Nursing is a fantastic area of healthcare to get into. Not only are nurses paid well, but they are also in high demand. Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, there have been massive shortages of nurses in the healthcare industry, whether because they have quit due to the pressure put upon them or because they have had to take time off due to sickness and ill health.
There’s never been a better time than now to get into nursing. However, before you can become a nurse, you need some kind of qualification or degree.
This post will tell you about accelerated nursing programs, why you should join one, and how they can help to become a nurse quickly.
Fast-tracked
An accelerated nursing program will allow you to become a nurse a lot quicker. A typical bachelor’s course would take anywhere from two to three years to complete. An ABSN online course, on the other hand, can be completed in as little as a year. This means that you are able to significantly reduce the amount of time that you would have to study for. Reducing the amount of time that you have to study means you’ll be able to get to work a lot sooner.
Distance Learning
Online courses offer, as you might expect, distance learning. Distance learning is when you learn from home (or wherever you are when your course takes place). More simply, it is a course that does not require you to attend a physical location to participate in lectures. Distance learning means that you won’t have to commute to college every day, meaning that you will be able to study from home and can even work whilst simultaneously studying.
More Affordable
Online accelerated nursing courses are a lot more affordable than traditional courses. The reason for this is that because they are over a lot faster, course providers don’t have to charge lots of money. These courses are typically over in as little as a year, and as already mentioned, bachelor’s degrees in a college setting can take up to three years to finish. If you are short on cash or don’t want to take out a large student loan, then one of these online courses is definitely a good idea. You will be able to save a lot of money.
Earlier Start Times
These courses also tend to have much earlier start times. Traditional college courses start in September, and sometimes also in December. Accelerated courses take place at various points in the year, meaning you can access one almost immediately without having to wait for the course to begin. It can be a huge waste of time waiting to start a course. You won’t be able to make any progress until you have started your course, but naturally won’t be able to start until the course officially begins, which means that you will be in a state of limbo.
Flexible Studying
Accelerated courses are a lot more flexible. Some courses don’t even require you to actually attend your lectures (i.e., sign onto Zoom or Skype and participate)—some will allow you to record your lectures and watch them later. Many accelerated learning course providers will record the lectures themselves and then send them out to students via email, meaning that there aren’t actually any lectures that need to be attended.
This means that students are able to study more flexibly, even allowing them to take up jobs on the side. You could get a nursing job to get experience while studying if you take one of these courses.
Earning Potential
Whilst it’s not actually necessary to have a bachelor’s degree to become a nurse since you can take a course at community college, having a degree will immediately mean that you are able to command higher wages. In order to command high wages as an entry-level nurse with a community college diploma, you would have to work for a number of years in order to get a promotion. Many nurses with community college diplomas also have to go to university when they are ready to get a promotion since a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree is a requirement for many high-level positions.
Self-motivation
If you want to become a nurse and want to access an accelerated learning course, then you need to be able to motivate yourself. Because these courses aren’t as strict as traditional nursing courses, you won’t have as much supervision, and therefore, will have to motivate yourself to work. If you aren’t able to motivate yourself to work then you won’t get anything done.
Self-motivation is unfortunately a characteristic that a lot of people lack. It is, however, essential. Make sure that you are confident in your abilities to motivate yourself to study if you are going to try and become a nurse.
Heavier Workload
In addition to having to motivate yourself, you also need to be prepared for a heavier workload. Accelerated courses condense three years’ worth of course materials into a single year. The heavier workload means that you will have to study a lot harder. Because of how much content is crammed into a year’s worth of studying, these courses tend to be a lot stricter too.
If you don’t appear to be performing well or you aren’t absorbing the information that you’re being taught, then your lecturers might recommend that you take a break and complete the course when you have the time or motivation.
Revision Material
When you participate in an accelerated learning course, you get access to a huge amount of revision material. The same is also true for a university course. If you are going to participate in one of these courses, then make sure that you save as much of the revision material as you can. This material will come in handy later on in life when you are a nurse. Revision material is something that you should always save and store away in folders.
Accelerated nursing programs are a highly effective way of increasing your chances of getting into nursing, not to mention making becoming a nurse a lot faster. Traditional courses take anywhere from two to three years, with some even taking four years and more. Make sure to only ever apply for one of these courses if you are confident that you’ll be able to keep up.
