Nursing bridge programs - Essay Example

Typical courses that are involved in these online classes include pharmacology, psychology, physiology, anatomy, and microbiology. On passing the course, the LPN will have to take the NCLEX-RN test for one to get the RN title. When one is getting their bridging course online, they are still required to get clinical training from a health facility setting. As with all types of schools, online LPN to RN bridging courses have a disadvantage in that the students have limited instructor and peer interaction, as well as a lack of readily available facilities (Nunnery 30).

This problem faced Olivia Medina and Allisan Loya, who completed their courses after retaking an entire semester and failed to complete it altogether respectively. Of the six LPNs taking the bridging course at Lamar College in Texas, only Allison passed and this could be because they are all full time working mothers who do not have time to take part in the practical aspect of their course. It has been reported that while the popularity of bridging online courses has increased overall, the rates of course completion is very low.

This has been seen in the case of the students from Lamar College and the problem of online LPN to RN bridging courses is two-pronged. . However, it is this later group that makes up the highest proportion of online bridging course enrollment (Nunnery 39), which means that they need the most contact with their instructors in order to be successful. Research has indicated that LPN students who enroll in online bridging courses have a higher chance of not completing their course or failing than those who attend traditional courses in the classroom, which leads to loss of their tuition money.

In addition, students who have other commitments in their lives and are barely succeeding in traditional classrooms have been found to fall even more behind when taking bridging online courses (Nunnery 40). For this reason, there is a need to improve the online bridging courses for LPNs to RNs, while it may be prudent for those online courses that have a high failure and non-completion rates to require their students to first show adeptness in the traditional classroom setting prior to enrolling them in the online courses.

Online bridging courses that do not take the individual requirements of the students into consideration suffer the risk of low completion rates and failures (Nunnery 40), which has necessitated a closer and more personal approach to these students. However, this is much easier said than done. The online bridging revolution for LPNs has been gathering momentum for the last ten years, although evidence shows that their success rates are at least half of what they are for students taking traditional classes.

One logical answer to this may be the institution of front door controls for students enrolling in the online LPN to RN bridging courses (Cherry & Jacob 34). This would be in line with the testing that is required for