Why is there a 7 year limit on prerequisites for nursing?

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Had a hopefully easy question but wanted a full answer, I have taken ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, and MICROBIOLOGY at CALSTATE LA around 10-12 years ago, I have been a EMT for the last 10 years in the hospital system. Wanted to know why some schools but not all require PREREQUISITES to be within 7 years? My GPA is 3.8 in the classes and there at a university, i find it unethical that a college would place these barriers on nursing for no apparent reason or benefit. Seems more like a money hungry move since not all schools are doing this. Also there is no other degree or field of study, like ENGINEERING, where this requirement is being made. Could someone please justify this or give me a answer they think the schools would give? Also what legal ramifications do i have to fight this?

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At my school (and probably the majority of schools here in Missouri) they require prerequisite to be within 5 years. The reasoning (in my opinion) for this is to ensure that you haven’t forgotten the important foundational information that would make you more successful in nursing school.

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The community college system near me will accept those pre-requisites regardless of when they were taken, however, I know a few of the major universities do require them to be within the last 7 years. For me as I took these classes 10 years ago I would not feel that I would have the ability to recall important information that would be critical in nursing school. I had also been in nursing school then for 3 semesters and would also not rely on my memory of those to be successful this time around. Since you have been working in a related field, I would think you could potentially ask to see if there is some way of testing out of those courses, but I don't know if there is anything legally you can do.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Information CHANGES with time. New things are being advanced all the time.

When I took graduate level Cell Biology, there was only TALK about the discovery and working with monoclonal antibodies. NOW ...

Like said above, there is concern that much could be forgotten in the interim between old and new school.

And then there's new info.

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Specializes in BMT.

Part of the reason is that the information is fresh in your mind. Those courses are fundamentals for nursing, so you need a good understanding for those to understand diseases and treatments.

Another part is things change. The summer after I took cadaver anatomy, another ligament was “discovered” in the knee, and within the past two years an additional organ was “discovered” because new details about function and structure emerged.

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Specializes in Gyn Onc, ICU, School Nursing, Health Education.

My school didn't have any kind of limits, but it is a CC. The 4yr college in the same area has the 7yr limit, so I choose the CC and ASN instead.

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Specializes in ED.
On 8/3/2019 at 9:33 PM, mdwatkins13 said:

Could someone please justify this or give me a answer they think the schools would give? Also what legal ramifications do i have to fight this?

Prerequisite courses form the foundation of knowledge which nursing classes are built on. Having prerequisites which expire is a schools way of setting you up to succeed by ensuring you have a current base of knowledge to build on, and its also protection for the school. They don't want to admit a student who will struggle to keep up and may not finish.

You likely have zero grounds to fight this legally and would likely be wasting your time and money as well as the schools.

I would suggest that you talk with prospective schools and see if they have waivers for this kind of thing, or ask about challenging the classes if you think that your knowledge is still current enough to pass.

Lastly, the majority of other fields of study do not require prerequisites, you simply declare your major and go about your business, therefore no one is looking at the age of your credits. Though I am sure that if you wanted to study computer science and the majority of your foundational courses were taken 12 years ago, an advisor would STRONGLY recommend you retake those courses so that you would have a chance to succeed in your studies.

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Specializes in Addictions, Psych.

I'm at a CC and I had to have all my sciences within the last 7 years. To my understanding, the rationale is to ensure your knowledge is fresh and based on current information and not potentially outdated.

Legally there's nothing you can do. It's not discriminatory in the legal sense -- I believe legally discrimination is due to age, race, gender, or sexual orientation; basically characteristics that cannot be modified.

What do you hope to accomplish by searching for "legal" solutions? Trying to strong-arm a program into accepting you isn't setting you up to have a great time, and they can potentially deny you for other reasons anyway if your application isn't competitive.

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Specializes in Dialysis.

The only "ramifications" you have is to apply to a school that will accept your credits

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You find it unethical that the school wants you to be well prepared for their program? And I fail to see how its "money hungry" considering nearly all students returning to school take their prereqs at a CC, so the nursing school is certainly not profiting off of these requirements.

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I wanted to address some points made in the comments.

1. Nursing is the only degree that has a time requirement attached to it. No other major can claim this.

2. This time requirement is different at different schools and not required at all in other schools. You cannot claim "the rationale is to ensure your knowledge is fresh and based on current information and not potentially outdated" when you have no scientific nor research to show that a time requirement is necessary and also why the different time requirements?

3. If you can make a time requirement on course work, you can make a time requirement on degrees. Do you want to take your major classes again after 5 or 7 years bc you forgot the classes or things have changed?

4. You can absolutely sue the school and get the state involved. Nursing is regulated by the government and so is the college. The colleges provided anatomy, physiology, and micro biology as a class with credits. They must honor their agreement for money that these classes will be honored and accepted. No where in a school contract does it state class passed are only valid for X years. Imagine you paying money for a degree and spending months or years to get it only to be told it expires. DAMAGES DAMAGES DAMAGES IN COURT.

Degrees don't expire, complete classes don't expire, nursing schools making up their own rules on expiration dates of course work and refusing to accept state approved and regulated college course work runs foul of state mandates on colleges. The fact that no one questions this sickens me, can't wait till your nursing school sends you a letter telling you your nursing degree is expiring in 5 years and see how that feels.

Please address my points,

Why the different time periods for expiration?

What scientific study can you show for memory loss of course work in that time period? No feelings, need facts and evidence.

How can a college that is regulated by state and feds and accepts FAFSA or grant money from government violate their agreement with the state by not accepting units paid for by government funds?

Please reply with answers

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Not many of us work in college nursing program administration. I doubt that anyone who can speak for these schools in an official capacity is willing to debate with you on this platform. While you may have valid questions, this is probably not the place where you are going to get answers.

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