You've decided. You're going to do whatever it takes to become an RN. You're bursting at the seams to get into a good program so you can attain more medical responsibilities, higher profiles and hourly salaries reaching 38 percent above your current rate. You're taking your career to the next level.

Unfortunately, the call light is on at the nation's acute-care hospitals, but hundreds of would-be nurses are stuck at the front doors of schools, waiting to begin their training. Despite 126,000 nursing positions going unfilled nationally in the month of November 2007, and that number expected to skyrocket as 78 million baby boomers begin placing unprecedented demand on America's health care system, the training pipeline is clogged and competition is stiffer than ever.

Fortunately, that's where LPN to RN bridge programs come in. They offer immediate entry with flexible class scheduling specifically designed around the lifestyle of working professionals like you-one night a week; four hours a night. They take a snapshot of your current academic accomplishments and award credit for classes with a "C" grade or better regardless of how long ago you took them, and help you build a bridge to your ASN degree. The key to their, and subsequently your success, is a highly focused, customized curriculum, accessible instructors active in the nursing field and student/instructor cross-tell which encourages experience and information sharing not available in online courses. Some bridge programs offer all this at as little as half the cost of other traditional RN programs.

It's rare when labor force shortages coincide with your calling. In fact, the RN work force will continue to age over the next two decades because the largest group of RN's that entered nursing in the 1970s will be age 50 to 69 years and will not be replaced with younger RNs. Four decades ago, according to Martin Luther King Jr. one of the main stumbling blocks he faced was well-meaning people who said that time alone would solve problems. To the contrary, insisted Dr. King, "Time is neutral," and cures nothing. Find a bridge program and put your precious time to work for you and get you out of the waiting line.