Skip to main content

Is Online Nursing School Legit?

 Is online nursing school a legit or is it a scam where you’ll pay for a useless degree? Great question and it’s wise that you’re asking this before you spend hard earned money to sign up.

Let’s answer this question right away. Online nursing school is legit, as long as you pick a well known one that is reputable and is accredited.

It’s important to be mindful that when you are searching for online nursing schools you have to make sure that they are legit and accredited. There are instances of online nursing schools not really being legitimate and people wasting money on them.

Unfortunately, what happens is that many desperate people are looking to become nurses because the pay is so high. Depending on what area you work as a nurse in, you could make over $130 dollars an hour.

When you couple that high pay with the flexibility of a nurses schedule –most nurses only have to work 3 days a week---and how easy it is to find jobs (nurse recruiters call daily with high paying offers)—it makes sense that people want to go into nursing.

But it’s more important than ever to make sure that you’ve sourced out the best online nursing schools so that you won’t waste money on a nursing school that will not make you a real nurse.

Nursing Degrees for RNs: Associates and BSN Online Programs

The first thing to look into is the difference between an Associates degree and an Bachelor degree in nursing.

You can find both of these degrees offered through online nursing schools.  The associates degree is going to be cheaper and faster to get than the BSN. There are a lot of reasons to get an Associates degree in nursing.

But both degrees are offered through online nursing schools. Some online nursing schools will only offer an Associates, while other schools might offer both programs.

There are many nurses who already have their associates degree and want to get a BSN. They might be working a full time schedule at a hospital or nursing home. The advantage to using a legit online nursing school is that they can sign in at work on their breaks or at home when they are not working and complete course quizzes and required attendance checklists to obtain their degree.

Online nursing programs for associates degrees are also available for people working full time who might not have the academic experience or financial ability to purse a BSN degree right away.

A home health aid or cashier might not have the funds to pay for a BSN, but they will have the ability to secure a government grant or loan to cover their online associates degree.

Can You Really Get an Nursing Degree Online?

Yes, you can really get an online nursing degree online. It is totally legit and many nurses have an online degree.

It’s very common, as a matter of fact. If you look at resumes of working nurses, many nurses have either gone to online nursing school for an BSN, or later degrees such as a MSN.

The reason that it’s common is that nurses tend to come from the working world where people enter straight from high school.

Many nurses start off their life as either a home health aid, a PCT,  or even an orderly in the hospital who handles cleaning and facility work.

People who did not have the academic record or otherwise were not able to go to college and went right into the workforce often look to pivot into a nursing career. It’s a highly paid role that does not require a formal education. It does require a nursing degree, though.

It’s essential that you attend nursing school if you are looking to become a nurse. And if you’re someone who was not able to go to college from high school, then online nursing school might be just the ticket to a high paying job.

What About Clinicals, Are They Online?

No. Almost everything about nursing can be taught online using videos and recorded lectures. Most nurses who get their degrees never set foot in a classroom. Even in person nursing schools have transitioned to online learning modules as the nurses demand this.

Most nurses work during the day—as home health aids, housekeepers, patient care techs, or even cashiers—and they do not have time to attend classes in person. So these students are able to sign up and take online night classes in their free time.

But there is one aspect of nursing school that cannot be handled online: clinicals.

The clinical component of nursing school needs to be done in person. There are no ways around this. The clinicals are the hands on learning where nurses learn how to physically perform the tasks that they have learned in class.

These tasks might include:

  • Taking vitals
  • Assessing a patient
  • Doing triage and intake
  • How to move a patient
  • Proper hygiene when changing a patient
  • How to deal with bodily fluids

Part of the reason that nurses are required to do in person clinicals is that a classroom environment won’t teach you what is necessary.

It’s possible for a nursing student to skip classes and do the bare minimum on assigned quizzes and still pass, so it’s considered important to make sure that they have an in person component of their schooling.

This also weeds out some of the less serious nursing students. While many nursing students can pass online nursing coursework without paying attention, if they sleep though clinical rotations or don’t show up for the events, then it is a good indication that they are not serious about becoming professionally behaved nurses.

How Do You Do Clinicals With Online Nursing Schools?

One of the most important things that you can do when you’re searching for an online nursing school is to make sure that they organize clinicals.

If the online nursing school is legit, then they will have the ability to connect you with hospitals, nursing homes, or other medical facilities where you can do your clinicals.

The majority of nurses take online courses. Most nurses now even get their entire degrees online though an online nursing school. So there is nothing to be wary off.

If the school does not list the associated nursing facilities that they are connected with, then you should be wary. That is a red flag and indicates that there is something wrong with the school.

The large online nursing schools all have deals with hospitals and medical clinics. Remember, hospital do not have to pay for nursing students who are performing clinicals, so to them it’s free labor. If you are dealing with an online nursing school that cannot assist you with obtaining and searching for a clinical component, then proceed with caution.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Can You List Content Mills on Your Resume?

 Freelance writers often struggle with how to list their experience on a resume. While that topic is too large for this single article, what I did want to do was cover the topic of so called “content mills”. These are online brokers who have people write out topics for any number of businesses. The writers are paid a small amount of money and the brokers then sell these pieces to businesses and online marketers who use it to build websites and promote companies. In the world of recruiting, any sort of freelance or online work is considered suspicious. However, when you’re recruiting for writers and digital marketers, you are bound to see this on resumes. I’ve handled several large scale hiring efforts for digital marketers and content writers for firms I’ve consulted with in the past. And I’ve seen more than a few CVs come in with all sorts of strange jobs listed on them. What I want to do here is give some tips on how to best list a content mill on your resume. Be...
Post a Comment
Read more

Do Nurse Recruiters Work Weekends?

  Nurse recruiters are an integral part of the nursing process. Without nurse recruiters, hospitals and clinics would be hard pressed to find nursing staff. It’s just the predicament that medical facilities are in nowadays. There are many reasons why nurse recruiters are needed, but suffice to say it’s a fact and it’s here to stay. With so many nurses being hired in recent years, there are also quite a few nurse recruiters being hired. And since nurses work weekends, sometimes as a per diem side hustle, sometimes as their scheduled shift, it becomes necessary to discuss the work schedule of nurse recruiters. This question and the following brief article is designed for all current nurse recruiters who are curious about what their schedule should be. And it’s also designed for potential nurse recruiters who have yet to start the job. These future nurse recruiters might be curious as to how much work they will be expected to do. So, with those questions understoo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Do Nurses Make Good Recruiters?

Nursing and recruiting go hand in hand in many large cities. It’s no secret that hospitals, clinics, mental health facilities, homeless shelters, and schools need nurses to be on staff. It’s also no secrete within the recruiting world that nurses are in such high demand that recruiters are needed to find and hire them. It’s not uncommon for a company to have multiple nurse recruiters working to find a single nurse. The reason nurses are in such high demand and why they are so difficult to find is the topic for another time, but suffice to say the field is growing and recruiters are necessary for finding and bringing nurses into work. Does that mean that nurses make good recruiters? Is there something special about nurses and how they work that would make them good recruiter? Well, it depends. It’s not that common for nurses to work as recruiters, but what about those that do? Do they have a special insight that makes them really good at their job? You’d think so. So, let’s see if that’...
Post a Comment
Read more