Can an ADN nurse move into supervisory positions with only 4 years experience?

Nurses General Nursing

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I know a nurse who graduated with her ADN in 2007. She works in the ICU and has been the "charge nurse" for sometime.( I am still taking my prerequisites for Nursing, so I'm not completely sure what all the different titles for different nurses are. )

Anyways, apparently she got promoted to an even higher supervisory position, I think she is now the head nurse of the ICU as opposed to just the leader of her shift (although she didn't specify what the position was).

Also, I was reading a thread on here, and another woman said that after 5 months of working as an RN(also ADN educated) she moved into a supervisory position.

I was wondering, is this common? I hear so many saying "if you want to move up the career ladder in Nursing you should have a BSN." but this woman has a ADN and has apparently become Miss Boss Lady.

Thanks!:)

Specializes in psych, med/surg.

My understanding is that an RN is an RN. Experience is an absolute plus. A person can be excellently book smart, yet not have the "quick thinking" problem solving skills required in a nursing management position. I have served 9yrs. in the military and only have an ADN, but am working on a BSN. Yet I have been charge nurse on my floor countless of times and now officially at least once a week. Worked on a very busy med/surg floor for past 4yrs.+ which I have seen become more acute in the last 2 yrs. concerning pts. "Learn all you can and help others". That is my moto.:)

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This is insulting to all diploma and ADN nurses. And it comes from someone who isn't even a nursing student, let alone a working nurse.

What? You must have misunderstood. The entire reason why I started this thread is because I am applying for an ADN program, and was wondering how far I could advance without a BSN. So I certainly wouldn't be insulting ADN nurses if I'm trying to become one....

:rolleyes:

thanks to all of you who answered my question! :redbeathe

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Specializes in Dialysis.
This is spot on. :up:

Degree snobbery, IMHO, is another one of the factors which cause nursing to be taken less seriously as a profession than it should be. Not only because we've never established a single point of entry into the field, but because we chew up and spit out nurses who in our opinion lack the "right" credentials for certain types of jobs (even though no one agrees on what those credentials are :uhoh3:). It's as if we can forgive anything but an LPN or ADN---even one with street-smarts, talent, and a work ethic---who rises from the ranks to become an authority figure.

A couple of years ago, I worked with an LPN who was in her last year of a BSN program, and who seemed to think she was extra-special by virtue of being in that program. One day she told me, "I would SO love to have you for my preceptor this semester, but since you're only an ADN, you wouldn't qualify." Last spring, she called me up at my AL facility and asked me for a job; but not without a comment to the effect that I should've been the one asking HER because she was the BSN and should have been where I was. :lol2:

I am sincerely appalled at this situation! How dare she! She must have felt very comfortable with you to insult you while at the same time asking you for a job. The problem is that nursing is filled with women. They are nasty, jealous, and totally unable to be happy for another woman coming up the ranks. Be happy for people instead of checking to see if they are "qualified" for a job. From the moment I read the initial post I said, "Someone is very jealous that their friend got a promotion." Well with friends like that you don't need any enemies.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Why is it insulting?

OP is asking a question, she clearly states she's doing pre-reqs; she's trying to figure out if she needs a BSN. She isn't saying anything good or bad about anyone. I don't understand why you think she's being insulting.

For OP - yes, as others have said, an AD nurse can be the boss. It depends on personality, skills, your interests, and who you know. Good luck with your career and education.

The way in which it was asked.

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Specializes in Holistic and Aesthetic Medicine.

One area facility has stated that they are currently around 75% BSN or higher degree for management and they have a goal of getting to 100% in the next two years. Another facility in the area doesn't care. So much of that concern about the degree is about the culture where you work.

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My nurse manager has her ADN. That is as far as her nursing education goes. She is an amazing nurse manager (which, from my experiences, can be hard to find). However, she does have an undergraduate business degree, a masters in public health, and a MBA and prior to becoming a nurse, was a VP of the company she worked for.

Personally, who cares what their nursing education is as long as the individual as the ability to be a great leader and is a great nurse who has worked hard?

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As long as a health care agency is following their own policies state laws, nursing practice act etc. in regard to this matter this type of thing you described can and does happen.

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Specializes in ICU.

I did with 4 and a half years at bedside ICU. Not in the same facility, but in a different facility where the same doctors visited. I was recommended for the interview and got the job.

I don't have the job anymore, for some crazy reasons. I am however, finding it hard to do get outside of the facility in which you work or you don't know anyone without a BSN or heavy supervisory experience. People need to know you have a proven t4rack record to take a chance on you which comes from previous supervisors and coworkers.

It's not impossible. Good luck to you!

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Specializes in ICU.
Being "in charge" isn't just about your education level. Sometimes an employer can see leadership qualities in a person from the start. The managing part is the learned part that you gain from experience. With the right training, education, and inherent leadership skills ASN vs BSN doesn't make that much of a difference. Who says that a BSN nurse charts any better? It depends on the person.

I became a charge withing 6 months of working ICU, not even 1 year as a nurse. A few of us new grad Associate Nurses did. We were pretty rotational with it, with the exception of some nurses who were by virtue of the NM and nursing supervisors NOT allowed to take charge...... and these were nurses with BSN's and years of experience. They just couldn't function well in the role.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Dunno if you guys remember me because I barely post here since graduating, but I've been an S/MICU RN since May 2009, recently became the full-time charge nurse for the next door combined stepdown/MICU unit, and their manager just stepped down due to personal issues. Long and short, I'm now in that position. ADN, but enrolled in an online bridge to BSN. It also helps that I have worked at this facility for 7+ years and the critical care director has long wanted me in such a role. Being CCRN also carries equal if not more weight than the BSN.

The only real concern is that some of the staff under my watch were here three+ years ago when I was their monitor tech, so I have to prove my worthiness daily.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

I have worked as an RN in four states and many ICUs & ERs, counting travel contracts and per diem. I have never heard of any unit that cared at all what degree the charge nurse had. Even in hospitals that required BSN for managers didn't care what degree the charge nurse had. In my experience charge is rotated among the nursees, and dreaded duty.

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