japhina

Iowa must accept Excelsior program for jobs then? I just don't know about it. It sounds fishy. How has your experience been? I am currently enrolled in pre-req's at Scott, but I am worried about getting to classes with my son going to daycare. Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Why is that? I haven't started clinicals yet so I am curious as to why you feel that way.

My husband has been thinking about getting into nursing and after reading this thread I think I should tell him to go for it. I am in an ADN program now so we will be nurses together! Also, NukeFX007, I am not thrilled at the tone that your response took. Yes some women are catty, gossipy, and ******, but I wouldn't consider all male nurses to be better than female nurses. That was going a bit far. I am frustrated as well that many nurses are this way. I wish that those types of women would be more professional too.

Well put. It is confusing to figure out who wants what. My only option in my area is an ADN program. The other schools that offer BSN's are 5-6x as much. The ADN program that I am enrolled in has 1132 clinical hours. The MSN-CNL program has 900. So, an ADN has more clinical hours put in than a person with a "master's degree". A big difference between the CNL program and other MSN programs is that you are NOT considered an advanced practice nurse when you are finished. You just simply have a master's degree with no experience in the field whatsoever. I don't know why they call it a master's degree. It really should just be an accelerated BSN for second degree students, but the school makes more money for graduate credit. So I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Hmmm...

Trust me, I have looked into an accelerated BSN program in my area and it is really expensive. My only other options are an ADN program or this CNL program. But the school with the CNL program is an hour away. The ADN program is about 20 minutes away. I think that I will end up gettting my ADN instead. The CNL program sounds like a good program, but I think it is a little strange to get your masters when you have no experience in the area you are studying in. I am doing my pre-req's for the ADN program now. I am really getting antsy. Hopefully in a year I'll be in the program if I'm not put on a waiting list! This route will probably be the best for me. After I get my ADN I can get my RN-BSN mostly online from the University of Iowa. I think that I will wait to get my BSN until I have a couple years of experience as a nurse though. Real world experience is key.

The program I a looking into at the University of Iowa requires no prior RN experience. I think it is a good option for someone who already has a non-nursing bachelor's degree. It will take me the same amount of time and cost about the same. Plus I don't have to do the ADN-BSN-MSN route. After I finish the CNL program I plan on going into a DNP program when I get some experience under my belt. I think that the title should change. I can see where nurses are coming from, CNL's being called leaders. They aren't leaders in the nursing sense, but the CNL takes a different perspective than the ADN.

The University of Iowa has a BSN-DNP program. They have 4 specialties too such as gerontology, pediactric, family practice, and mental health. It will take 3 years for full time study and 4 years for part time study. You do about 1100 hours of clinicals! I bet it is a great program.