Overview
How to become an advanced practice nurse is evolving through online, flexible, and accelerated learning pathways. This article explains modern credentialing options, including remote study and pre-recorded modules, helping working nurses balance education, career, and family responsibilities while progressing toward high-demand, high-autonomy advanced nursing roles.
Introduction
To reach an advanced practice nursing position, you need to at the very least get a master’s degree. Some jobs even require a doctorate-level credential.
The most challenging aspect of this credentialing requirement for many people is that to get it, you are almost always going to be working as a nurse at the same time. In addition, add to this the familial responsibilities that many people in their 20s and 30s begin to take on. The requirements can quickly become extremely difficult to meet.
Conventional educational pathways made this particularly challenging. However, modern technology has accelerated and improved the experience. It is now more accessible for a much wider range of people.
In this article, we take a look at how new credentialing arrangements are making advanced practice positions more achievable.
What is an Advanced Practice Nurse?
Advanced practice nurses fall into several categories, though the work is most commonly associated with nurse practitioners. Nurse practitioners essentially have the same responsibilities as a general practitioner.
They can write prescriptions, perform diagnoses, and make long-term treatment plans. They can specialise in family medicine, neonatal medicine, psychiatric medicine, and many other areas of expertise.
These jobs are great in that they provide lots of autonomy. They are always in high demand, hence they come with high salaries. Many advanced practice nurses make more than $100,000 per year in their first year on the job.
How to Become an Advanced Practice Nurse
Advanced practice nursing jobs have traditionally taken two to three years to complete. Generally speaking, this work is done in a classroom. The programmes require both classroom hours and clinical hours. Some of these may or may not be covered by your existing workplace responsibilities.
Because the credentialing process is so time-consuming, it is difficult for many nurses to achieve through traditional means. However, modern educational frameworks make the process easier.
Online Learning
Online learning is the most widely used alternative credentialing method for advanced practice degrees. The best thing is, the alternative is really being used quite loosely.
The course material in many online learning modules is exactly the same. The only structural difference is that you take classes from your home instead of a classroom.
This may not reduce the amount of work you’re doing, but it does make it a little more accessible. The average commute in this country is approximately 30 minutes each way. This means that, assuming you have a typical living arrangement, you’re saving about five hours a week just on driving by doing remote work.
It’s not going to fix all of the difficulties of graduate school, but it does take some friction out of the learning experience.
Pre-Recorded Alternatives
Some remote learning frameworks consist of pre-recorded modules that add even more flexibility to the learning experience.
In these graduate school environments, you are still doing the same work. However, instead of attending live lectures virtually, you’re watching pre-recorded sessions and completing work that is assigned with broad deadlines.
This is helpful in that it allows you to work on your own time frame, something that is particularly valuable to nurses who may not ever work the same schedule two weeks in a row.
Accelerated Learning Modules
There are also some ways to get a graduate degree a little faster. One of the most common is direct-to-hire programmes. These allow you to bundle an undergraduate and a master’s degree into the same three-year time span.
This is the most commonly utilised option for people who already have an undergraduate degree and are pivoting into nursing as a second career. For example, if you’re in your 30s and want to do something you view as more meaningful, this is ideal. If you don’t want to start at the bottom of a new career, this is the best way to begin with a very comfortable salary and a position of authority.
Direct-to-hire and other accelerated routes do require a higher level of day-to-day time commitment. As a result, it is often difficult to pursue these training modules while holding down other responsibilities.
With that said, if you are able to commit to the process, you will wind up with an advanced credential much faster than would otherwise be possible.
Why Do These Methods Matter?
Why is it important to make advanced practice nursing positions as accessible as possible? For one thing, it’s important to understand that accessibility does not mean ease. These are difficult programmes to complete. Adjusting the format slightly does not change that.
The idea is not to dilute the material, but to present it in a way that is achievable for a wide variety of lifestyles. Many people want to pivot into nursing. However, they are deterred by the idea of spending five years in college to do it.
These modified curricula make the career path, which is much needed in every state, a more accessible and enticing option. This is true for people who will use the opportunity to become healthcare heroes in their communities.
Conclusion
There are many different types of nursing roles, not all of them lie on the other side of a graduate degree. If you are interested in the profession, but not necessarily sure that spending tens of thousands of pounds and several years getting there is going to be the right move for you, that is very understandable.
Accelerated or online learning modules are also available for BSN programmes. Not only do these methods allow you to get a nursing degree in as little as one year, but they also open the door to additional opportunities down the road.
Once you have a BSN, you can get many additional nursing opportunities through certification programs that require no additional schooling and give you access to financially and personally rewarding work quickly.
There are so many ways to live a fulfilling life as a nurse. Find the one that makes the most sense for you.
