LIVE From South College - Accelerated BSN Student & Alumni Candid Conversation - "Dream Meet Direction"

Summary In this episode of the Live From South College podcast, host Kathleen Stockham engages in a candid discussion with current Accelerated BSN student, Abigail and ABSN alumni, Carson.  They explore the challenges and rewards of the nursing program, share personal stories about their journeys into nursing, and provide valuable advice for prospective nursing students. The conversation highlights the importance of adaptability, the emotional experiences in clinical settings, and the supportive community at South College.

Takeaways

• The Accelerated BSN program is designed for those with a bachelor's degree in another field, focusing on a fast-paced nursing curriculum.
• Personal connections and experiences, such as family influences, often drive individuals to pursue nursing.
• Time management and planning are crucial for success in an accelerated nursing program.
• Clinical experiences can be both challenging and rewarding, teaching adaptability and quick thinking.
• Support from peers and faculty is vital in navigating the rigors of nursing school.
• Experiencing patient fatalities can be a significant emotional challenge for nursing students.
• Passing predictor exams is a major milestone in nursing education, providing confidence for the NCLEX.
• Building relationships with classmates can lead to lifelong friendships and support networks.
• Self-care, including hydration and breaks, is essential during long shifts and study sessions.
• Trusting the process and being open to learning are key to success in nursing careers.

titles

• Navigating the Accelerated BSN Journey
• Personal Stories from Nursing Students

Sound Bites

• "I love nursing."
• "It gets better."
• "Just do it."

Chapters

00:00Introduction to South College Podcast

01:30Choosing Nursing: Personal Journeys

05:09The Accelerated BSN Program Experience

09:04Surviving the Challenges of Nursing School

11:45Advice for Future Nurses

15:18Memorable Moments in Nursing School

19:05Navigating the First Job in Nursing

22:48Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Got a question? Have some feedback? Email us at SouthCollegePodcast@south.edu or come visit us at www.south.edu.  Follow us on social media too.  The Live from South College Podcast is your source for all South College activity including new student information, deeps dive’s into our 100+ programs, and concentrations,  “Tools of the Trade,” and even Live on location from all of our campuses! Great interviews with Faculty, Staff, Deans and hear from South College students and alumni in their own words. From Certificates all the way to Doctoral degrees, catch up with “Live from South College” for the lighter side of helping your dreams find direction. 

Transcript

TRANSCRIPT – Accelerated BSN  Student & Alumni Candid Conversation – “Dream Meet Direction”

Kathleen Stockham (00:33)

Welcome to the Live From South College podcast. I'm your host Kathleen Stockham. The Live From South College podcast is your source for all South College activity, including new student information, deep dives into our 100 plus programs and concentrations, tools of the trade, and even live on location from all of our campuses. Great interviews and hear from South College students and alumni in their own words.

from certificates all the way to doctoral degrees, catch up with live from South College for the lighter side of helping your dreams find direction. Well, we're gonna have a little fun today. Have you ever wanted to go back in time to speak to a younger you? Or maybe talk to someone who's already been in your shoes or walked in your path and is already out there working and doing what you wanna do? Well, today, we're gonna do just that. I have invited a current bachelor 

of science nursing accelerated student and also an alumni of our accelerated BSN program who is currently working as a registered nurse. We're going to have a candid and transparent conversation about the good, the bad and the rewards amongst the really hard work for one of our toughest and largest programs at South College. For our dream meet direction segment which pairs a current student and an alumni from the same program, it is my pleasure to welcome BSN student Abigail and South College alumni in current ER nurse Carson to the program. Welcome ladies.

Abigail DeWitt (02:11)

Thank you, glad to be here.

Carson  (02:13)

Thanks, thanks for having me.

Kathleen Stockham (02:15)

All right, well thanks for being here. The Accelerated BSN is geared towards anyone with a bachelor's degree in another area, usually healthcare, and it provides a very focused curriculum of at least another 18 months of nursing instruction to prepare you to sit for the NCLEX licensure exam to become an RN. It's meant to go fast and be challenging, and it's a great program to help prepare you for the rigors of not only the NCLEX, but for the challenges of being a true frontline healthcare worker. Okay, ladies, let's break it down. For both of you, we'll start with you, Abigail. What led you to choose nursing as your pathway?

