Nursing Education - How to Choose an Online Nursing School By Brent McNutt At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Online or distance education is a convenient way to get your nursing degree and discount landau scrubs, especially if you're tied to other obligations such as work and family. If you are planning to get a nursing degree (or advanced degree), however, you have to make a thorough self-assessment to determine if you have the discipline to succeed and finish it. Online education is not for everyone, needless to say. It requires a lot of discipline and independence. It also suits some personalities and learning styles more than others. Once you've determined that distance learning is for you, the next step critical step is choosing the right online school or provider. You have to be very careful about choosing a distance education provider especially because the internet is a hotbed of scams and people out to get your money. Because healthcare online programs are abundant, scams and mediocrities are also abundant. Below are some guidelines to help you choose a reliable provider.

Accreditation

When searching for an online program, the first thing you want to check is accreditation. Not just because it says in the website that it is "accredited" that you should already trust the program. It should be accredited by a legitimate and recognized accrediting organization. The program's or school's accrediting agency should appear in the database of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. There are a lot of fake agencies proliferating in the internet and if you earn a degree with one of these schools with fake accreditation your credentials will be no good for a job placement.

Licensing

The healthcare sector is strictly regulated by national and state licensing boards. If you wish to pursue an online nursing or advanced degree with a certain provider, check that the programs offered by the provider meet industry standards, particularly in the state where you are planning to work. Research your state's licensing requirements for registered nurses and check that the provider produced a high rate of "graduates" who passed the licensing examinations and became registered nurses. Only buy an education that will translate to a career transition.

Field experience

Check that the online program offers clinical on-the-field instruction on top of the online, didactic instruction. Learning nursing and other clinical specialties require hands-on experience and are as crucial, if not more so, than textbook instruction. There are many core curriculum courses in nursing that can be learned online through studying lessons but courses that have clinical requirements should be taught and experienced on the field. Be very skeptical about an online school that does not require field experience. Most probably, this online school does not meet the state licensing requirements.

Payment scheme

Watch out for online schools or distance programs that require you to pay the whole amount of your tuition up front in lump sum. Distance schools are susceptible to high dropout rates and these schools are aware of this fact. Some of these dubious schools take advantage of this knowledge and get students to pay for the whole tuition fee and then refuse a refund when after one course the student realizes that the program is not for him or her.

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