The ever changing U.S. economy along with the desire of numerous employees to make a difference have lead to an increasing curiosity about nursing as a career. Furthermore, more than one million new and replacement registered nurses is going to be required in the United States by 2016, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In response to those factors, nursing schools are providing new approaches, such as second degree nursing programs and accelerated nursing programs, to attracting and quickly educating more nurses while keeping the high quality and integrity of nursing education in general.
In 1990, there have been 31 second degree BSN programs and merely a dozen accelerated MSN programs around in the U.S. Today you will find 205 BSN programs and 56 MSN programs.
Upon completing an accelerated or second degree program, students qualify to take the licensing exam for RNs, the NCLEX-RN, that is required by the Boards of Nursing in most 50 states and U.S. territories.
According to second degree program educators, most applicants satisfy the arts and social science prerequisites of the programs, although some do not satisfy the natural sciences requirements. To assist these students, nearly all second degree nursing programs provide these prerequisites right before the beginning of the accelerated program. Personal interviews with representatives from the Department of Nursing in the given educational institution are often required too.
Admission standards for second degree nursing programs are high and in most cases require a 3.0 GPA at a minimum. Persons thinking about such programs must lodge a formal application to the educational institution of their choice and meet all its admission requirements. College transcripts are reviewed to make sure that all requirements for a second degree nursing program are fulfilled.
Students doing second degree nursing programs are usually older and much more motivated, with higher academic anticipations than students who enter traditional nursing programs right from high school. Students in second degree nursing programs have high grade-point averages and usually pass their licensing exams about the first try.
Second degree nursing programs accept all course units successfully accomplished by students in their first degree. This effectively satisfies the prerequisites of the BSN plan. Many second degree nursing programs could be finished in 12 to 18 months, while MSN programs created for non-nursing graduates usually take 3 years to complete. The accelerated nature of those programs means they are especially right for people who are seeking to make a change of career, but the pace of the programs can be tough. They often involve intense instruction periods and can include the same quantity of clinical hours as those provided to students in traditional programs.
A well known approach is the second degree nursing program. Often called accelerated nursing programs, they permit those who currently have a baccalaureate degree (BA) from an accredited university or college in an area apart from nursing to obtain the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree within four years. These programs can be found at both baccalaureate and master’s degree (MA) levels.
Second Degree Nursing Programs – A Closer Look
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