Tag Archive for 'rn'

Is it Time to Upgrade Your Nursing Degree?

Published
by
admin
on March 31, 2011
in Nursing Education
. 1 Comment

i_nurses_2In most professions, continuing your education is part of the process of advancement—and a nursing career is no different. Although many nurses only go as high as an Associate degree and an RN license and are perfectly happy at that level for decades, you might have more growth in mind. Maybe you want to specialize in geriatrics or you’re hoping to become a nurse practitioner and open your own office. Whatever your personal and professional goals, the way to get there could be through another round of nursing school.

The Nursing Degree Basics

If you’re like the majority of nurses, you have either an LPN or RN license. Depending on where you went to school and what kind of degree you attained, this means you have either a certification or an Associate or Bachelor’s degree. In the hierarchy of the nursing field, the progression through education looks like this:

  • CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant), a certification earned in as little as a few weeks
  • LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse), a certification or diploma earned in less than a year
  • LPN-to-RN (Licensed Practical Nurse to Registered Nurse), a one-year advancement program
  • ADN (Associate Degree in Nursing, also a Registered Nurse), a two-year degree
  • LPN-to-BSN (Licensed Practical Nurse to Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing), a program that can take between three and four years, depending on your situation
  • RN-to-BSN (Registered Nurse to Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing), a two-year course that builds on an existing Associate degree in nursing
  • BSN (Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing, also a Registered Nurse), a four-year degree
  • BSN-to-MSN (Bachelor’s of Science of Nursing to Master’s of Science in Nursing), an eighteen- to twenty-four-month Master’s level program
  • MSN (Master’s of Science in Nursing, often interchanged with Nurse Practitioner), a total of six years of training
  • DNP, PhD (Doctorate), which builds on a Master’s degree and can take anywhere from a year to up to five years, depending on your area of study

Advancing Your Nursing Education

As you can see, there are many different programs, and even more nursing schools that offer them. From local community college programs to online nursing courses, there are many opportunities to advance your education and reach your educational goals.

Of course, all of these programs take time, money, and might even require you to move to a new location, so going back to school is never a decision to take lightly. However, with higher salaries, more managerial roles, the potential to teach nursing, and the chance to compete for the best nursing jobs in the country, nurses with advanced degrees have so many more opportunities to succeed.

Related Topics:

LPN-to-RN and RN-to-BSN Programs

What Kind of Nursing Degree is Right For You?

Find a Nursing School in Your City

Whether Nursing Program Is Extensive or Accelerated, Focus on Fundamentals

Published
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admin
on June 7, 2010
in Nursing Education
. 0 Comments

i_student_3An increasing number of nursing schools, universities, community colleges, vocational schools and corresponding online nursing programs, are starting to offer “accelerated” ADN (Associate’s Degree) and BSN (Bachelor of Science Degree) programs. The major motivating factor for this is the coming shortage of nursing. The shortage is expected to hit the health care workforce head on in the next few years.

School administrators are realizing that by the end of next year at the earliest, the job market lull will have passed and there will be more nursing jobs than nurses. In an effort to prepare for this need, schools are attempting to graduate as many nurses as quickly as possible, however, without compromising the integrity of their nursing education. Students seeking an accelerated BSN may graduate faster, but the road to their nursing license is more intense than the traditional four year program.

Whether you choose to get your nursing degree on the fast track or at a less hectic pace, via the conventional route, here are some fundamentals to pay particular attention to during your education and clinicals.

Pay Attention to the Meds: School is the time to learn as much as possible about as many commonly prescribed medications as possible, as well as to master your medication dosage calculations. Even with calculators and computers, it is important to know why you are giving the amount of medication that you are giving (and be sure it’s the right amount).

Teaching: I have written about this in previous blogs but cannot emphasize enough the nurse’s role of patient and family teaching. Many instances of patients being readmitted after discharge with complications could be prevented with proper, thorough, clear patient teaching.

Time Management: This one is a biggie. Nursing school is the time to figure out all your responsibilities as an RN and how to organize and prioritize them within one shift. After graduation, you will rarely have the luxury of figuring this out.

Infectious Disease Precautions: Unfortunately, infectious diseases are becoming more and more prevalent in health care and it is important to learn to differentiate between the types of illnesses and proper precautions.

There are of course a host of other priority learning items during your nursing school education that your very capable instructors will take you through.  Consider this a set of “cliff notes” to highlight the things that I found to be most important as a new grad.

The LPN to RN Transition

Published
by
admin
on January 5, 2010
in Nursing Education
. 4 Comments

i_nurses_3This is an ideal time for LPN’s considering making the transition to RN, to make that leap. A typical LPN to RN transition program is one year long, however it varies based on the program and the intensity of the schedule the student elects to follow. There are both advantages and disadvantages for the LPN nursing student as compared to the newbie RN in training. Fortunately, the pros outweigh the cons.

LPN’s have already been out the in field, working side by side with RN’s in hospitals and nursing home settings.  They understand the nurse’s place on the patient care team and have seen for themselves all the challenges and stress that nurses face. This undoubtedly helps to prevent the “RN burnout” that many new grad RN’s face during their first year.

LPN’s making the transition to RN’s also have working knowledge of patient care challenges. LPN’s who have worked in nursing homes have critical experience managing large patient loads and working with patients suffering from memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s. This is a group of patients that can require a period of adjustment and learning for the new RN.

The challenges faced by the transitioning LPN are related to their change of hat. Because of their role assisting RN’s with their duties, LPN’s frequently get the feeling that they know what it takes to become an RN because they have actually done it. Yes, they may have learned important clinical and patient care skills, but what LPN’s are missing that they will gain in their RN training, is the critical thinking and academic knowledge base.

As LPN’s they may be used to turning to the RN or the MD for help with critical patient care decisions. RN’s are expected to utilize their knowledge base and critical thinking skills to be instrumental in key decisions, even recognizing when a doctor has unintentionally made an error on a medication order. This requires a period of adjustment for the LPN nursing student.

However, the fact remains that LPN’s have a proven edge over their “newbie” nursing student counterparts in RN training programs. As the expression goes – they have been there and done that.