Establishing A Nursing School in Florida: 2 Essential Steps
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Nursing, they say, is a profession of the heart. Their entire lives are dedicated to tirelessly caring for others, even at their own expense.
And that really makes you think - it must take an incredible education to build those kinds of hearts, and mold strong-willed, dedicated, and competent nurses. That is something you can provide if you choose to open an allied health or nursing school. But how do you open an allied health or nursing school?
To start, it’s important to recognize that healthcare is all about precision. Getting things right is a priority because other people’s health depends on it. Hence, the process to build a nursing or allied health school is a lot more stringent than other schools. In opening a nursing or allied health school, there are two important steps.
The first one is getting state approval to open an academic institution.
Each state has its own application for new institutions where you are required to submit things like your curriculum, documents about your facilities, your faculty and instructors, your financial statements, and your detailed business plan. Regulators in each state want to make sure that you have what it takes to open a successful institution AND remain in business for a very long time. Without State approval, not only you will not be allowed to enroll and teach students, you will not even be allowed to do any marketing for your school.
However, while Step 1 might be enough to open a college or university that teaches business, and technology, for allied health schools, all states will also need you to obtain approval of your school’s program from its local State’s Board of Nursing or the board that regulates the profession that you intend to teach.
Remember that you’ll need to get separate approvals for each program you will offer in your school from different boards.
Certified nurses, medical technicians, and radiologic technologists, among others, will all have different certification requirements bestowed by different registries. This means that you must have a long list of things ready, like: detailed curriculum, a full list of instructors and program directors, teaching facilities, including signed partnership agreements with hospitals, and healthcare facilities, so that your nurses and allied health workers will have access to training and residency.
All this needs to be in place before you even submit your application for approval to the relevant board.
Getting a nursing school or allied healthcare school approved takes longer than getting approval for other types of schools. Be prepared to dedicate an average of one to two years to finish both of these processes. You might think that it’s challenging, and sure, it certainly can be. But as I said, nursing is a profession of the heart, and choosing to teach and support those hearts is one of the most fulfilling choices you can make.
To learn more about starting a nursing school, explore our links.
And be sure to check out our next video "How do I open a religious exempt school?"
As always, feel free to give me a call or Contact Us with any questions you may have. I’ve been helping clients establish universities in the US for over a decade, and I’m looking forward to helping you, too.
