RN to BSN programs

PamRNC · Feb 12, 2006

Depends on how many credits of your RN program and other prior education/experience will be counted towards the program in the school you decide to go to. Many colleges will offer you credits for life experience if you complete some kind of portfolio for them. The length of time it takes depends entirely on you, and how many classes you are willing/able to handle at a time. Other considerations may be if the school gives you the opportunity to test out of certain classes.

Run a search for RN to BSN programs, and check out the student boards here.

Good luck and congrats for planning on going for your BSN.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2006

Usually they are six semester credits and take 18 to 24 months.

I had some coreq courses like Chemistry and Statistics to take, so mine is going to take me 2-1/2 years part time. Also the school I choose requires two religion courses, and a western civ. I hadn't had. Here's my course of study: (Most NLN approved courses of study basically have the same course nurses courses)

Cognate Component (9 credit hours)

DCHE101 3 credits Principles of Chemistry

DSOC349 3 credits Aging and Society

Nursing Component (37 credit hours)

DNRS326 3 credits Concepts of Professional Nursing

DNRS327 4 credits Health Promotion and Assessment

DNRS328 4 credits Principles of Pathophysiology

DNRS329 3 credits Pharmocology

DNRS446 3 credits Community Health Nursing

DNRS447 3 credits Population Focused Health Promotion

DNRS485 3 credits Leadership and Management in Nursing

DNRS497 3 credits Nursing Research Methods

DNRS499 3 credits Seminar in Nursing

DMAT205 3 credits Applied Statistics for Health Sciences

DREL368 3 credits World Religions

DHIS174 3 credits World Civilizations

DHPE125 2 credits Health and Wellbeing

michelle95 · Feb 12, 2006

I know each school is different, but, do you guys know how much clinical time is involved?

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Feb 12, 2006

I know each school is different, but, do you guys know how much clinical time is involved?

Every program varies, but the RN-to-BSN clinical time is usually a lot less than what you did for the ADN.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2006

I know a girl who did RN to BSN at University of Tampa and had to do 120 hours of managment and 120 of public health.

I'm in an online program and don't do clinicals. I write a lot of papers instead. I think I have to do 8 hours with someone in management and write a paper about that.

So again, it varies widely from none to 240 in this area.

michelle95 · Feb 12, 2006

Thanks guys. I had talked to someone at Jax U...they told me shadowing someone for a few hours was the only clinical hours. But, they are very expensive.

I'm moving back to P'cola (housing is so high here) and thinking about either the "traditional" way through UWF or online through USA (South AL). I'm leaning towards USA.

Are you happy with online education, Tweety?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2006

Michelle, I like the flexibility of online, which fits into my schedule anytime I choose, rather than having to show up for a class. (Although once a week there is an online chat session for one hour live). I choose online as opposed to the cheaper local school because of no clinical component and that I was working night shift at the time. I love it.

Good luck to you.

kidsRNkathy · Feb 13, 2006

I just finished a RN to BSN program (had a hospital diploma). It was 20 month lock step(meaning you go from beingining to end with same group of folks taking same classes etc).Attended one night per week plus writing and group projects. The BIG benefit was meeting some great people. The class was only 12 people and it was a small college so there was a lot of personal attention from the instructors. We did have 3 clinical rotations, from 12- 70 hours. The draw back was getting out of work on time to attend and being there everyweek when my family was falling apart. Glad I did it. The group work kept me on track and accountable to others. I would probably still be at it if I did an online program-I hear you must be motivated and dedicated to make on-line work, so good luck with whichever you choose. It's a big step but worth it--I did it for me and don't regret it one bit.

:coollook: