Kaylim Career Institute

We understand not everyone can fit traditional education into their lives. That's why we have designed our programs keeping in mind that all our students work full time.

- Attend class one day per week for 4 hours.
- Enroll and start classes immediately.
- Less cost than a traditional program.
- Flexible schedules.
- Financing available to all students.
- Qualified and student-focused faculty.
- Small class sizes to facilitate success
- Hands-on clinical practice in full lab

Feel free to contact us and one of our academic advisors can assist you.

Website: www.kaylimcareerinstitute.com
Email: admin@kaylimcareerinstitute.com

Kaylim in Atlanta
Phone: (770)455-8008
Fax: (770)455-8005
Address: 4470 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd, #255, Atlanta, GA 30338

Kaylim in Fayetteville
Phone: (770)716-6400
Fax: (770)716-6406
South Address: 110 Habersham Dr, Fayetteville, GA 30214

House Bill 1041, written by Sharon Cooper, was presented to the General Assembly in January of 2008 and went into effect the following July. While the original intent of the bill was to enforce stricter background checks for nurses, the Georgia Board of Nursing interpreted the bill to exclude nontraditional nursing programs in Georgia.

Consequently, in July 2008 thousands of nursing students were told they would not be eligible for licensure in Georgia despite the fact that when they enrolled into these programs years ago they were told by the Board that they WOULD be able to get licensed through endorsement.

Excelsior College is among the schools being affected.

Excelsior College is a nontraditional school in Albany New York. It is one of only thirteen nursing schools that have been named a "School of Excellence" by the National League of Nursing, the country's oldest and most credible nursing association. Excelsior also happens to be the nation's largest nursing school.

It has been accredited by the National League of Nursing Accrediting Commission since 1975 and has been recognized by the American Assembly of Men in Nursing as the best school for men in nursing. The real kicker here though is that Excelsior students consistently pass the RN licensing exam at a rate equal to or higher than the state of Georgia.

So why does Kaylim care? Kaylim is an independent institution for higher education that offers almost 700 Excelsior students the classroom time and structure they need to complete their ASN.

When HB1041 went into effect I'm sure the Board wasn't expecting the backlash that came with it not just from students but hospitals, the media and the Georgia Nurses Association. The question on everyone's mind was why?

Good question, but despite the fact that the Board of Nursing made such a drastic decision to tell thousands of students that they would not be licensed in Georgia they have yet to say why. The validity of Excelsior's accreditation is not what is in question. Georgia still recognizes the degree as accredited but is choosing not to license graduates after almost three decades of doing so.

After five months of waiting in limbo to see if the Board would reconsider their decision they came out with their final answer in November, 2008, no. The Board even decided against a grandfather clause that would allow students already enrolled into nontraditional programs to get licensed.

Just days after the board made their decision, that was still lacking a reason, the unthinkable happened.

Governor Perdue publically rebuked what the Board had done. He released an official statement saying, "This administration is fully supportive of bona fide nontraditional education methods as a means of solving Georgia's nursing shortage... This administration has not seen any evidence to suggest that graduates of the schools seeking approval yesterday have posed a threat to public health or safety. Further, I do not agree that recent legislation dictated the conclusion reached by the Board yesterday. In response, we look forward to working with the General Assembly to make it clear that bona fide nontraditional and for-profit education institutions can have a place in Georgia."

Since then the Governor has replaced three board members effective immediately. We're not sure why it happened but it did. One of the board members that was "fired" was the President of the board, who coincidentally was the strongest advocate for doing away with nontraditional education. Nontraditional students could not be happier.

As of December 14, 2008 we are still waiting for the issue to go before the General Assembly that meets next month. (Stay tuned for updates.) In the meantime please sign our petition to thank the Governor.

On December 19th 2008 the Board of Nursing, including the new board president, held an unexpected meeting to discuss the future of nontraditional nursing students.

The result as of this point is a grandfather clause that will allow all students enrolled in nontraditional nursing schools before July 1, 2008 to complete their degree and get licensed in the state of Georgia. These students, as of now, must complete their degree by July 1, 2010.

This unexpected and great turn of events, however, still does not help everyone in nontraditional programs in Georgia or people that want to enroll in the future. Thus the issue will still go before the General Assembly that starts meeting on January 12, 2009 for a full reversal.

The issue of house bill 1041 will be presented on January 27, 2009. An answer is expected sometime in mid February.

Well, the fight goes on. Both Kaylim staff and Kaylim students attended the January 27th meeting at the State Capital to discuss house bill 1041. The result is the introduction of Senate Bill 49 that, when passed into GA law, will counteract the damages of 1041 and allow future students to participate in nontraditional education. That's great news but it's not over yet and Kaylim will continue to push until it is.

UPDATE ON SENATE BILL 49: SB 49 just passed with the Senate. Now it just needs to go to the House and Health Committee and it's Georgia law!!!

Pictured: Sheri Taylor Jenkins, a Kaylim instructor, and Jason Morecraft, Kaylim CFO.

Senate Bill 49, after passing with the Senate and the House, was squashed by the health committee. No surprise being that the head of the health committee is non other than Sharon Cooper, the author of the original HB1041 that started this year long fight for nontraditional nursing students.

Her rebuttal was HB475 that DOES allow nontraditional students to get their Georgia RN license with the inclusion of 350 clinical hours for LPNs and 700 for Paramedics and Military Corpsman.

The bill has also done away with the need to license in Georgia through reciprocity or endorsement so now graduates can license directly into Georgia!

Congrats to everyone for hanging in there! Your hard work has paid off!

By 2010, the first of 78 million baby boomers will retire and begin to overwhelm America's entire health care system not the least of which is Medicare. RN's are also aging. In the next 20 years the largest group of RNs hired during the 1970s will hit 50-69 years old and won't be replaced. In fact, if the average age of RNs holds steady, 70 percent of the work force will leave the profession over the next 20 to 25 years. Dwindling stocks in the nursing pool coupled with hordes of aging boomers will intensify the nursing shortage. The result--RN numbers 20% below what's needed by 2020. There, how's that? But wait, there's more.

The nursing shortage is so bad that hospitals are refusing patients and outsourcing to expensive part-time or traveling nurses to bridge the gap in patient care. Many elective surgeries are being sidelined. Some hospitals are finding it necessary to import nurses from foreign countries, such as the Philippines, just to keep up. Why? Our state and national traditional nursing pipelines are choked and understaffed with qualified educators spread very thin for all the RN wannabe's. It's a catch 22 and translates into LONG, LONG waitlists.

The good news is an aging population and an acute nursing shortage for the foreseeable future. The bad news is traditional nursing programs, while having their own merit, are not capable of dealing with our country's nursing shortfall. The answer lays in bona-fide non-traditional education from highly recognized programs such as Excelsior College's nursing program.