Accelerated Nursing Education
Accelerated nursing education means getting a nursing degree or credential by a "fast-track" process. With the anticipated shortage of nurses, there has been an attempt by many institutions to graduate more nurses as quickly as possible, without losing the quality of their education.
Accelerated nursing programs give individuals with non-nursing degrees credit for the education they already have, thus making the length of their nursing programs shorter. For example, someone with a baccalaureate degree in another subject could enter a nursing school and get a bachelor's degree in nursing (BSN) in 12 to18 months. Someone with a master's degree can get an MSN degree in about three years.
In 2008, 43 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico offered a total of 218 accelerated bachelor's degree programs and 57 master's degree programs. More are being developed.
How does this work? Students working for their BSN in a four-year program are required to take liberal arts courses and have a firm academic foundation on which to build. Students who already possess bachelor's degrees have already taken many of the classes they need, especially in the arts and social sciences. They receive credit for these courses. If they did take specific prerequisite science classes, they receive credit for those classes as well. If they did not take certain prerequisite classes, because their baccalaureate was in a very different field, they may have to take a couple of classes before they begin their nursing program. The classes may be offered by the school that accepts them.
Since programs for baccalaureate degrees in nursing use a student's previous academic experience as a base to build on, they must have graduated with at least a 3.0 GPA. Students are thoroughly screened. Since this will be their second degree, they are older than students getting their BSN straight away. They have higher academic expectations and are choosing to take on more of a challenge. They have more life experience as well as academic experience.
This type of training is not for everybody. Although they have received credit for some of their undergraduate work, they still need all the nursing training. These students will get the same number of clinical hours as those in a regular program, but they will be completed in less calendar time. This means that the pace is very fast. Classes are full-time, and there are no breaks in between terms. Students are expected not to work at the same time.
Teachers find these students to be motivated and eager to learn. It is also reported that they usually pass their NCLEX-RN tests on the first try. Employers who hire these graduates find them more mature and well-educated.
Some students with bachelor's degrees who want to go into nursing choose to get a second bachelor's degree. Others may be motivated to get a master's degree in nursing instead. This is a longer commitment and even more rigorous than the accelerated bachelor's degree program. Currently there are less students studying for the accelerated MSN, because it takes more of a financial as well as a time commitment. They are also a more diverse group, from people who just graduated from college to those who already have another career and have decided to make a change.
Either of the accelerated programs can be a challenge to pay for, since students do not have time to work. However, there are employers who will pay students to train in accelerated programs in exchange for a commitment to work for the employer after graduation.
Schools offering accelerated nursing programs have seen the number of applicants rise year after year. Schools with these programs are expanding, and new programs are expected to be available. At the current time, 37 nursing colleges are preparing to offer accelerated BSN programs, while 13 are getting ready to offer accelerated master's degree program.
Published: 2009-10-14
