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Alternative Education Methods to Help Upskill and Advance Your Nursing Career

With the advent of remote learning technology, it is now easier than ever to continue your schooling. Remote or alternative licensure or certification pathways make it easier to advance your career while enjoying a degree of balance.

How do alternative education methods work? In this article, we take a comprehensive look at that question, reviewing your options, and describing how they can be used to further your career.

Why You Might want Additional Certifications

Nurses are required to pursue continuing education. There are different ways to fulfill these obligations. Sometimes, they are met through employer-sponsored training. Nurses are required to take specific classes at the instruction of the hospital or clinic where they work.

Other times, these opportunities are more self-guided. The nurse is able to choose opportunities that interest them.

The reason for required continuing education is clear. Healthcare always changes. Someone who earned their license twenty years ago would know nothing about modern patient monitoring or data ethics were it not for the need to continually learn and upskill.

That explains why continuing education opportunities are important. It doesn’t necessarily explain why you should be excited to do them. Many specialized positions require additional certifications. For example, people newly diagnosed with diabetes need help managing their condition.

Good news? There are jobs specifically designed to help them. Diabetes educators work carefully with diabetics who are struggling to manage their symptoms. To work in this field, you need to work a specific number of hours working in a diabetes education-related field. You also need to acquire a specialized certification.

For this job—and many other specialized nursing fields—earning the required certification will require some class work.

Maybe you want the flexibility of working anywhere in the country. In this case, you might consider attaining a compact nursing license. This credential will allow you to work almost anywhere without jumping through additional hoops.

Through alternative licensure or certification programs, you can achieve these requirements online in a format that makes sense to you.

There are tons of different jobs available to nurses who are willing to get additional certifications.

What is an Alternative Certification?

To understand what it means to be certified through an alternative route, you first need to know what the primary method of attaining certification historically has been.

For most of modern healthcare history, people have gained their nursing license—and any additional certifications—by attending brick-and-mortar universities. While this educational pathway does allow you to interact more intimately with your colleagues and instructors, it can be restrictive.

How many busy nurses can take time out of their day to commute to a college and attend lectures for a few hours? Alternative certification programs provide a solution to this problem. By allowing students to complete self-guided work online, alternative licensure/certification programs make high-level nursing jobs more accessible.

These programs contain the same information—but are generally formatted in a way that suits the lifestyle requirements of someone balancing various responsibilities.

How to Choose the Right Program

It’s important to understand that not all programs are equal. If you’re going to pursue an alternative licensure or certification route, you need to make sure that the school you choose is completely accredited. You also need to make sure it is recognized by your state. Some online schools may be federally accredited while failing to meet state requirements.

Of course, legal compliance is the very least a program can do. You also want to make sure that the alternative certification program you choose is presented in a format that sets you up for success. What are your ideal learning conditions? Chances are pretty good that there is a program designed to facilitate those conditions.

We talked earlier about how many online alternative certification programs are almost entirely self-guided. That’s great for people who learn well in that type of environment. It may not suit everyone. Fortunately, there is no shortage of format options, even within the niche realm of alternative certification routes.

For example, some programs will be hosted online, but allow you to attend live lectures through video conferencing links. Others might take a hybrid approach. Some of your coursework will be completed online, while other requirements will be met in person.

Obviously, these routes compromise the flexibility of the program. However, they do more to accommodate the learning preferences of students who thrive within a structured environment.

You can learn a lot about course formats simply by talking with representatives from the school. However, to better understand the overall quality of a program, it is a good idea to independently verify details online.

Digital forums will provide you with no shortage of ways to find out what a program is actually like. Yes, it resulted in a legally valid certification that can technically advance your career. But did it adequately communicate the required skills and information? Were the instructors good? Was it easy to ask questions?

Spend a few hours reading about how former students describe the alternative certification program you are interested in. These reviews will provide you with a clear idea of how suitable a certain program will be for your needs.

Is Alternative Licensure for You?

It might very well be. Getting additional certifications is a great way to open the door to new opportunities. Pay raises. Interesting jobs. Alternative licensure isn’t the only way to accomplish these results, but it is a convenient one.

If you are interested in expanding your skill set and earning new opportunities, start researching alternative certification programs today!

Andrew Deen