Abigail DeWitt (02:58)

The simplest way I can put it is I just love people. When I was younger, my grandmother, she was a nurse, and I would always hear how she talked about her patients. And she kind of imbued that love of people into me. And it's very funny because I actually used to carry band-aids on the playground in elementary school for the kids that were falling down.

Kathleen Stockham (03:19)

Okay, I love that, I love that. Carson, what about you? What led you to choose nursing as your path?

Carson  (03:26)

My love for anatomy and physiology definitely was number one for me. When I was in my undergrad, I didn't know if I wanted to go to medical school, PA school, but definitely Abigail,  I can second that love for people. I really wanted to be hands-on with patients and what other way to do that than like be a nurse. It's kind of funny actually, my grandma was also a nurse. She was in the OR for almost about 40 years and hearing her tell stories. as I was growing up about patients and crazy things she saw definitely influenced me to be a nurse for sure.

Kathleen Stockham (03:58)

Yeah, that's awesome. All right, Abigail, you're a current student, so why South College?

Abigail DeWitt (04:04)

So when I was in high school, I knew I wanted to choose nursing and I didn't have any idea where to start, where to look for a college. There were so many options. And so I called around to a couple of places and I really, really liked South College for two reasons. One, the classes were small. So I knew that I would get to know my professors and that I wouldn't just be a number on their roster. The second reason was that South College was the only place to call me back, check on me, and it's very evident that they care about the students here.

Kathleen Stockham (04:35)

Yeah, that's great. All right, Carson, same question. Why South College?

Carson  (04:40)

For my undergrad, I was away from home for four years. South College, at least in Knoxville, was at home, could live with my parents, could be at home with them after being away from 18 to 22. And I also, I liked the class size and how personal it was. My class size was 20, 30 people, but the professors knew my name, clinical instructors knew my name, they knew where I was at, knew if I was struggling. Definitely that personal feel to my education was something I didn't get in a big school for my undergrad.

I want to definitely switch it up.

Kathleen Stockham (05:09)

Yeah, that's great. All right, so Carson, a question for you. For the accelerated program, it's well… accelerated. So truthfully speaking, was it really hard because it went so fast?

Carson  (05:22)

Yes, I mean the speed definitely was a factor, but regardless if it was an 18-month program like the accelerated one is, or even a 24-month one, it's the same education. Thankfully, I learned a lot in my undergrad, knew how to write papers, knew how to study. But I think that the accelerated program, at least to me, in my opinion, is a lot more rewarding because you learn so much in such a short amount of time. I definitely felt ready at the end of 18 months to sit for my NCLEX, for sure.

Kathleen Stockham (05:46)

And Abigail, how are you handling the speed of the program so far?

Abigail DeWitt (05:51)

It can be daunting, but I got myself a good planner and a caffeine addiction and we're handling it. Plus, is, there are so many good resources here at South College that helps you with that accelerated program.

Kathleen Stockham (06:09)

Yeah, we cannot underestimate the power of caffeine.

Carson S (06:12)

Yeah the caffeine addiction will never go away.

All right, so Carson, go back in time to fifth quarter, which is rumored to be probably the hardest quarter with labs, tests, clinicals happening, everything going on at the same time. How did you survive it?

Carson  (06:29)

Planning. I literally had my life planned down week to week. That's all I could handle at the time. I would sit down either a Saturday night or a Sunday morning and be like, okay, what do need to get done? What to do? What clinicals do I have? What tests are coming up? What's coming up the week after? I had a part-time job at the time. So working around class time with my work, with clinicals, whatever time I had in between, I had to know what to study, what to write, all of those things.

