Question:
Just wondering if someone could explain the options for nursing education
in the States. Namely, what is an Associate degree? Can you still get a
diploma in nursing in the USA?
Answer:
Steve, as Associate degree is typically a 2-year degree taught at a
community college, which is a 2-year college as opposed to the 4-year
university. But many 4-year universities also offer the two-year associate
degree programs in nursing. In an associate degree program, students
typically take 4 semesters, or 4 semesters and a summer, of science, liberal
arts, and nursing courses. If you check the web site for Indiana
University-Purdue University at Indianapolis
(http://www.iupui.edu/home/nurs.html), you'll see descriptions of their
2-year associate degree program and their 4-year BSN (Bachelor of Science in
Nursing) program.
There are still 3 or 4 dozen hospital-based diploma programs in the US.
These programs are usually either 2 years or 3 years in length. The
two-year programs normally require that applicants finish a year of
prerequisite science and liberal arts courses before beginning the 2 years
of full-time nursing study. The three-year diploma programs require
essentially the same science and liberal arts courses, but the courses are
taken during the first 2 semesters and summer session at the same time as
the introductory nursing courses.
Generally, a diploma program offers the most clinical time to their
students.
On my web page, I have links to most of the nursing programs in the United
States. If you'd like to check out some of these programs, you can find the
page at http://www.mindspring.com/~donna0527
Here are just a few links to diploma nursing programs:
Holy Name Hospital School of Nursing, New Jersey
http://www.holyname.org/brochure/nurschol.htm
Watts School of Nursing, North Carolina http://drh.duhs.duke.edu/wattsson/
(this is where I start in August; finishing my prereqs now)
Sharon Regional Health Center School of Nursing, Pennsylvania
http://www.srhsschoolofnursing.com/index.htm
Good Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing, Ohio
http://www.trihealth.com/Testsite/education/documents/son-intr.html
St. Elizabeth School of Nursing, Indiana http://www.ste.org/son/index.html
And here are some typical associate degree programs:
Indiana Univ.-Purdue Univ. at Indianapolis
http://www.iupui.edu/~nursing/degpgms/asn.html
Northern Kentucky University http://www.nku.edu/~nursing/
Lexington Community College, Kentucky
http://www.uky.edu/LCC/NSG/welcome.html
Wake Technical Community College, North Carolina
http://www.wake.tec.nc.us/catalog/associates/nursing.html
Pasadena City College, California
http://www.paccd.cc.ca.us/instadmn/compsvcs/kiosk/CATALOG/C5a19s10.htm
Brevard Community College, Florida
http://www.brevard.cc.fl.us/alliedhealth/nursern.html
