What are the Prerequisites for an Accelerated BSN Online?

What Are Prerequisites for an Online Accelerated BSN?

Online Accelerated BSN Programs

The prerequisites for an accelerated BSN online vary by school, but there are many prerequisites that almost every ABSN program requires. When embarking on a journey towards getting your online accelerated BSN degree, there are a few items to check off your list beforehand. This degree is best suited for second-degree seeking students who did not major in Nursing the first time around, or RNs who do not have a bachelor’s level degree. Luckily, this also means that you have likely already completed much of the prerequisites and class work you need to be on track for your online accelerated BSN before you even show up!

Although every program is different, there are many prerequisites that almost every online accelerated BSN program asks for, and some that most programs ask for, but other programs do not mention at all. Be sure to get the whole list of required prerequisites from the online accelerated BSN program that is perfect for you. Still, looking for a program? Check out our newly updated Top 15 Best Online and Hybrid Accelerated BSN programs.

The Science and Math Prerequisites

The two prerequisites that are universal are Chemistry and Microbiology, along with courses in Anatomy and Physiology. Clearly the human body is at the center of everything a nurse does professionally. On the large scale, ensuring that nursing students are fully comfortable identifying the main parts of the body and common illnesses and injuries is essential in making sure you are providing good quality care. Being able to recognize the elemental components that make up who we all are is very important too. Whether you end up focusing on nutrition, family health, or any other focus, having a background in the chemical and cellular building blocks of who we are will come in handy.

A unit or sometimes two of statistics are very common prerequisites for new BSN students, but not as universal as you might think. Many programs ask that new enrollees have completed stats courses because this gets nurses comfortable with reading and understanding medical studies that highly impact the ways that medical practitioners implement new ideas and modalities of care, as well as ethical implications of certain practices that impact patients. Knowing statistical principles will help you keep up with innovations in culture and medicine, and continue learning over the course of your career.

Human nutrition courses can be found as prerequisites for some programs, but not many. To come into an online accelerated BSN degree with this valuable skillset seems to have obvious benefits. Many treatment plans that nurses help implement with patients involve changes in ones personal diet.

Humanities Prerequisites

Many online accelerated BSN degree programs require a unit or two in history and English. English classes like literature or rhetoric add skills in contextualizing situations. They help students to connect with others, whether patients or co-workers. In addition, history courses often require students to think critically and analyze stories within particular contexts, which is also another valuable skill for a nurse to have.

Courses in Ethics, US Government, and Communications are prerequisites required for some online accelerated BSN programs. These classes elaborate on students’ ability to ground themselves in a legacy of rules of engagement. Ethics courses need students to interrogate their own beliefs and articulate them clearly and respectfully. US government classes give nursing students opportunities to learn how specific laws govern medical practices and a general understanding of how political hierarchies work.

These concepts come in handy to broaden a nursing student’s knowledge about the world and engrain an understanding of how to make meaningful and lasting change through a procedure-based methodology. In addition, communications classes allow creative expressions of these views and give students the space to practice respectful disagreement. Eighty percent or more of a nurse’s job is to engage with others. Unfortunately, many people are at the height of their personal inability to engage well due to pain or trauma. The more a nurse can get creative with asking questions and putting people at ease, the better care a nurse can give.

The Arts Prerequisites

Art history or fine art is a prerequisite for a few online ABSN programs. Some schools may ask to see these courses on a transcript precisely because they make you think differently and creatively. In addition, brain science shows that engaging with art can increase a student’s ability to comprehend scientific concepts. Simply put, thinking outside the box is often the way to make the box itself make more sense.

Suppose these are some of the courses you already completed in your first degree, amazing! You’re almost halfway there. If there are some on this list you need, check in with your school, maybe you do not even need them, or perhaps they will become your warm-up before diving. Whichever path you need to take, these are some of the courses that you must do a great job in your online accelerated BSN coursework. Once that is all out of the way, check and see how employers feel about students coming out of the online accelerated BSN program.

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