Sleep didn't really factor in, but I got everything done. That's probably my biggest tip is just like even taking it day by day sometimes I think was probably the most critical for sure. And for fifth quarter, they're gonna test you. You're gonna have to trust your gut and you're gonna sit for tests and you may not feel 100%, but that's the point is especially on the NCLEX, you don't know what questions are coming. You're gonna have to trust your gut and be like A, B, or D pick one. What would you do?

if you were that nurse in their shoes next on the bedside. So that would be my tip for that for sure.

Kathleen Stockham (07:34)

Yeah, okay Abigail,

how's it going?

Abigail DeWitt (07:38)

It's definitely a whirlwind and like Carson said, just taking it day by day at this point. I'm in my sixth quarter, my final quarter at this point. So it's a whirlwind of tests, pre-ceptorship and, and NClex prep. And though I will say we lost more people to quarter two than any other quarter.

Kathleen Stockham (07:55)

So, wow. And it's just because they just struggled or did they go back and start over or what happened?

Abigail DeWitt (08:06)

It was quarter two is a lot really fast in quarter one. They kind of carry you. They baby you sort of they're like, Hey, this is an introduction because it's all new. It's a different way of testing. And then in quarter two, they kind of just push you off the deep end. like, okay, have fun. and it's a lot of clinical and it's a lot of testing and it's just from going from so, so simple to all of this so fast. It really gets a lot of people.

Carson  (08:34)

Second quarter definitely tests you as a student. Like the first quarter is like, here's how it works. We're going to hold your hand tests are kind of here. And then all of a sudden they're like, push you up the cliff. Bye. Hope you, hope you land your feet. And, that's the part of it is when you hit the floor for a shift for 12 hours, especially in the ER, you don't know what you're walking into after you have your morning huddle. You can have, you know, critical care patients over here. And then like your other part of your ER is running as an urgent care and they're stable. It's the same thing.

is at least for me at least is like you go take report from somebody and they can hand you a certain set of patients and you have to the ground running.

Kathleen Stockham (09:11)

so what it's doing is preparing you for the unknown, whatever you're walking into that day and to be able to sort of time manage yourself depending on your patient load. Is that a fair statement?

Carson  (09:22)

Yes, and I can say that especially even E.R and .I.C.U. can be that way. Any other specialty I cannot speak for, at least where I  work, yes, it definitely is that way.

Abigail DeWitt (09:34)

It teaches you how to be very adaptable, very fast. You have to do it, you have to do it now. can't just say, give me a couple days. And it's very good because when you get into clinical experience, that's how it is. You have to adapt quickly.

Carson  (09:37)

Yes.

Kathleen Stockham (09:47)

Yeah,

interesting. All right, Carson, now that she's rounding the corner into her sixth quarter, what useful tip or trick could you give Abigail at this point in the program to kind of help her finish it out? Like what advice do you have?

Carson  (10:03)

At this point in sixth quarter, you've taken all your classes. The biggest thing I can say is take as many multiple choice NCLEX questions as possible across all of your subjects. Don't just rely on the materials the school gives you. I definitely recommend spending some money and maybe getting a different study tool like a U-World or an Archer review and broaden your question base. The questions on the NCLEX are definitely written different than what you're used to.

I definitely would recommend and just, took hundreds of questions a week over and over and over again. That, by the time I sat down for my NCLEX, I was kind of ready for anything. That would probably be my biggest tip and do above, do more than what they're recommending for you to do. Based off where your scores and your tests have been and where your ATI stuff has been, that would probably be my biggest tip.

Kathleen Stockham (10:53)

Yeah, well, okay, I hope everybody caught that study more than you need to. All right, Abigail. So let's just kind of fast forward. Where do you see yourself in your first job? Like, where do you ultimately want to end up once you get past the NCLEX?

Abigail DeWitt (11:12)

So labor and delivery is my heart and soul. I love it. It is just everything that I wanted to do. And I'm trying my best to get in there for first job because there are some hospitals that do hire new grad nurses into labor and delivery. But it is such a competitive area that I have already accepted a job in an oncology unit for the time being to get skills because if

Until I get where I want to be and can stay there, I'm going to get as many skills as I can to be as prepared as I can.

