Completely Online CNA Programs: A Word to the Wise

Let’s address this complicated issue head-on: modern day life is ridiculously busy! Most busy adults are juggling employment, family time, a social life and other aspects of their lives to strike some sort of balance. These time-consuming facets of life do not leave all that much time to attend school full-time, especially in a classroom setting.

After all, who has time to sit in a classroom for several hours per day? After working hard for eight to twelve hours all day long, does any sane person really want to spend the rest of the evening or all weekend long in a classroom setting? Most people would rather be at home where they can wind down, chill out, relax, eat a home-cooked meal or spend a few precious hours with the ones they love the most.

However, many people are unsatisfied with their current jobs. Some people may even hate their jobs with a passion! Therefore, the thought of returning to school to prepare for a career change has often crossed their minds. While these folks may mentally dance with the idea of going back to school, the reality of it often involves giving up multiple evenings or weekends to spend time in a classroom. Again, who really has time for that?

Ah, but there appears to be a solution that can be integrated into peoples’ busy lifestyles: online classes! In addition, many people want to enter the nursing profession due to the potential of steady pay and abundant job opportunities, so they search the internet for online healthcare career programs that can be completed in the comfort of one’s home.

Here is a word to the wise. Regardless of any fancy advertisements you may have seen, you cannot become a nurse completely online. You cannot become a CNA completely online. In fact, no state board of nursing in existence will allow students to become nurses totally online for one very simple reason: no one can truly learn to provide hands-on nursing care to patients without actually touching any patients.

The large number of online nursing degree programs that are advertised on the internet have been designed for people who are already licensed nurses (LPN or RN). These online nursing programs allow licensed nurses to pursue higher education and earn additional nursing degrees from a college or university while keeping their full time jobs.

For instance, an RN with an associates degree can complete an online bachelor of science degree in nursing (BSN). However, she first had to complete her associates of science degree in nursing (ASN) face to face in a class setting before qualifying for admission to the online BSN program. All state boards of nursing require nursing students to amass a certain number of classroom and clinical practicum hours in order to graduate.

Think about it. Would you want a nurse with no patient care experience whatsoever to take care of you or your loved ones? A nurse whose only schooling was online classes never received hands-on training in patient care. All nurses must complete a clinical practicum externship that entails spending many hours in hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare settings where they learn to provide hands-on care to real patients.

It is a similar situation with nursing assistant training. For instance, the state of Texas requires prospective nurse aides to complete a 100-hour CNA program that is comprised of 60 class and return demonstration lab hours as well as 40 clinical externship hours. This clinical externship occurs in a healthcare facility where students deliver hands-on care to patients. This is how nurse aide students learn to become CNAs.

In a nutshell, completely online CNA programs do not exist, at least in the state of Texas where 100 hours of face to face instruction are required. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. The goal of this piece is to help readers and prevent them from being scammed by unscrupulous online businesses that claim to offer online CNA school. If this posting helps just one student out there, it will have been worth it to us.

Do you have the motivation to change your career? The 7-day CNA program at Legacy Healthcare Careers offers state-approved career training to become a nursing assistant in approximately one week. Call (682)626-5266 to enroll at Legacy Healthcare Careers CNA School now! Classes start soon.