Yes . . . I’m a Nurse Lic #: 844860 . . . check it out . . . Jon Haws RN! Today on Facebook I saw an ad for a company claiming to provide NCLEX® prep for nursing students . . . I thought, “Awesome, someone we can reach out to.” I go to the site and something quickly seems off to me . . . as an educator and blogger I probably look at things a bit closer than most . . . the courses seemed pretty empty.  Mostly text, generic, and more importantly there was no instructor listed. I thought hmmm . . . I don’t want to take a course if I don’t know the instructors credentials.  The only preview available was a short powerpoint video with no talking . . . hmmm. So I go to the companies website.  On their site they claim they are the #1 NCLEX program . . . hmmm. I look all over the site and can’t find a place to contact the company.  Finally, I find an “about us” page.  They list several RNs as course creators, many with advanced degrees (MSN, PHd). At this point I’ve had so many red flags pop up that I just HAVE to investigate more closely. I copy the names of the “educators” and paste them in Google . . . no results for these people.  Okay, so I try doing the same thing in Twitter . . . nothing.  Strange, all the companies and NCLEX® educators I know have a presence on social media or published work SOMEWHERE! Okay, now I am really curious. I do a reverse Google Image search on the instructors to see if I can find anything on these people or their credentials . . . . BOOM!! Here are a couple places the images on their about page came from:

• Getty Images (just a stock model photo)
• A Miss America photo from years ago (it wasn’t who they said it was on their site and not a nurse)
• Some strange Russian website (again NOT who they said it was, again NOT a nurse)
• Flickr (a picture of someone’s cousin . . . and  . . . again NOT a nurse or who they said it was)

Why Are They Doing This?

This is SO offensive to me for several reasons.

• What are they trying to hide?
• I put well over 40 hours a week into NRSNG.com to create GOOD content.
• Where does this leave you, the nursing student, when you can’t trust what you find online.

I want you guys to be successful . . . .there are so many amazing nurses out there providing killer content to help you on your journey . . . it just really ticks me off that internet marketers are copying nursing text books and slapping the content in courses and then charging you an arm and a leg for it . . .

Where Can You Find Honest Nurses?

My goal is to give my all to you guys so that we can create a strong future for nursing. When I talk with other nurses out there . . . I put them through a serious vetting process in my mind . . . if they aren’t on the same page as me . . . I’m not going to recommend them to you.  If they don’t fire me up and get me excited to be a nurse . . . BYE FELICIA.

My Goal at NURSING.com

I got into online nursing education for one reason . . . my journey through nursing school (honestly) sucked and I wanted to share tips for surviving.  That message resonated with many nursing students all around the country, so I started sharing some of my study tips and joining forces with world-class nurse educators to bring you clear, concise, and visual nursing courses.

That’s how this all began . . . and my goal is that you succeed in your nursing journey.

A Few Tips to Spot a Scammer

Follow these steps when you encounter a new website providing educational materials for nurses.  Not only is providing educational materials to nursing students if you aren’t a nurse a scam — it’s also very dangerous.

• Do they use RN credentials after their name?
• What happens when you look up their name with the Board of Nursing for their state?
• If you ask them straight up if they are a nurse or can provide references, what do they say?
• Can they answer straight questions about nursing?
• Are the images on their site/etc stock images?
• Lastly, ask for an RN license # . . . can they provide you with one? . . . if not RUN!
• BONUS TIP: if they say they aren’t interested in answering those questions, don’t provide contact information, or ignore the questions . . RUN!

We are all in this together . . . and my goal is your success! p.s. you can contact me any time . . . also just google search “Jon Haws” or NURSING.com and you will know EXACTLY who I am . . .

The NURSING.com Team

We’ve formed a team of the world’s best nurse educators at NURSING.com.  Not only are they incredibly brilliant nurses, they are working professionals with advanced certifications . . . and even more importantly, they embrace our unique method for teaching nursing students. We call our teaching method the Core Content Mastery Method which embraces a learner focused approach to teaching with you at the center.