Social Work undergrad to accelerated BSN/RN program??

[xceee]

Hey guys! I'm hoping someone could help me out with this.

I'm a sophomore in college and I just recently decided I wanted to major in nursing to some day become a Psychiatric NP. Upon talking to my advisor she told me that it would take maybe another 4-5 of schooling to get my BSN and RN. I do not want to still be in the city I live in for another 4-5 years let alone the same school. I had wanted to try and double major in social work so I could have a counseling degree behind me to tie in with the psychiatric parts of my job.

I've decided to major in Social Work and get that degree, graduate, move and get a job and then shortly after I want to find an accelerated BSN program. From what I've read, a lot of them can be completed in just 15-16 months. Then go from there to become an NP.

I'm hoping someone can give me some feedback, as to whether or not this track makes sense or to provide any other options for me.

Thanks!

[BeachsideRN, ASN]

The track makes sense. There are also some direct entry MSN/NP programs out there. There was someone recently who posted about going that route (directly from non-nursing degree to PMH-NP) you can search for it if you are on a PC

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

So - you're going to complete 2 more years in your current degree (that you don't want) and then (hopefully) enter an ABSN program that will take another 1 1/2 years? If you make the switch now, it will take 4 years.... if you go with the other plan, it will take at least 3 1/2 years. I don't see the huge time savings here... in fact, if nursing is definitely what you want, you'll be wasting 2 years. Most NP programs require specific types of clinical experience in order to be accepted.

US nursing programs are designed to produce generalists - specialty education occurs at the graduate level. Those entry-level MSNs (who have no additional clinical qualifications) are competing with BSNs for exactly the same entry level new grad jobs. Be sure to do a very thorough assessment of all your options, including the hiring climate in your area - before making a decision. Entry to nursing programs is very competitive, so you will likely have a delay before being accepted to your program of choice.