Graduate Nursing Programs for Non-Nurses: A National Perspective

This study represents an initial attempt at exploring the characteristics of graduate programs in nursing for non-nurses (GPNNNs), their students, and real and potential regulatory concerns. Using an Internet-based survey, researchers asked program directors four questions regarding the characteristics of their programs and students, program outcomes, and characteristics of those who dropped out. Using e-mail, researchers posed a fifth question to executive directors of state boards of nursing regarding real and potential regulatory concerns about GPNNNs. Program characteristics, including the required number of credits, prerequisites, and experience as well as curricular design, varied. Program outcomes and the characteristics of students also varied among programs, but the reasons for dropping out did not. The variability in the required number of credits alone is a prompt for educators to examine the most efficient path to a graduate degree for non-nurses. Further, those involved in the design, implementation, and regulation of these programs and the students need to consider the actual and potential regulatory issues that can surface when students without a nursing degree are permitted or required to take the NCLEX after completing pregraduate nursing courses.