Carson  (11:45)

I can say that skills is something, at least for me in the ER and especially for L and D, if you have an L and D triage unit where those mothers that are ready to give birth then and there, you're gonna have to start lines on them. You're gonna need to get the monitor on the baby as fast as possible, depending on how they're presenting and stuff like that. hard skills. I can say I've been an ER nurse now for about eight months. I feel very confident in like IV starts and.

getting patients on monitors and working them up within 15, 20 minutes. Those are the things you're gonna need to get comfortable with. I think your choice if you decide to stay in the oncology unit would be good six months to a year and then after that you can go wherever you want for sure.

Kathleen Stockham (12:20)

Yeah. All right. So Carson, eight months in the ER. man, ER is a tough place. What's been the most challenging for you so far?

Carson  (12:30)

most challenging for me was coming out of school. Going to the ER was definitely daunting and extremely challenging, but I wanted that. I wanted to be ER trained. I wanted to take all of my knowledge from South College, which is so broad and wide-spanning because you have to take the NCLEX. The challenging thing for me is just kind of taking that, narrowing it down and making it specific for the ER. I've bought an ER nursing book.

And I've been taking all the knowledge that I know and just kind of fine tuning it to the ER to be the best ER nurse that I can. Getting confidence with cardiac drips and innovations and, you know, conscious sedation and everything that we do in the ER has definitely probably been the most challenging because that's not something we're like completely exposed to in nursing school, but it just comes with time and practice. And I thankfully have really great coworkers. I hope you have the same thing on the unit that you get onto as

finding great coworkers that you're not scared to ask questions. If you need help, they're there to help you. Nursing is a constantly adapting, learning field, professional field. Things are constantly gonna be changing, but that would be probably the most difficult thing is just kind of taking everything from school and making it ER specific, for sure.

Kathleen Stockham (13:41)

Yeah, that's awesome. All right, so ladies level with me both of you. What was the worst time you had in school? Abigail, I'll start with you. What's been the worst thing so far for you?

Abigail DeWitt (13:53)

feel like most people would say medsurg, but I actually didn't mind my medsurg clinicals. My worst time was probably my first patient fatality that I had experienced. And it just so happened that we were in the pediatric ICU. So that was probably my worst day, right when I got onto the unit.

Kathleen Stockham (14:16)

Yeah, that's tough.

Carson  (14:17)

Yeah, I can second with that. My very last day of my preceptorship, we had a patient who coded. I was the one that walked in the room. All the nurses were doing morning, mid-pass. I walked into the room and there's just something in your gut that tells you I need to press the code blue button, especially in your first time seeing that I pressed it and all the nurses came running, of course, but seeing a code firsthand in the room like that, it was not.

really fun to see, be pushed me to go to the ER. Honestly, that was kind of like me pushing over the finish line. I was like, I really want to get good at this. This is what I want to get good at. And besides that, adult health three and quarter five was probably my hardest class. Then I had a couple tests I didn't do great on losing that motivation just a little bit because you get kind of discouraged. For me, at least was like the hardest thing to like.

I need new more, I need new more. can I do to get better on that next test? That's probably the worst time,

Kathleen Stockham (15:14)

how'd you do in Adult Health 3?

Abigail DeWitt (15:18)

I liked it. I'm a good test taker, so I'm not a fair assessment.

Kathleen Stockham (15:24)

Teacher's pet, teacher's pet, okay,

Carson  (15:27)

the only class I struggled with. And by the end of it, it was fine. But there was a test or two. like, just, I knew the stuff that just the test did not go my way, but it happens.

Kathleen Stockham (15:37)

Yeah, all right, Carson, what was the best day? What was your best day?

Carson  (15:40)

Best day was passing my predictor and walking out of campus. You know, just the weight lifting off of my shoulders. Just being able to say, I passed my predictor, I'm ready to sit for the NCLEX. The predictor, yeah, so our predictor is basically, how many questions is it, Abigail? I can't remember. It's like 182 hundred questions. You sit for a couple hours.

