RN with BSN and feeling stupid

soxgirl2008 · Nov 2, 2012

In some areas of the country having a BSN does give you an advantage. There are hospitals that prefer to hire BSNs and it gives you a boost when applying for jobs (especially in California and on the east coast it seems). If you read around on here you'll see some people are having trouble because their area hospitals highly prefer BSN new grads. Some hospitals do pay BSN more, and some don't. If you ever wish to do something besides bedside nursing having your BSN is a must now for many settings. If you wish to go into management later on your BSN will be very beneficial. Extra education is never a waste, and there is nothing stupid about having extra education so don't think that.

However, I wouldn't call it unfair.... ADN and BSNs take the same NCLEX and have the same scope of practice. Why shouldn't they be doing the same job and be treated the same? ADNs work hard for their degree too, and most ADNs I know studied just as hard as the BSNs. An ADN is rarely just a two year degree anymore. At the ADN programs around here there is still at least a year of pre reqs before your two years of clinicals that include 2 semesters of A&P, microbiology, chemistry, etc. So there is still plenty of studying at the ADN level.

I'm just curious, before you started what did you think the difference between BSNs and ADNs in the work setting would be?

llg, PhD, RN · Nov 2, 2012

The investment you made in your BSN may not be paying off now ... but it is likely that it will pay off later, when you seek career advancement later. Someday, when you are having a weekend off, and your Diploma/ADN colleagues are spending it studying for their BSN's ... you'll be happy you got it out of the way when you did. Or perhaps it will be when you want a promotion (or other new job) and you are qualified for it because you have your BSN and those other people are not. Or perhaps it will be when you decide you want to get an MSN or higher degree for an advanced role -- and you can go straight there, while your colleagues have to get a BSN first.

Perhaps you are not seeing the pay-off today ... but there are lots of possible pay-offs in the future. Don't limit your thinking to only the here and now.

Palliative Care, DNP · Nov 4, 2012

It will pay off if and when you want to further your education. They will need to finish a BSN first You can go to a BSN to DNP or to an MSN program. If I had it do do over I would have completed a BSN first. I did the ADN then the RN to BSN and now BSN to DNP. All said and done with prerequisites I will have spent 9 years doing what could have been done in 7.

tokmom, BSN, RN · Nov 4, 2012

You are right to a point. There isn't any difference from a bedside ADN or BSN. My facility doesn't pay more for the BSN either, and even in my facility you can advance with an ADN.

With that being said, even after being a nurse for over 20 yrs. I'm going to start my BSn this next Feb. It won't pay for itself on the floor, and nobody will even know I have it, because it's not listed on my badge. However, if I want to ever advance and have more options, I will need it. Education is never a waste. Do it now and it will be done and out of the way. I took the long way to my RN. CNA, LPN, ADN and now am going the BSN route. I had to pay for it along the way, so I had to work. Loans were not big options back then.

Congrats on your degree!

danegerous, BSN, RN · Nov 4, 2012

Believe me, you did it right. As of right now, a few places in the country don't treat BSN nurses any differently, but they are the exception. The rest of the advanced/intelligent nursing world has taken note. Many leading hospitals require at least a BSN. Many of the top Chicago hospitals are that way now. Even if you've been a nurse at one of their Magnet facilities for 15+ years, you will be given a 5 year timeframe to complete your BSN or you're out.

In addition, none of the armed forces will accept less than a BSN. Many of the nursing associations are pushing for a BSN to be the new requirement, making an ADN literally useless. It won't be long before a MSN is required, like the other professions (law, medicine, clergy).

So, no, you did not make a mistake. Hang in there. Your extra classes will become evident in the long run, believe me.

soxgirl2008 · Nov 4, 2012

MSN will be the new requirement for any kind of nursing..? Really...? I'm sorry, but I don't see an MSN becoming necessary for all types of bedside nursing. I work in a hospital and do not know ANY MSN nurses that are at the bedside. Many nurses got the MSN to get away from the bedside. If you are going to get your masters there are plenty of fields that pay better with better hours and working conditions. I just don't see this happening in my lifetime, at least where I live.

soxgirl2008 · Nov 5, 2012

And I suppose most of the hospitals in my area aren't advanced or intelligent because they do not treat BSN nurses any differently? That comment is kind of insulting to ADNs and the hospitals that employ ADNs. Even some of the magnet facilities here do not treat BSNs differently either except for paying them maybe a few dollars more an hour. I suppose those facilities lack advancement and intelligence as well?

PMFB-RN, RN · Nov 5, 2012

I graduated 3 months ago with a BSN, passed boards and started a nursing residency. Almost everybody else in my nursing residency has ADN/ASN degrees. We have now been deployed to our units. We all do the same jobs, get paid the same and are treated exactly the same. I am questioning my investment - in time, money and effort - in getting a BSN. It appears there is NO ADVANTAGE! Seriously, what is the point? I am feeling really stupid for having studied twice as much and spent eight times as much and getting no recognition whatsoever for all of that. It just seems unfair. Sorry, I need to vent.

