Paramedic to RN Bridge
2 Days of Class • 1-2 of Days Clinicals • 1 Year Program
So you’re thinking of becoming an RN?
You’ve thought, “I love being a Paramedic, and I want to continue growing in this career.”
Or maybe, “I would like to get an RN degree without having to spend years in school.”
If this sounds familiar, you may be in the right place!
Professional RN Bridge Program Statistics
- 2022 Job Placement Rate
- 100%
- avg starting hourly wage of 2022 RN grads
- $26
- 2022 overall NCLEX-RN pass rate
- 100%
- prerequisite classes required
- 6
What You’ll Learn
1st Semester:
This summer semester will pick up where your Paramedic education left off and will prepare you to join the ongoing RN cohort next semester:
- Transition into the RN role and take more responsibility, while looking at healthcare through a new scope of practice.
- Nurse Practice Act and reviewing HIPAA.
- New methods and types of patient care skills.
- You’ll spend about 1/3 of your clinical time in the skills and simulation lab and the other 2/3 in a hospital setting.
- NCLEX prep: Throughout this semester you’ll focus on study habits, test-taking strategies, how to break down and solve a question, and begin practicing NCLEX-style tests.
2nd Semester:
The second and third semester function like part A and part B of the same categories. You’ll cover half of the body systems in depth now, and the rest in depth next semester:
- Diving deeper into each body system and the diseases, disorders, and treatment plans.
- Assessing situations individually and using critical thinking and clinical judgement.
- Disorders related to mental health, treatment plans, assessments, and evaluations.
- Expanding knowledge of medications, their actions and uses, therapeutic response and side effects.
- You’ll demonstrate your skill knowledge and clinical judgement at hospitals and mental health facilities with more complex patient care and patient teaching.
- NCLEX prep : You’ll be testing on mental health and preparing with video patient scenarios.
3rd Semester:
During your final semester, you’ll be getting into the final body systems, looking at nursing from conception through adolescence, leadership in nursing, and preparing for entering the workforce:
- You’ll cover the remaining body systems and the diseases, disorders, and treatment plans.
- Conception to adulthood and the diseases, disorders and care needed for those ages.
- Working on leadership, management, and entering the workforce with resume, interview, and job-related skills.
- You’ll job-shadow a nurse for 48 hours and work with them, so you can experience their specialty in-depth.
- You’ll practice skills in a variety of locations such as Peds/OB Clinics, Labor and Delivery, Walk-In Clinics, ER, OR, ICU, Wound Care, Cancer Center, Dialysis and more.
- NCLEX prep : You’ll be taking NCLEX-style tests in all the major subject areas as well as the NCLEX Predictor, which should reflect your outcome as if you were to take the real NCLEX. You’ll then get tutoring specific to any weak areas you may have – all during the program!
Helpful Links
Downloads
Prerequisites
- BIO 111 Anatomy & Physiology I 4
- BIO 211 Anatomy & Physiology II 4
- CHE 103 Fundamentals of Chemistry 4
- PSY 101 Introduction to Psychology 3
- BIO 302 Principles of Human Nutrition 3
- ENG 150 Composition 3
Requirements for Program
- Prerequisite courses complete by application deadline
- Undisciplined Missouri Paramedic license
- TEAS entrance exam
- Background check
- Post-secondary official transcript
Gen-Eds and how they work at BTC
Unlike other colleges, the bulk of your education here is focused on nursing. We do not waste your time with excess general education courses.
By default, our gen-ed classes are built in and taken during your program. This is so you can complete the whole program in a shorter timeframe and get back into the workforce quickly.
Unlike other schools, YOU CAN CHOOSE to take the gen-ed classes before your program begins if you would rather get some classes out of the way early. Some students prefer to lighten the course load for later semesters when the schoolwork gets more intense.
How We Set Our Students Up For Success
NCLEX prep
We know it’s important for you to be confident in passing your licensure exam (the whole reason you’re taking the program to begin with)! Since it’s so integral, we built the NCLEX preparation into the program so you’re practicing for it throughout your entire time at BTC. This is one of the reasons our students typically have VERY high pass rates: 2023 RN class – 100% and 2022 LPN class – 100%.
After the conclusion of the program we have a NCLEX prep specialist come to our campus and spend 3 days going over material and practice questions. This is a resource that is unique to BTC because of our complete partnership with ATI. This NCLEX review session really boosts our students’ confidence before taking the exam.
Clinicals
Classroom learning is pointless if you’re not confident practicing your skills in real-life. We wouldn’t want to throw you to the wolves as a new nurse without any hands-on practice, so we make sure that after learning skills in the classroom, you have plenty of time and various scenarios to practice those skills…whether on a computerized mannequin that simulates real-life symptoms or on real patients at healthcare facilities under instructor guidance. You’ll practice your skills in a variety of scenarios at many different locations including ER, OR, ICU, Wound Care, Cancer Center, Dialysis, Peds/OB Clinics, Labor and Delivery, Walk-In Clinics and more.
Simulation and Skills Labs
Our brand new campus was opened in January 2016 and when we moved to our new building, we were able to include an advanced simulation and skills lab. Our lab includes several rooms, one set of which operates as a real-life hospital room setup. From a separate control room, instructors can make the mannequins show symptoms specific to certain health problems, while the students practice nursing skills on a simulation mannequin. This helps take pressure off of students and allows them to make plenty of mistakes before practicing on a real patient.
Job Placement
BTC does everything in our power to help you find and get a job during your last semester of school. It is typical for almost all of our students to have secured jobs even before they graduate! We help prepare our students for the workforce by :
- Giving class time and instructor help with writing resumes, practicing interview skills, and other skills related to job searching.
- Having local recruiters and healthcare professionals visit your classroom and talk to all students about their facility and any jobs available.
- Constantly alerting students to upcoming career fairs and networking opportunities.
- Passing along job opening information from local healthcare facilities that approach us requesting qualified candidates.
Why BTC?
We’re a small school with small class sizes, close to home, and where everyone really does know your name. At some larger schools, you’re stuck in giant classrooms with an impersonal atmosphere and no help in sight, but at BTC you’re a name, not just a number.
Help is always available and our staff and faculty bend over backward to help out with whatever you’ve got going on as we help you navigate the waters of a nursing program.
Student Story
“When our summer Bridge semester ended and we joined the RN students in the fall I think it took about a month for all of us to get used to it. Our instructors were very helpful with it; they gave us a mixed seating arrangement and helped us figure out how to get the class together for pot-luck dinners and study groups. The instructors purposefully mixed us up with our skills labs and clinical groups so that we had different knowledge sets and all the groups could succeed; plus, it added confidence to both groups of people.“
-Samantha Matthews, LPN Class of 2014 & RN Class of 2017
Program Details
Academic Associate of Science Degree in Nursing
The Registered Nurse Bridge Program is designed for students who are already currently Missouri Licensed Paramedics, are IV Certified, and have chosen to pursue a career as a Registered Nurse. Completion of the nursing program does not guarantee eligibility to take the licensure examination. Successful completion of the Professional Nursing for LPN to RN program does not guarantee licensure (see section 335.066 RSMO).
Program Length: 2 semesters + summer transition session + prerequisites / 47 weeks
Program Objectives
- Historical and present views of professional practice.
- Physical assessment and client interview.
- Health promotion and current health trends.
- Critical thinking as part of the nursing process.
- Evidence-based practice and the role of the professional nurse.
- Nursing research and care issues.
- Integration of theoretical content of general education classes with nursing theory and practice.
Employment Opportunities
- Hospital
- Home Health
- Nursing Home
- Clinic RN
- School Nurse
- Most Medical Facilities