NP_MSN

The best of luck to all of you! Be prepared for the road ahead but know in the end it will be worth it. I am sure you will all do great. BTW, I have heard awesome things about WGU! VonettaRN, I tried to return your PM but I have not posted the required amount to be able to PM!

I know several experienced LPNs who advanced through Excelsior to become RNs, and were very happy with the program. My hospital made a decision to remove LPNs from specialty areas so these nurses either had to go back to school or leave the specialty they had been in for years. I also know RNs who went through Walden, Chamberlain (brick and mortar campus) and South University for RN-BSN. And I think a nurse having the freedom to advance their education online is a wonderful thing. This is the point I was making toward snubbing online degrees and making someone feel inferior. A good friend of mine is enrolled in Chamberlain now for RN-BSN, and will graduate soon. She has just about worked herself to death in this program, and took the course of study at a slower rate than recommended. I am intrigued and pleasantly surprised by the content for Chamberlain RN-BSN, especially the EBP focused curriculum. I worked with her and personally witnessed her growth as a nurse. Chamberlain did buy out old and very rigorous school called Deaconess, and more than likely inherited experienced faculty and tradition. I am with everyone here on making it the school’s responsibility to provide preceptors, or at the very least being upfront with students about travel requirements. If I had not known my preceptors, I could not have finished school without relocating. I will be forever indebting to by preceptors for their kindness, and they both know it. However, no school could promise me a preceptor, given my remote location and specialty. If you are a student reading this post and your school promises a preceptor, consider your location. Some schools consider 3 hours to be a “local” area for students to travel. We need to advocate for independent practice and prescribing. This should be a goal shared by all. We need to work to stream line our profession and take pride in others accomplishments. I do not see the forecast of over saturation of NPs, especially with the DNP mandate and aging population. Schools are changing their MSN programs to DNP, whether the mandate is actually implemented or not. Also, I greatly admire those who better our profession by precepting students. I think compensation should be made for preceptors, because this will insure very good preceptors who are interested in a student’s progress. But this will have to be mandated by the CCNE or it will never happen across the board.

Mentoring students is an important part of the ANCC standard. I understand you are frustrated and feel the need to be compensated for precepting students, but significant credit is offered toward the 5 year renewal through the ANCC for precepting students. I also understand that being a preceptor is time consuming. Perhaps the schools should start charging students extra money in order to pay preceptors. I know this would be a better option than what I witnessed from one NP preceptor, thankfully not my own. This NP really abused students, was making $$$ off of students (increasing the patient load and thus increasing per patient pay). This sort of thing is happening frequently, so yes, preceptors should be paid a flat fee by the school for being a preceptor. This would help ensure a greater number of preceptors and keep the abusive ones at bay. No offense, I know many of you make work for places that do not compensate you for the additional patient load that an NP student can help with. I do not believe that schools without a brick and mortar campus should offer NP programs. FuturreeastcostNP, I see in the threads where you are planning to attend an online program. As a matter of fact, one of these is the program I graduated from! After you earn your degree, and others come here bashing it, we will see how you react. And the ANCC or AANP exam will test to make sure you are competent. That is the entry to practice, same as the NCLEX. Futhermore, coming to this site to make fun of someone else for their education is lateral violence. I went to a state school that offered my specialty online and I do not like to have to argue my point. I have a MSN and passed the ANCC exam. This has gone farther than a stimulating discussion. And to think that some of you have been labeled “ guides”. I know that many school advertise on this site and whoever is behind this site is making money. Do not make fun of someone else because they took a step forward and obtained higher education. And do not place your self -worth as a nurse or person on where you received your degree.

My distance learning program provided preceptors only in a 100 mile radius of the school. While none of my classmates had to drop for lackof preceptors, many had to relocate or stay closer to the school in order to complete clinical hours (which defeats the purpose). Not one person who was required to relocate/travel expected to have to do this. I felt this was wrong, and as Soon2bAGNPstated, schools should have to give you your money back for being unable t ocomplete due to lack of preceptor availability. Schools should not admit students when they do not have/enough preceptors in the student’s geographical area. Period. Many people constantly bash online learning, but I graduated from a state school, fully prepared and ready to do my job. State schools are the traditional schools. My class had 100% pass rate on the ANCC exam. The curriculum has to be regulated or you cannot sit for the ANCC exam. Many very prestigious schools, Vanderbilt for instance, have gone to completely online with some specialtiesand follow the same format as my school. Welcome to technology. I did not have problems completing clinical hours, mainlybecause I worked with my preceptors. Ido know several of my classmates struggled with the lack of preceptor availability,as stated above. I did not lose one classmate over the preceptor shortage, as the school arranged preceptors if the student was willing to travel. We did lose classmates over failing the course and whining that it was the preceptor shortage (when these students had preceptors and could not handle the content). My school gets a bad rap at times because many students cannot handle the content and fail. What floors me is the number of people who attend on campus programs and the programs mandate that students find their own preceptors. A school obviously loses academic/alumni connections many miles away, but an oncampus program should not have this excuse. Also, when choosing a school, you need to know the school’s pass rate on the ANCC exam. If you cannot pass the ANCC or whatever exam your BON requires, you cannot practice as a NP (in most states) no matter the school you attend. Some people never pass the ANCC exam.