is extremely supportive of me pursuing my educational and professional goals. We have been together for 8 years and had our first child at 17, so stress is not something new to us.

Anyway, I have a few questions I hope some of you can answer;

1. Has anybody completed all or a substantial portion of the gen ed / pre requisites through Excelsior?

(I have no college credit to my name, I completed my paramedic through a hospital based program)

2. For paramedics who completed the program, do you feel adequately prepared to function as a nurse?

3. As above, how long did it take you to complete the program?

4. How much did it cost you to complete the program?

5. How did you pay for the program?

Thanks,

Ben

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

One thing to consider is whether or not your state recognizes EC grads: https://www.excelsior.edu/Excelsior_College/School_Of_Nursing/Accreditation_and_Licensure/State_Board_Requirements

Not sure where you are, so you might just want to check the EC link there to be sure, and just to be aware that there are some stipulations should you move to certain states. Most states allow EC grads to endorse in with a certain amount of hours under their belts, but a couple are more hard-line, especially when an RN wasn't an LPN prior to doing EC's program.

With all that being said ... I thought it was fabulous. :) I've been a paramedic since 2003 (volunteer), and I've worked in an ED since 2005, as a tech until I became an RN in 2008. EC worked very well for me. I think the most difficult transition for me (besides learning all the paperwork/documentation) was managing multiple patients in a quick and efficient (and safe!) manner -- critical thinking and prioritization, really. It's easy to theorize about it, but when you're managing 4 or 5 sick patients who need multiple meds/procedures, it takes some time to get it down, and to get up to speed. Most nurses don't feel adequate until they've just had some time as an RN -- you can see this in the "first year after licensure" forum here on allnurses.

It took me one year, one month, and one day to finish EC. But I also had a lot of college credits coming into the program, so that was a big help. I'd recommend doing your pre-reqs via CLEP (http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/about.html) or your local community college, because EC is expensive when it comes to having to do a bunch of general ed stuff.

The program cost me around $6700 for everything, but I got reimbursement through work as well as a $3K scholarship through my hospital's ladies board, so my total out of pocket was about $1300. I would not recommend signing any sort of contract with a publishing company, even though they offer "financing" (adding thousands to the total cost) -- I'd go directly to Excelsior, and skip the middleman. EC does offer payment plans.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do!

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^ what she said! :D

*continues pacing while waiting for NCLEX results*

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