And it tests everything you learned the entire course of nursing school. And for South specifically, you have to pass your predictor or you fail. That is the, that is the test you have to pass. You have to hit, I think it's an 80%. 24%. I don't know, can't remember. There's all a whirlwind. It's all blur at this point. You have to get over a 74. I think I got like an 86 or an 88 on that test and I like blew it out of the water. I was so proud of myself.

Abigail DeWitt (16:24)

74 I think it is now.

Carson  (16:38)

And just having that confidence of like, I'm ready to take this test. I've been studying for it for, it feels like forever. That definitely was my best moment.

Kathleen Stockham (16:44)

Yeah. All right, Abigail, what's been the best day so far? Today, right?

Abigail DeWitt (16:50)

Yes. No, I haven't passed my predictor yet. So I can't say that one. I'm sure that one will top this one. But so far my best one was actually in quarter two. I was in a medsurg clinical and I got to follow this Elvis impersonator throughout day surgery. He was the best guy ever. He was amazing. And he only responded to Elvis when he was coming out of anesthesia. was fantastic. But

Kathleen Stockham (17:17)

That was not on my bingo card.

Carson  (17:20)

That's the kind of stuff you see

in the ER. man, I'm jealous.

Abigail DeWitt (17:23)

I got to follow him through and he kept calling me his guardian angel because I was his one constant, whereas he changed hands. And at the very end when we brought him out to his car, he gave me a big hug and he was like, thank you, you helped me feel better. And that just completely reaffirmed the fact that I love nursing.

Carson  (17:38)

Mm-hmm.

Kathleen Stockham (17:43)

is most awesome story I have heard Did he say thank you? Thank you very much.

Carson  (17:50)

Awesome.

will say in the ER though, I've moved to so many patients in a 12 hour shift and getting those hugs and those thank yous either when they roll up stairs to go to their bed upstairs or when they get discharged. Those hugs, you'll never get sick of those. They really affirm you're where you're supposed to be. I can tell you that much.

Kathleen Stockham (18:10)

So Carson, does that happen in the ER that a patient is like grateful for the care?

Carson  (18:16)

Yes, I mean, every patient has a different experience and a different personality, but there are truly, especially family members that are fully invested in their loved one and your stretcher in your bed. Those are the sweetest thank yous and tearful eyes and hugs that you're going to get. Whether they're going up to the ICU, they're getting discharged. Those family members to me, they make me emotional. Not even the patient, it's the family that they, when they're really truly grateful, then they will tell you about it.

And that that gets you that sometimes that gets me through a shift and I can take that home with me and it just it affirms that or I am or I'm supposed to be so.

Kathleen Stockham (18:51)

That's amazing. Well Abigail, I was going to ask you about your favorite clinical or coolest thing, but I don't know if you can top the Elvis impersonator story. there any other awesome clinical experience you've had?

Abigail DeWitt (19:06)

Um, I have one that's more funny. Um, it was, I ended up not drinking water the whole clinical shift, which is a bad idea. Never do that. And I passed out outside of a patient room. I walked out and the nurse looks at me, she goes, how's everything going? And I look at her and I just go, huh. And then I went down.

Carson  (19:27)

man.

Kathleen Stockham (19:28)

Wow.

Abigail DeWitt (19:31)

Drink water.

Carson  (19:33)

Yes, drink water. All nurses are nursing students. PSA, drink your water. It can be hard. Any nursing unit, you're on your feet for 12 hours. It can be hard to stop and eat or stop and drink. It happens to me at work. So that's funny.

Kathleen Stockham (19:39)

Yes, what she said. Yes, that's it. my goodness.

Yeah. Yeah.

my gosh, well Abigail, so a question, now's your chance. What's the one big question you have for an alumni?

Abigail DeWitt (20:00)

What was it like for you when you were trying to get that first job?

Carson  (20:06)

I went, I was looking online and I eventually just went to the hospital I work at, the recruiter and I said, I want this, this and this. You let me know what you have available. And thankfully they did have an ER spot on day shift. I got very lucky. I was able to get that. And just trusting the process. And I prayed about it and hoping that you get a good unit, good people, a good manager. It really is just trusting. And the great thing about nursing is

You do your time, you're able, jobs are always available. You can always switch your specialty and learn more and do all the things, but definitely just trusting the process about getting your first job. And for you, especially with your oncology unit, you will get all the skills that you need.

