RN to BSN

llg, PhD, RN · Dec 30, 2004

At least you know you have all of us for support!

When you get that overwhelmed feeling, try to remember that if it were really easy and you didn't have to do much work you might be complaining that you weren't getting your money's worth. You might be saying that the BSN was meaningless because it didn't teach you anything you didn't already know ... that people with BSN's hadn't done anything that you didn't have to do in your ADN program ... that there is no difference between an ADN and BSN education, etc. etc. etc.

Take comfort in knowing that your BSN will represent a high level of academic accomplishment and not just be a rubber stamp on the fact that you paid your money for a meaningless piece of paper.

As far as writing papers go ... when you take a multiple choice test, you are just being asked to recognize the right answer if you see it. When you right a paper, you are being asked to come up with the ideas yourself and make a logical argument to present those ideas in a way that will others will accept. Don't hesitate to bounce those paper ideas off of us.

We're your friends. We'll help.

llg

Trauma Columnist · Dec 30, 2004

Congrats Tweety on going back to school. I found that once I had a routine down it was second nature and I did okay. I went straight from the BSN to the MSN because (for me since I'm pretty lazy) that if I stopped, I probably wouldn't go back. Good luck...judi

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2004

Thanks so much Igflamini and llg, your words mean more than you could ever know. :)

Rep · Dec 30, 2004

Good luck!

Nai'aHI · Dec 30, 2004

Hey Tweety -

You'll do just fine.

All you have to do is 1) approach it 1 page at a time, and 2) get a BIG pot of coffee going for the next few years :-)

Seriously - (as a professional student here LOL) you can do it. It's always intimidating at first, but once you get into the swing of things, you somehow manage to get everything done and time passes.

I know that we all applaud your efforts to improve yourself and to provide even better care for those patients lucky enough to have you as their nurse.

Good Luck!

manna, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2004

Congrats, Tweety!

I've always been convinced that online courses required a good deal more work than their "traditional" counterparts! The price we pay for convenience, right? :)

donsterRN, ASN, BSN · Dec 31, 2004

I suspect you're going do very well.

You appear to be an intelligent man who wants this very much. The fact that you're doing this at all shows a huge amount of initiative. It certainly appears that you'll be busy!

I think you said it best when you said you'd just have to break it down to one thing at a time and go with the flow. I'm confident that you'll be successful in this endeavor. Congratulations, and much good luck!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2004

Thanks again for the vote of confidence guys!

fotografe · Dec 31, 2004

You can do it Tweety. I am only doing my pre-reqs -- all online -- but know what you mean about the workload being surprising. I just thouight of it as work I could do instead of driving my car to class. I work nights (as I assume you do too!) and found that on my days off, working my "regular" hours on school was great. NOthing like taking a quiz at 3 am!

I don't know if they have them where you are, but Panera Bread Company has free wireless internet access, so going to "class" sipping a nice latte was also quite nice (just beware you get booted from the system after 90 minutes!)

I took Chem online through Iowa CCOnline. It is probably not the same as yours, but if you want direction in finding Chem websites, let me kinow! I am taking Bio/Organic chem this spring online.

Good luck! You can do it! Just stay on top of the deadlines.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2004

Thanks fotografe, I'll remember this thread when I start chem in a couple of months.

Didn't know that about Panara Bread, that would be so cool. So you just bring your laptap and that's that?

It is so nice having access to the class 24/7. I just finished my first module overnight (it's not graded, kind of a pre-class assignment getting you used to APA format, etc. but was very time consuming). Class starts on Monday, but through the power of the internet I already know what's coming up.

I've already learned so much about Word documents, etc. (I hate to say that the last paper I wrote was the old fashioned way with one of those things called a typewriter, you might have heard your grandmother speak of those. But I'm savvy and know I have lots of help and support, so the technology doesn't scare me much anymore. Still so much to learn.)

I've never taken accellerated courses, so it's a bit daunting. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

fotografe · Dec 31, 2004

For Panera, you just boot up, open your web browser and it automatically goes to the Panera website. You accept the terms of agreement, and then there you are. Surf for the next 90 minutes! (you do have to have a wireless network card, but if your laptop is pretty recent, it probably has one built in.)

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2004

For Panera, you just boot up, open your web browser and it automatically goes to the Panera website. You accept the terms of agreement, and then there you are. Surf for the next 90 minutes! (you do have to have a wireless network card, but if your laptop is pretty recent, it probably has one built in.)

Awesome. It's connected to a wireless here in the house, so I'm sure it must have that card. It's my spouses computer though, I'm not allowed to take it out. But I always get my way..... :rotfl: