Educated nurses

CATHYW · Jul 10, 2002

Yup, that is basically what you tun into in most places, as a staff nurse. Most places pay a premium of some sort to those who are specialized in the area that they work. $3/hr is super. I'd jump right on that!

Extra pay for BSN comes in when you begin looking at qualifications for management. In our area, the BSN students usually have the LEAST bedside nursing experience, and LPN students have the most, with ADN students in the middle. More education does not necessarily make a better bedside nurse. (Please-I am not dissing anybody, so don't throw spears or flames, okay?) If you could find literature that says the added degree improves the level of care, I would be really interested to see it. That might kickstart me back to finish out my BSN!

NurseDennie, BSN, RN · Jul 11, 2002

Curlygirl, that makes sense to me.

Love

Dennie

PS - The thing is, we're all "educated" if it's diploma, ADN, BSN, MSN LPN.... Whatever! It gets up my nose when I hear someone talking about a "trained" nurse. I guess because it makes it sound like something you can be "trained" to do as opposed to the educated professionals nurses ALL are.

fergus51 · Jul 11, 2002

Our hospital gives an extra $50 bucks every 2 weeks for the BSN. Should make up for that extra year of school in about 12 years...:)

SmilingBluEyes · Jul 11, 2002

I feel it is wrong..and I hold an ADN. I feel we should be paid a benefit commensurate with our education. But in a world where a garbage man hauls in more money a mo. than many nurses, this ain't gonna happen, is it????? Sheesh., my sisters have NO college education whatsoever, yet earn much more than I ever will as an RN. So why should nursing care what education we have if no one else seems to? A kind of sore point w/me, can you tell?

So, honestly, why bother w/higher education? Perhaps, not everyone is going into management, but I feel a BSN should be paid better than an ADN. period. If I did not want to teach one day, I would not bother beyond my ADN degree. It would not be worth the $$ or time investment, not to mention the aggravation.

curlygirlrn · Jul 11, 2002

Nurse Dennie,

I actually felt the same way you did until I obtained my BSN. You would be surprised what a different perspective you may have on the other side of the fence. Knowledge is power. If you want to be a task oriented nurse for the rest of your career, all the power to you. But if you want to really broaden your horizons and expand your mind...you should really try to get your Bachelor's.

My thanks to all for responding.

CurlygirlRN

zudy · Jul 11, 2002

My hospital gives alittle more money for BSN, really very little, like maybe $1.00 more an hour. Very strange to me since this is a teaching hosp and we have a BSN program here. I think BSNs should demand more. ( I am an ADN.) JUst my humble opinion!!

NurseDennie, BSN, RN · Jul 11, 2002

I didn't *say* I didn't have the degree. I'm just saying that I don't see any reason for paying more for it, *for the same job.*

In fields where you get paid more BECAUSE you have a certain degree, the thing is you can't get the job if you DON'T have the degree.

That's my point of view. I'm also saying that bedside nursing should pay a LOT more, but not JUST because you've got this degree instead of that one.

I'm a lab-coat nurse (blush) mostly because I couldn't do the bedside nursing any more. I get paid a lot more, and I don't work nights, weekends or holidays now. Just a NICE side effect as well.

I think we've all beaten the ADN/BSN "debate" to death, and I sure hope we don't start it up again here!!!!! That's wasn't my intention. My intention was to say what I said - that ANY of us being called a "TRAINED" nurse just pisses me off.

That's all I'm saying.

Love

Dennie

LasVegasRN · Jul 11, 2002

I'm a certification nurse. After I got my CCM, I made more than the BSN's with just my diploma and CCM. In some fields, it's your specific knowledge in the specialty - not the number of degrees. Also, I had many more years of experience. In that case, I think it's fair.

I have to agree with Dennie - I don't see the point of a difference in pay for doing the same job. Heck, I'll even go further to say I've seen some LPN's who can run circles around some RN's because of their experience, knowledge, and nurse intuition.

Level2Trauma · Jul 11, 2002

This, among many other things, will help to keep our profession in the sub-standard category. Someone please tell me in what other profession does the attainment of a higher degree not come with the attainment of more money. Just curious.

donmurray · Jul 12, 2002

I think Dennie covered that already, you get paid more for a higher level degree when it is a requirement for the job in question. The requirement for RN, if I am not mistaken, is NCLEX. Surely then, how you got there is irrelevant.

emily_mom · Jul 12, 2002

In the hospital I work at, the training program for incoming BSN nurses is 10 weeks. The training for ADN/LPN is 6 weeks. They rationalize this extra training b/c BSN nurses don't get the hands-on experience that ADN nurses do.

I have an ADN, and I've had over 600 hours of clinical experience while in school. The (BSN) nurse that was training my at the hospital said that she didn't know how to put in an IV or straight cath until she started her job.

I was just curious...is this normal? This is going on in Eau Claire, WI (land of cows and cheese). I thought we would all have the same skill level, but at UW-EC, students only have one clinical rotation the last semester of their schooling.