Just curious.....

Nursing Students ADN/BSN

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I was reading the posts about the compositions required for RN- BSN and it got me wondering a bit....

I have an ADN (and a BS in psychology). I will only earn my BSN if forced because I am just plain schooled-out.

Many posts speak to the RN-BSN being a lot of writing, APA formatting and what-not. Is this not a standard part of all ADN programs? In my program EVERYTHING had to be APA style, even our care plans. I had one quarter (thank goodness not the entire program)where a 15-25 page paper was required WEEKLY.

Was my program really that much different than other ADN programs?

FWIW- I am one of those who thinks that a BSN would be of little educational benefit to me. I feel like I wrote my guts out in my ADN program. EBP? Covered it. Research? Designed, ran and wrote up my own research project as part of my psych degree. That's not the point of this post, though. Truly just curious as to whether my ADN program was on the cutting-edge as far as requiring compositions, etc.

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Lol, you sound like me. I've written about this many times. UNFORTUNATELY, it's becoming a fact of life and when I can, although resentfully, I'll finish my BSN.

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Oh, and as to your question: My ADN program required numerous papers in APA format all throughout the program. And they were TOUGH on grading. Im proud to say that I did very well on my papers. One of my instructors approached me while handing me my papers and actually asked me if I write professionally. Needless to say, that felt very good coming from a clinical nurse specialist.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

OP, you will have to design a researched-based plan for the BSN...

In management class, we had to know how to set up unit hours budgeting, hospital economics...opened a lot of people's eyes about the HC business...

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OP, you will have to design a researched-based plan for the BSN...

In management class, we had to know how to set up unit hours budgeting, hospital economics...opened a lot of people's eyes about the HC business...

We did this in my ADN program in our management class

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

We did this in my ADN program in our management class

^This where it gets to the point where people advocate for the BSN to be a 4-year degree,lol..

In my program, because I was an LPN, I could've CLEP'ed my whole first year, and retake Maternity, Peds, and did my senior level Med Surg. I went straight through, no CLEPs; sometimes you have to (begrudgingly) go through education a second time around...but I used it to my advantage, as well as refreshed and got updated on new practices that I use now.

The school I graduated from allows nurse to CLEP these particular classes for seminar and university requirements; cohorts are then encouraged to get their MSN. They are supportive of nurses not repeating certain classes. VERY pro ADN and LPN.

I hope there is a way for you all to challenge your courses. Most schools are eventually going to have to step up and allow students to CLEP, the are far too many schools that assist in this...they can think that they are getting ahead, however, there's still power in word-of-mouth...

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^This where it gets to the point where people advocate for the BSN to be a 4-year degree,lol..

In my program, because I was an LPN, I could've CLEP'ed my whole first year, and retake Maternity, Peds, and did my senior level Med Surg. I went straight through, no CLEPs; sometimes you have to (begrudgingly) go through education a second time around...but I used it to my advantage, as well as refreshed and got updated on new practices that I use now.

The school I graduated from allows nurse to CLEP these particular classes for seminar and university requirements; cohorts are then encouraged to get their MSN. They are supportive of nurses not repeating certain classes. VERY pro ADN and LPN.

I hope there is a way for you all to challenge your courses. Most schools are eventually going to have to step up and allow students to CLEP, the are far too many schools that assist in this...they can think that they are getting ahead, however, there's still power in word-of-mouth...

Even though I will have to repeat certain topics, in my initial post I admitted its a fact of life (dumb as it is) but I'm still doing it.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Even though I will have to repeat certain topics, in my initial post I admitted its a fact of life (dumb as it is) but I'm still doing it.

Yeah, but my point is, there are too many talented ADNs having to do this IMO, and on their backs and their money.

Sometimes, at least to me, a fact of life can be irrational at best...and to the chagrin of others.

But life goes on. :)

Much success and Cheers to paper writing! ;)

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Yeah, but my point is, there are too many talented ADNs having to do this IMO, and on their backs and their money.

Sometimes, at least to me, a fact of life can be irrational at best...and to the chagrin of others.

But life goes on. :)

Much success and Cheers to paper writing! ;)

I completely agree. I've just talked about it so much without support that I had finally given up trying to convince others that I have the same knowledge as a BSN because my ADN program made sure of it.

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We also do all of our papers in APA format, heck all of our assignments need to be in APA format whether it's a paper or not. We do a lot of EBP stuff, we take a management class, etc. My friend is in a BSN program right now and we have done all the same things, and learned all the same stuff. However, they seem to do more group projects and more community focused things. His school is very big on community health.

Around here the main difference seems to be the pre-reqs. Both ADN and BSN have to take Micro, A&P 1 and 2, Chem, English, Psych, Sociology, etc. However the BSN program also takes organic chem, nutrition, history credits, art credits, and they need 2 years of foreign language if it wasn't completed in high school. They also take a cultural diversity class and a nursing research class. We go over nursing research in the ADN program but it's not in a separate class. I started out at a BSN school and took ALL the pre-reqs for the program, but didn't get in. When I graduate from my ADN program I'll only need 5-6 classes for my BSN because I already have all the pre-reqs done. Some of the classes I'll need to take are Management, Health Assessment, Theory, etc...which we already are going over in my ADN program, but meh it is what it is. I will go back for my BSN because I'm so close, and I never want to be turned down for a job based on my educational level, but I DO feel like my ADN program is intense and up to par with BSN programs.

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