[Valerie Salva]

Originally Posted by NRSKarenRN

Federal employment laws prohibit hiring from abroad for lower wage for SAME WORK with equal skills.

Just because there are laws against it, doesn't mean it isn't happeneing.

[Bx_RN2B]

I agree! It certainly happens at the facility that I work at. I work with quite a few Filipino nurses who were brought over by agencies. They are working as LPNs while trying to pass the RN boards and I know for a fact that they are paid less than I am. This is totally backwards because agency nurse's typically make a few dollars more per hour than what I am getting. I don't know how my facility is getting away with this but it IS happening.

Originally Posted by Valerie Salva

Just because there are laws against it, doesn't mean it isn't happeneing.

[hpcat]

Originally Posted by chestrockwell

Exactly. I have a previous bachelors and am almost finished with my AA in nursing. Are the proponents for a mandatory BSN suggesting I go back to school for yet another degree? And if so, should I then demand more respect and salary for the extra education I have over someone with only a BSN education?

I also have a BA in social & behavioral sciences (lots of sociology & psych, I want use it by going into psych nursing).

My local state school offers MSN in specialities like behavioral, maternity, adult health and peds, I can put together a nursing portfolio for review, skip the BSN and go directly for an MSN. Same amount of credits, better degree.

This is one nice advantage of having an "unrelated Bachelor's degree."

[Susan9608]

Wow, it really seems like - from reading some of these posts - that some lpns and associates prepared nurses - look down on BSNs. I can't count the number of times I've read that LPNs can run circles around BSN nurses or that someone would rather have a "seasoned ADN nurse rather than a brand new BSN nurse" or that BSN nurses couldn't hack it in an ADN program.

These comments alone show me the value of having some kind of standardized entry level education into the profession of nursing, whatever that standard might be.

Also, I have to say, that as a patient, I would definitely prefer to have a "seasoned" nurse rather than a new grad, no matter what the degree program, and I find the constant comparisons of a "seasoned" ADN or LPN to a new grad BSN rather unfair. A more fair comparison would be to compare a new grad ADN to a new grad BSN and see who functions better.

From the tone of so many here, it seems like perhaps we should just cut off all further educational opportunities for nurses and make them stop at an ADN level; it's good enough for some, maybe it should be good enough for all of us.

[PsychRN03]

Originally Posted by megananne7

ADN to BSN programs would be so overloaded if this actually happened. There'd be an even longer wait list.


That, and community colleges like the one I went to that ONLY offer Associate's Degrees in all their programs (not just nursing and health-care), would basically have to shut down their nursing programs if no one was allowed to have just an ADN anymore.

As sooooooo many others have said, except I'll put it as only I can...Hell will freeze over before the BSN becomes the mandatory entry into nursing.

Having said that, I do strongly believe there should be a requirement to advance your education to BSN within a given amount of time. However, for such a system to be feasible, employers would have to be required to work with nurses in providing financial assistance for their student-workers, as well as being flexible with scheduling--so maybe this could occur just prior to Hell freezing over--it'll just be a bit frosty down there.

Actually, RN-BSN programs truly offer a very reasonable route to BSN, and if the school sets up the program correctly, you can graduate multitudes of nurses each year by setting up satellite programs; all you really need is 1 faculty member who does all the class activities--discussions, assignments, etc. and instructors to grade the work. After all, the clinical experiences are minimal, so you don't have to absolutely have an additional faculty/10 students for clinical experiences.

[mack7580]

I want to start in nursing school in August and I keep hearing that 2 year RN's are going to have to becaome 4 year RN's. Is this true? I am doing my schooling in Minnesota, but as soon as I graduate I am moving to Texas. I just want to know if I should go for my 2 year RN or choose a different career path.

[flames9]

If ya scroll down just a bit, you will see many posts talking about this

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by flames9

If ya scroll down just a bit, you will see many posts talking about this

Thanks. In fact we're merging all the threads that are asking this question.

[irol1013]

Originally Posted by szccdw

An instructor of mine (I'm in another state) stated that she recently went to a national educators conference and that they were saying that within the next several years in NY it would be mandatory to have your BSN. Does anyone know anything about this? Thanks

This will only effect new nurses graduating now they will have 10 years to get their bachelors, my professor said it is not so bad considering pt ot and sw need their masters to get a decent job anywhere.

[pantheon]

Originally Posted by cheerfuldoer

Hmmm....the day nurses actually stand up and EMPOWER ourselves will be the day hospital ceos and other vips over hospitals and healthcare become frantic enough to FINALLY shut up and listen to nurses about how to REALLY operate a hospital, retain nursing staff, lower patient/nurse ratios to SAFE levels, AND..........shall I go on??????????????????

Hello! I just wanted to say that a BS is BS! Back aroung 2/08 you can view on one of my threads of all the classes I have taken. I am very close to obtaining my BSN. In all honesty it's a bunch of crap! It hasn't made me a better RN or made me well rounded. It's just money going out the window.

If the BSN programs actually taught me something useful I would be grateful and positive. But so far it has taught me not a thing to improve anything in nursing. What will happen to LPN's? Some of the LPN's I have worked with are awesome, they really know their job (nursing)!

I have a lot of friends that are RN-BSN grads. Guess what? They are clueless. One friend in particular worked in a hospital for about 6 months and quit because she said I refuse to help with bedpans etc. Well, then why did she ever become a nurse? Easy answer: Money.

The ironic thing is she is making $50,000 a year as a Charge Nurse at a LTC and I am a staff nurse (most of the time, sometimes charge)
and I work at a different facility (hospital) but I make over $80,000! I also know way more than she does about diseases, how to handle difficult situations, how to handle codes. She just calls 911.

So NO, I don't understand what the big deal is. I wil probably finish my BSN soon but I don't believe that makes me a better RN. I make myself a better RN by educating myself on things I forgot and read about to refresh my memory.