Think You've Got What it Takes for Accelerated RN Programs?

If you are a working professional making plans for a career change to nursing, you may want to check out accelerated RN programs, rather than an entry level Registered Nurse program. Many people move to nursing from other careers or training programs. An accelerated RN program is one means for anyone that have working experience and education in other fields to make the move to nursing and start working quickly.

Accelerated RN programs aren’t a means to cut corners, either - simply because they require the exact same number of clinical hours to be accomplished as any other Registered Nurse program, though usually in longer shifts and more extreme schedules.

Given the growing shortage or nursing professionals, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing strongly supports these speedier training programs, and for numerous reasons. Although an accelerated RN program will get you out of your current career path and working as an RN in record time, usually between 11 and 18 months, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who considers accelerated RN programs easier than entry level training programs. Accelerated RN programs are challenging, geared toward people having a demonstrated ability to learn quickly, process new information and keep drive through all the challenges.

An accelerated nursing program normally goes full time. While most individuals participating in these kinds of programs tend to be older than non-traditional students, accelerated RN programs are different from other non-traditional nursing programs in that they're actually more rigorous, not less. Where lots of nontraditional nursing students go to night classes, or complete their training online at their own speed, permitting them to still work full time or raise their children while in school, accelerated RN program students usually are full time nursing students,.

A final concern that many people have when thinking about accelerated RN programs is if these types of programs are seen as somewhat less valuable than conventional programs by potential employers. It seems that it's actually the opposite, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. As a result of experience, many supervisors have come to value nurses that have gone through these programs a lot. Since these nurses came from careers and educations in different career fields, they often have skill-sets and outlooks rare within entry level nurses. Whether they make the jump to nursing from business, a hard science, or even a completely unrelated field, nurses from accelerated RN programs typically have much to offer to a functioning team.

So, if your career field has been damaged by economic decline, or you just believe you might have missed your calling, an accelerated RN program could be just the stepping stone you'll need to start a fulfilling and successful new occupation.