The shortage of nurses in the workforce has resulted in additional nursing education options such as online nursing programs. You may come across so many pop up ads on the internet with advertising “complete your nursing degree online”. What I would like to do is take this opportunity to discuss these so-called online nursing programs and how to decide if this is something you may want to pursue.
I want to bring to your attention that to become a nurse, the online nursing programs will not be made up of only online classes. Becoming a nurse will involve clinicals which obviously cannot be completed online. Most of nursing is hands on. You have to practice and have experience to gain nursing knowledge. For example you can read about how to take a blood pressure manually but you will only learn how to do this if you do it hands out. Nursing may be kind of like driving a car. Obviously you never took a driver’s education course completely online and then earned a drivers license (or at least I hope there is no such thing as that).
It is important to check to make sure that online nursing programs are accredited. The National League of Nursing is one organization that gives an educational program accreditation. Make sure that you read the fine print of these advertised online nursing programs. Many may not be as great as they sound or may not be accredited. I have met too many potential nurses along the way that have paid tuition and enrolled in a nursing program that was not accredited.
Most online nursing programs include those that are designed for nurses such as registered nurses that already have their license and want to advance. For example, my local community college offered a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree that could be completed online within about one and a half years. Although the courses offered classes online, some involved assignments or projects that required the registered nurse to volunteer in some type of community based nursing setting such as the public health department. This program was not only accredited but became a very convenient educational option for those nurses working full-time or with varied work hours.
Online nursing programs are not for everyone. Classes are convenient with the flexibility of logging onto courses at anytime of the day. Most students find they absorb information better if they are in front of an instructor. Others feel that they will be more likely to focus and complete their courses if they are required to attend class. It may become easy for someone to forget to log onto their courses and forget about deadlines. Some are not very computer literate.
Many nurses have been greatly satisfied with online nursing programs such as the bachelors of science in nursing online program that was offered by my college. Some are independent learners and preferred to complete an online course without the hassle of driving down to the campus and sitting besides other students. In addition many were used to working the night shift as a nurse and would log onto their online class and complete their assignments at times such as 3 AM.
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