jcrowder

I'm a little jealous!! I'm so on the fence on taking the course- it was the 2 week clinical component that comes at a prime time for my current job that held me back. Can you choose where @ CJW you do your clinicals or does it have to be Med-Surg? I would LOVE to hear your commentary as you progress through the course or when you finish. I'm sure it'll be great- just wondering if it'll be $2300 great. I would love, love, love it if someone would actually do a review of the content of a bunch of different programs that can be done online and post a review. It's so tough to make a decision and just hope that the content is worth the money. I had looked at the course recommended by the Va nurses association but they won't allow you to do a clinical rotation unless you are taking their course as a requirement of the Board of Nursing for re-licensure, and to be honest their website looks low rent compared to most of the other programs. Maybe the content is great, but it just doesn't present itself very professionally- and it sounds like they mail you stuff, not necessarily an online course. Anyhoo- look forward to hearing more!! Good luck and have fun.

Hi there- Thought I'd follow back up on this. I'm leaning towards an online course in Ohio (think ND has one as well) that includes a clinical component. The downside is that you have to arrange the clinical component, and the program coordinator was pretty honest when she said that some of her students have had difficulty doing that because the market is pretty tight right now so hospitals aren't as willing to be helpful. And, there isn't a skills lab component tied to it. It's $700-800 compared to even the $1300 of GMU. You probably noticed that NOVA actually offers a couple skills based courses- IV therapy, phlebetomy for health care providers (you do have to have a letter from a facility stating that you need the course to be able to take this one) and an online health assessment class. How you do an assessment online is a little foreign to me. IF you could arrange a strong clinical- maybe even more than the 40 hours required by a lot of the online programs, then the skills based stuff might not be as important. ALL that said, I took the liberty of emailing about a dozen nurse recruiters at local hospitals to ask about whether a refresher course was worthwhile. (In hindsight, I should have asked if they would hire someone right now if they had that under their belt, but I was looking for quick and dirty responses.) Most folks who replied said "sure, it would be great", one person also asked about any refresher courses I'd heard about because she gets asked for referrals to these programs frequently, and two respondents replied (honestly) that even with a refresher course the job market is really tight and they are turning away new grads and even experienced nurses in droves. One said she felt it would partly depend upon how much clinical time I had in before I went away from nursing- if I was working 10-20 years and then took time away that would weigh more heavily in their decision than if it was just a few. I did have one recruiter who responded today that said it was her hospital's policy that if a nurse has been out of practice for 5 or more years they MUST have a refresher course. I'm waiting to hear back on what the requirements would be for her hospital (# hrs, clinical or no, etc). I did have someone say she'd love to talk to me more about a job, but she's not in this immediate area!! I was considering asking the Mount Carmel coordinator if I could possibly do a couple different clinical sites- IF I could arrange them- instead of just 1 site for 40 hrs. I'm not intersted in working in acute care and don't really want to do a rotation in acute care. I've had a family member in the hospital for a couple weeks and I stayed overnight with her, and it was eye-opening seeing the RNs virtually practicing primary care for their patients- bedpans to meds, even though they had CNAs on staff they were few and far between. It's just not a good fit for where I am in life. I'm thinking if I tried a couple sites I could possibly use the opportunity to reach out to places/sites where I might be interested in working (if they are hiring and would have me). And, it would help me determine if I really want to go back to the clinical side of things or stick with health policy work. As for your current position, maybe you could sell it to your employer that they should not only let you take the course and have the time off, but pay for it as well! It can't hurt to have fresh clinical skills in your position. Anyhoo- love to know what you end up deciding! Thanks, Jolie

FYI- this website has a list of refresher courrses by state. http://www.nurse.com/education/refresher.htm Some of the state-based programs offer online learning components only e.g. Greenville Tech, Mount Carmel, Univ South Florida. I'm torn between an online course that just refreshes knowledge (cheaper) vs a course that has a clinical/skills component. Greenville is actually incredibly reasonable @ around $900 for class and skills/clinical but I don't live anywhere close to them. Programs in my area are in the 1200-2400 range. A LOT of money with little/no guarantee of employment afterwards.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply! I actually have an active license, so don't legally need to take a class to work. So fortunately won't have those types of issues. BUT am thinking I need to take the course because I've been out for so long AND am hoping a refresher course would make a recruiter/HR person actually look at my resume - otherwise they'd seen a 10 year gap and move right along. That said, I don't even know with a refresher course if the employment market would be favorable since I've been out so long. I see all those new RNs struggling to find work and almost all job postings ask for 1-2 years recent clinical experience. I know it wouldn't hurt to take a course but also don't know if the $800 dollars ($1200 or $2400 in my are!) is what it will take to get me back into the field. I do know that I'm NOT interested in inpatient acute care. I was really hoping for something part time in outpatient or home health setting. I've applied to a couple dozen jobs with no reply. BUT don't have $1200 worth of confidence that a refresher program would make a difference.... Sigh... Thanks for taking the time to listen.

I've been out of clinical nursing for 10 years and am considering going back- not interested in hospital work....outpatient, home health, etc. I actually just want to work part time. I'm looking at two nurse refresher programs- George Mason and Northern Virginia Community College. Both are expensive - $1200 and $2400. I also work full time and for the NOVA program would have to take off two weeks (TOUGH TO DO) to do the clinical component. I'm also considering several online training programs (no clinical, just content and video review). Those programs are around $700. Looking at Greenville Tech, Mount Carmel College, Sigma Theta Tau because they have online programs- online, anytime reviews. Does anyone have any experience with either of the Virginia programs or any of the online programs listed or other programs, or know someone who does? Or, experience with any other online refresher programs. Or, has anyone taken the skills refresher courses at NOVA? Health assessment, IV, etc.... I'm sure the review would be useful personally but if it isn't going to be enough to secure a job in the current employment environment..... So, to the last question.... is it worth the time/money or are the jobs to scarce with too many people applying? THANKS!

jankmom- if you re still around all this time (after the original post below)....which refresher class did you end up taking? how was it? was it worth the money? did you end finding a job after taking the class? was the class instrumental in securing employment or helping YOU with confidence and rusty skills? I'm considering taking a refresher course but it is PRICEY and I'm not sure employment would be guaranteed anyway....

Thanks for the prompt reply! I'm out of state so wouldn't be able to do the clinical component- do you think just the online content review would be useful by itself or was it really the skills labs that made it so useful? The courses in my area are $1200 and $2400. A lot of $ if I'm not certain of finding employment even after taking the course. So on that note- have you been able to find a job since you took the class? If yes, did the employer seem to think your course was instrumental in being hired?? Thanks again for your time!

Hey JenMitche- if you happen to check back in...do you mind sharing what refresher course you took? I'm looking at several- a couple in my area that include clinicals but are $1200-2400 (with no guarantee of work for someone returning to work after 10 years). I was also looking at several courses offering just online review- it would be nice ot know if the one you used is one with the problems (I'm not a writer, but hate stuff like that). If you want/can send me a direct message and don't want to reply here that's fine...but your objective feedback on your course material and whether it helped you secure a job would be useful to those of us considering re-entry or taking one of these courses! Thanks for your consideration.

Was wondering if you ended up taking this refresher course and if so how it went??

So, I'm actually looking at those two programs as well as a number of online programs (that don't include a clinical component)....did you decide which program to go with? I live in Fairfax, so the drive isn't the issue. I'm looking at the online- no clinical- because taking two weeks out for clinicals right now would be a little tough b/c of my current work situation. I was also wondering what employers think of these refresher programs...for $2400...I'd like them to think it was fan-damn-tastic!