jennw79

I'm faculty in a nursing program. A couple of key take aways. 1)We spend about 2 hours in the lab verbally going over HIPAA before our first semester students enter the hospital. Show videos, give examples, we all tell stories of people we know who have been fired, etc. Then the lead professor reiterates it in lecture. It is also in the handbook. It is also in the syllabus. So there really is no excuse. When a student violates HIPAA at the clinical site, besides the ethical implications of violating patient privacy, it places the program at risk of losing that precious clinical site. We are guests there and the hospital is under no obligation to us. They can kick us out at any given time. There are some things that have to be a 'hard line.' But I know what we do in our program might not be how you guys were educated on HIPAA-I'm just explaining it from the other point of view. 2) We've had many students that have had 'hiccups' along the way in our program-that do not involve HIPAA- and we do consider it on a case by case basis, and use those as teachable moments and an opportunity for the student nurse to grow while he/she is still in school. 3) I've had many students that are from other programs that they weren't successful in. "They weren't a good fit." And now they are in our program. I think you'll be fine. On your future application, you will have to say if you've ever been in a program before, answer yes, and answer all questions honestly. You might even have to say you were expelled and write an explanation on why. Do yourself a favor and educate yourself on all things HIPAA!! Good luck future nurse :)

Walden University has a 3 year bridge program for ADN RNs to MSN, all online, with the practicum taking place in the last year. It was just under 60k, I thought it was harder than it should be and I feel like my preceptors, review courses, and myself taught me everything I actually learned, and I paid a crap load of money for people to grade useless papers and for a degree. But it meets the criteria you're looking for. I think I'm just as qualified as my counterparts because you get out of your education what you put into it and I sought out the best preceptors in each of their respective fields; but I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

As a recent graduate, and a 38 year old - just think about the monetary investment, along with the time away from your family, especially if you really like your current career.