[crb613]

Easy now.... What does being from Kentucky have to do with verbal skills?? I am rather proud of my "accent" & speak it with pride. The problem of not being able to come up with the words to express what your thinking is not unique to Kentuckians. Now to get back on topic I think ADN vs BSN is a matter of choice. Some want to futher their education & some are happy right where they are. I will be 49 when I graduate with my ADN & am not interested at this time in my life on obtaining a BSN. I am very confident I will be able to communicate and perform efficiently. However, I do grunt well & have excellent hand gestures.

[Claver]

Do not worry about being an ADN and how people will feel about you. First try to pass your boards (we all take the same exam). Then try to learn and be the best nurse that you can be. No one goes around asking for an ADN vs BSN- all that patients require is that you know how to give good care and meet their needs. Passing your state boards determines that you have the basic requirements to do just that. The rest is up to you.

[BETSRN]

Originally Posted by Stacy W

My name is Stacy and i will be graduating in May with my ADN nursing degree. I was wondering what everyone thinks about nurses with ADN degrees? Do you think they should go on? Let me know what you all think.

New graduates (no matter what type of program they attended) come to nursing with varying amounts of hands-on clinical, and different interests. They all need at least a year (my opinion only) to become "competent" in their area. Nurses are as different as all the types of personalities that they possess (as it is in any career field).
The most important attribute a new nurse needs is the desire to NEVER stop learning and to be an advocate for her patient. The hands-on skills come as she(he) gathers experience.
Don't be afraid to advocate for yourself and demand a good, thorough orientation. Good luck.

[BETSRN]

Originally Posted by *PICURN*

ROTFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sounds like Veridican has a little "increased ICP" r/t her BSN.....hmmm who wants to measure her head circumference? anyone? ohhh wait make sure they have a BSN first!!!!

i didn't know they had a BSN course on "talking to medical professionals"....damn should have taken that one....

LDRP nurse here........I measure head circumferences all the time. I do not have a BSN.....Oh my, do you think my measurements were all wrong??????

[BETSRN]

Originally Posted by tntrn

I would think that even the ADN nurses (she said with a wink, since she is one) have developed that sacred critical thinking art. Don't we do that automatically as we go about our work? Of course, it comes with experience. It can't be learned in a classroom.

As far as only BSN nurses being to carry on an intelligent conversation with other professionals: what hogwash, and I cleaned up my initial reaction to that one. What an elitist way to think. Is that an attitude that is taught while you're in BSN school? In my 28 years of experience, I find that I cannot distinguish the ADN's from the BSN's during conversation. Indeed, some of the younger BSN's I've known recently cannot spell, cannot pronounce drug names properly and in general are interested in partying more than anything else.

So we all have our experiences...and hopefully those who don't respect ADN's hopefully will have occasion to re-evaluate after actually having had some.

I do think that there are probably some BSN programs which are a bit elitist (or maybe it is specific professors within any given program). I had one PhD professor like that once in a course. Personally, when you take a bunch of seasoned nurses (seasoned being the important concept here) that you cannot tell the difference in education. I feel that a person's INDIVIDUAL personality has far more to do with their success (or failure) as a nurse.

Critical thinking skills come with EXPERIENCE, NOT from some text book used in school. Skills also come with experience. There is only so much you can learn in nursing school and you use those skills as your base on which to build.

The ONLY thing I object to are some of these nursing professors who have not seen, touched or cared for a real patient in years (or ever). These are the professionals who I think do nursing a huge disservice.

Nursing is no different than many fields. I do NOT think a person should be teaching in any field until they have had actual HANDS-ON experience in their area of expertise. I also feel that they should have to keep their hands in and not just their brains!!

We actually have a fairly new doctor (not new to medicine but new to us) who has been a physician for years but has very weak hands-on skills (I mean surgical, etc). Before he came to us, he came from an academic setting where it is obvious that he had been doing mostly classroom teaching (of students). His actual skills are very weak by comparison and he has improved greatly in the time he has been with us. That's because all of a sudden he has to be a hands-on doctor again! He can tell you everything and anything on paper about any condition, most recent treatment protocols. Very nice, but his hands-on skills are very weak by comparison. It is the same with nurses as well as many other fields.

Let's juts stop all this who's better stuff and concentrate on helping all practitioners (regardless of career) keep current and safe.

[RealNurseWitch]

Woops, sorry. Did not mean to offend any Kentuckians, as I am one. I just meant... well... persons with certain accents are looked at as being not quite as intelligent. Doesn't mean that it is true, of course.

I also wasn't trying to say that my being from Kentucky had anything to do with being able to form words verbally. It's an unfortunate trait that I have, that anyone from Kentucky or Minnesota or Delaware can have.

I digress though... ahem, back to the subject at hand. :Melody:

[txspadequeen921]

This whole post below is just wrong!! People do not need bachelor degree's in order to communicate with other healthcare members. And why should entry level be a Masters , the only thing that could accomplish is a bigger nursing shortage. Nurses need good clinical skills, not more theory. I am going to take a stab here and guess you went straight through a BSN program and never had the experience of being an ADN. I have run across this better than thou attitude from BSN's before, all the while they couldnt even set up suction or O2 for a patient . Now Im not saying all BSN's are like this so dont slam me. It is my personal opinion that all nurses should start right at the bottom be a CNA, LVN, ADN, BSN, then MSN if one desires. This way you have a complete idea of the nursing picture from all aspects, and you dont forget where you come from. ........

" I don't think a BSN is necessary, but I do feel a nurse should have a bachelors degree in some field so they are educated enough to converse intelligently with the other members of the healthcare team (doctors, administrators, PTs, OTs, RTs, other nurses, etc.).

I am one of the rare individuals that believes a bachelors should be required before admission to nursing school, and nursing school should award a masters degree. The only problem is that no one would want to work at the bedside then.

Where I work, you don't know which nurses are ADNs or BSNs because it's not on our name badges. But in reality, as soon as you talk to someone on the floor, you can tell whether they've had two years or four years of education." Posted by Veridican

[manna]

Some BSN grads' attitudes give us all a bad name.

In my opinion, a nurse is a nurse - whether they be diploma, ADN, or BSN trained. We all take the same boards and we all do the same jobs. I'd prefer an ADN/diploma RN with years of experience over a new grad BSN any day (and I'm in a BSN program)!

As far as what degree to pursue, I'd say it depends on your career goals. Do you want to be in management? Go to grad school? Even these things do not exclusively require a BSN (I know there are many ADNs who work in management, and many grad schools that offer MSN-upgrade programs).

I personally am in a BSN program because I had already completed 3 years of courses before I decided to apply to nursing school (so I could complete a BSN just as quickly as an ADN), this university ended up costing me less (they are very generous with scholarships), and I hope to go to grad school eventually.

[Marie_LPN, RN]

I just meant... well... persons with certain accents are looked at as being not quite as intelligent.

And to those that think this way, i say "look in the mirror". "Accents" are a matter of perception.

If someone's going to look at me as less intelligent because i don't sound like THEM, then, hell, don't look at me, simple as that. I pronounce words correctly, which was the way i was raised, but then again, i was also raised not to judge a book by the cover as well.

[jeepgirl]

Originally Posted by camay1221_RN

Jeepgirl,

That class, "Grunts and Hand Gestures" was only offered to those of us with a diploma and ADN!

I believe it was my ADN capstone class!!!!!