Just trusting the process I think would be my biggest tip for sure. No first job is gonna be perfect, but just taking what you can from there and moving on if you need to would be my biggest tip for sure.

Kathleen Stockham (21:01)

Yeah, that works. works. ladies, besides coffee, which is a given, we've already established that earlier in the podcast that caffeine is number one. What is the other must-have item or snack for getting through a shift or studying? What for both of you? What is that must-have item?

Carson  (21:19)

For me, I had a small whiteboard in my lap when I was studying. All I had at the time was a laptop. I didn't have my iPad or anything. I would do my medication calculations and dosing stuff on my whiteboard, or it's me writing down over and over over again something I need to memorize and just having that. I didn't want to go through paper, but having that whiteboard on me while I was studying was definitely my number one.

tool that I used besides anything that was online or anything like that. Just getting that tactile studying feeling was definitely super important when they give you that scratch paper for tests and like it's muscle memory at that point and you get all that information down and you can take that test. That was probably my biggest help with testing in nursing school.

Kathleen Stockham (22:06)

All right, Abigail, what is it? What's the item?

Abigail DeWitt (22:09)

Headphones.

Invest in a good pair of headphones with noise canceling because I don't know about anybody else, but my house gets loud. We have dogs, they bark, and when you're trying to study, you're thinking, my goodness, is this ever gonna end? So good noise canceling headphones is just essential.

Kathleen Stockham (22:28)

I like that, alright. Abigail, if you could go back and talk to your quarter one, quarter two self, what advice would you give you at quarter one and quarter two that you know now?

Abigail DeWitt (22:39)

It gets worse.

Don't cry now, it gets worse.

Carson  (22:45)

Yes.

Kathleen Stockham (22:46)

Got it, got it. All right, Carson, if you could go back and talk to your quarter four and quarter five self, what advice would you give yourself?

Carson  (22:49)

Quarter four and quarter five.

Trust the process. Don't get discouraged based off one test score. Don't get discouraged off maybe a clinical experience or a nurse that told you something or told you how something's not supposed to be or something like that. Like you're gonna be your own nurse. You're gonna be by yourself eventually. Like don't lean on other people. Like make sure you know what you're gonna know. That definitely would be necessary in the job that I have now.

Just trust the process because you're going to get there when you get there and you're going to pass when you're going to pass and you decide what kind of nurse you're going to be.

Kathleen Stockham (23:30)

Interesting. Well, nursing has kind of its own crisis going on and that there are not enough nurses to meet the demand, as both of you already know. From each of your perspectives, both as a current student and a former student, what advice do you have for anyone considering nursing, in particular, thinking of the accelerated BSN program after they've obtained a degree in something else? What advice do you have for someone

who's thinking about the accelerated program.

Abigail DeWitt (23:58)

do it. We always need more nurses and it is the most rewarding experience you'll have It has to be a hard work and all different people of all different backgrounds are so needed because what you will just have that one patient who you can connect with on a deeper level because you've had similar experiences.

Kathleen Stockham (24:17)

Yeah, that's great. All right, Carson, what do you think? What advice do you have for someone considering the accelerated programs, particularly since you came from a different school and then came to South College?

Carson  (24:29)

Yeah, I would second off what Abigail said and just do it. If you're even thinking about going into nursing when you already have that undergrad degree, definitely dive in and just start and just do it. It is rewarding to, you know, I'm ready to sit my NCLEX in 18 months. Let's do it. I can be a nurse soon. And those 18 months really, truly do fly by. There are aspects of nursing school I absolutely miss and hanging out with my

my classmates and my friends every day, literally seeing them every single day. And those people, Abigail, definitely don't take that for granted. Any friendships that you've made. I still talk to those people on a weekly or monthly basis. And we talk about our experience being new grad nurses. The friendships that you're gonna make in school are most of it, sometimes gonna be lifetime. And you're always gonna have that person that you're bonded to in nursing school wise that you can rely on.

and talk to about everything that you do at work and no one else is going to understand. So definitely just dive in and do it. Those relationships and of course South College is fantastic. Their alumni association and all the things they offer as an alum are fantastic as well. And they're always going to be there to support you.

