“It’s a bridge between the two, and it takes – we have it planned out so you can be a registered nurse in exactly one year. So we go May to May, basically, is what the plan is, and we have spaces open and we are ready to bring in some more LPNs and give them the opportunity to become registered nurses, which opens up a whole new world for them,” said Fitzgerald.
The bridge program crams two years’ worth of nursing courses into a single year. The program is difficult, but Fitzgerald said Ancilla College has the only nursing program in the area that offers a nursing tutor to help students at no cost.
Fitzgerald said the summer portion of the course is part-time with four credit hours, offering a brief respite before the full-time schooling begins in the fall. She said it isn’t an easy program, but then, very few things in the medical field are easy.
“I do not lie to students; it is not an easy program. If you find an easy nursing program, let me know. You want to keep in mind that the responsibility involved in being a registered nurse, you have to be very careful, you have to be very knowledgeable, and that is our job to get you from point A to point B, and we do that very well. We would encourage any LPNs who are interested, even if you’re just thinking about it, give us a call, let us know how we can help you,” Fitzgerald said.
Ancilla College is boasting a 100 percent pass rate for this year so far, and Fitzgerald said they hope to continue that.
“We are very proud of that and we are proud of our students who have gone in there and just knocked that test out and are out there working as registered nurses in the community. That is the goal, and that is what we’re striving for, and our students have been very helpful with that – obviously we can’t do it for them; they have to do it for themselves,” Fitzgerald said.
For more information, visit Ancilla.edu and click the nursing link or call 1-866-ANCILLA.
