Now here’s a scary ad that flew into my email box this morning. Spam, yes, and probably just hype (one hopes) to entice people to click into the site–but still. According to the title message, you can “Earn a nursing degree 100% online.”

In other words, become a cyber nurse without ever seeing or touching a patient during your training. With this training program, you learn the glory of treating cyber patients from the comfort of your own home, without ever getting your hands messy or inhaling the fragrant scent of puke.

As you read on in the website (yes I did check), it says that “According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment opportunities in Healthcare are projected to grow by 34.5% between 2002 and 2012!

Earn your Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Healthcare without giving up your job or your life. Research the Internet’s leading Healthcare universities!

So what I think is that as far as RNs are concerned, this is a method of getting a higher degree if you are already an RN. At least that’s what I hope. But someone reading this, who has also been looking at websites like Discover Nursing which present the glorification of Nightingalehood like you’ve never before seen, view this ad and think, “Golly gee, not only is nursing a glorious career in which I get to help people and never get my spiffy white soiled, I can do it all online. I don’t have to go to class, or go near patients, and better yet, the ad says that I may even be able to do in within 10 months!”

I imagine it’s disappointing for someone to find out that they can’t get an RN solely over the Internet, and that it will take longer than 10 months–although some of these experts in their pursuit of the factory produced nurse (to solve the shortage, you know), are clammoring for shorter nursing schools. And maybe the cyber-trained nurse is also in their line of vision.