Kathleen Stockham (25:37)

Wow. Well, thank you both for this really candid and eye-opening conversation representing the two sides of being both a student and an alumnus for the same program. Plus we managed to fit in Elvis into this podcast, which again was not on my bingo card, but I love that.

this was amazing. I hope everyone listening gets a little something out of this conversation and some great information shared I want to thank both of you for joining me in this first of a series conversation called Dream Meet Direction. Thank you, ladies.

Abigail DeWitt (26:10)

Thank you.

Carson  (26:11)

Thanks for having me.

Kathleen Stockham (26:12)

Yeah, that was awesome And just a reminder when it's time to consider more education, South College has an amazing and all online Master of Science Nursing program. Ladies, pay attention. We have a fabulous set of MSM programs for you, including Family Nurse Practitioner with several concentrations, which also include adult gerontology, acute care,

nurse practitioner, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, and the new MSN concentration with nursing informatics. In addition, we have a brand new doctor of nursing practice program, which is now in the innovative CBE format, and also a DNP with a concentration in nurse anesthesia. So buckle up. Your future in nursing starts here at South College. I want to thank my two guests. Coming up after the break.

little more on nursing at South College and all the avenues you can pursue. Stick around, we'll be right back.

[South College Radio Ad Spot]

Kathleen Stockham (28:46)

Welcome back. You just heard from a Bachelor of Science Nursing student and an alumnus from the same program. Want to learn a little bit more about the Accelerated BSN program? Well, do you already have a bachelor's degree or about to obtain one in another healthcare discipline? If you do and have considered a more direct path to nursing,

Our accelerated BSN may be the option for you. This 18 month program available at our Knoxville, Nashville, Atlanta and Asheville campuses is a fast paced bachelor level program that prepares the nursing student for the rigors and demands of becoming possibly a licensed RN and also prepares you for the NCLEX licensing exam. Labs and on-site clinicals will be required.

Pre-requisite classes may also be required. Perhaps you need a little flexibility. South College offers the four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing as a hybrid program as well in Knoxville, Nashville, Atlanta, Orlando, and Asheville campuses. This unique hybrid program allows for specific days and weekend classes on site.

while you can live anywhere in the state for the rest of the didactic portion to complete online. Medical facilities for your labs and clinicals can be arranged to be closer to home. Some restrictions do apply, or maybe you're looking for something a little bit different. South College offers the two year Associate of Science in Nursing program, which also enables you to sit for the NCLEX exam.

Or maybe you want to explore a more unique side of patient care with the LPN program. We have several bridge programs for LPN as well. Their certificate in licensed practical nursing is offered at several of our campuses. And stay tuned, more nursing programs are coming. And one last thing, are you already holding a master's degree in nursing and a licensed RN and ready for the next step?

consider our Doctor of Nursing Practice Post-Masters, now in the super flexible CBE format. If you are a working nursing professional and ready for an opportunity to take you deeper into administrative and research leadership, consider the DNP program where the competency-based education format allows you to go as fast or as slow as you need to using an innovative six-month subscription plan.

Not sure where to get started? Go to south.edu to see more information. Select the academics tab at the top and then select nursing or see all of our programs for nursing at south.edu slash department slash nursing. There is also a helpful video that explains a lot about our programs. Well, that's it for today with 11 physical campuses in seven states plus online and CBE.

There is a pathway for you at South College. Hope you enjoyed this latest episode of Live from South College. Thanks for joining me. We have a lot of great guests coming up very soon that I am really excited about. If you love it, give us some stars and you can always send us feedback by emailing us at southcollegepodcasts.south.edu. Have an awesome day and let your dreams find direction. See you next time.