*** Until very recently the ADN had HUGE advantages over the BSN and I used to wonder why anyone, other than new high school cgrads who needed the whole "college experience" would do the BSN.

Like you I went through a 9 month critical care nurse residency program for new grads going into ICU.

Lets consider Dick and Jane. Both high school senior and both want to be RNs and both live in my state and both have ambitions for managment or, let's say CRNA school.

Dick graduates and heads down to the local community college and enrolls in the ADN program. The total cost is about $6,500 and takes two years. After two years Dick lands a job is a large hospital's nurse residency program for new grads going directly into the ICU. Dick's hospital also has a program to pick up 100% of the cost of an RN to BSN program so Dick enrolls and finishes in two years of part time school and full time work. It's now 4 years since high school graduation. Dick is an RN BSN (maybe CCRN too)with 2 years of solid ICU experience under his belt. Plus he also made about $120K, had good health insurance, and made contributions to his 401K over those two years working. He owes nothing in student loans and gets to keep his paycheck instead of making student loan paytments. He has made many contacts in the hospital and has proven himself a good worker. He is well positioned to apply for an assistant nurse manager job, or apply to CRNA school.

Meanwhile Jane has enrolled in and graduated from the local universitie's BSN program. The program cost $12K a year and she had to barrow about $40K to graduate. She has zero nursing experience, has made no money and is applying for her first nursing job as an unknown with few contacts. Let's say she gets hired into the same nurse residency Dick did. Soon Jane is introduced to her night shift preceptor, her old high school buddy Dick. Jane learns that Dick has applied for an assistant nurse manager job and also has an interview with a CRNA program.

PMFB-RN, RN · Nov 5, 2012

Believe me, you did it right. As of right now, a few places in the country don't treat BSN nurses any differently, but they are the exception. The rest of the advanced/intelligent nursing world has taken note. Many leading hospitals require at least a BSN. Many of the top Chicago hospitals are that way now. Even if you've been a nurse at one of their Magnet facilities for 15+ years, you will be given a 5 year timeframe to complete your BSN or you're out.
In addition, none of the armed forces will accept less than a BSN. Many of the nursing associations are pushing for a BSN to be the new requirement, making an ADN literally useless. It won't be long before a MSN is required, like the other professions (law, medicine, clergy).
So, no, you did not make a mistake. Hang in there. Your extra classes will become evident in the long run, believe me.

*** MSN won't be the new standard. Nursing is way too much hard physical labor and doesn't pay enough to make the time and money invested in an MSN worth it for a bedside RN

I am an instructor in a large teaching Magnet hospital's critical care nurse residency program for new grads going into NICU, PICU, ER, MICU, CCU, & SICU. For all units except the SICU ADNs and BSN grads are hired. For SICU only new grad ADNs are hired. It doesn't say on the website BSNs are not hired but they are not and haven't been for years.

A 3 year contract is required for the residency program. What we found in the SICU is that less than half of the new grad BSNs were finishing their contracts while (so far) 100% of ADNs finished their contracts. The hospital almost faced a mutiny among the experienced preceptors in the SICU who were tired of investing so much time and energy training new grads only to see them leave after 1-2 years, usually to CRNA school.

As for nursing associations. Well first I have yet to see any evidence that they are on the nurses side. Second they have been calling for BSN only for at least 40 years.

geminiBSN75 · Nov 5, 2012

I'm not sure you studied twice as much !! ADNs have to pass the same NCLEX and cover the same material in two years !!! (Most programs go four to five days a week, all day)

It's funny that you feel the way you do b/c I feel that with all my work I put in I only came out with an ADN . I now have to go back for my BSN b/c in NE Ohio that is what they want.

You didn't make a mistake getting your BSN but please understand ADNs also out in a lot of work as well. Good luck in your practice.

FlyingScot, RN · Nov 5, 2012

We all do the same jobs, get paid the same and are treated exactly the same.

I'm interested to know how you feel an ADN RN should be treated in comparison to a BSN RN. Should they be required to work more weekends and holidays? Empty more bed pans? Have to park further away? Genuflect in the presence of BSN trained RN's? If you're doing the same job why should you be paid more? You don't have special expertise at this point. You didn't study twice as much and you passed the same exam to get your license. You are at a very basic level of nursing. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but I've had it up to here with this divisive subject. I precept a lot of students and I hear the same garbage coming out of their mouths. We have 3 paths to licensure. Until that changes bashing each others' education does nothing to further our profession and smacks of school yard one up-man ship. If I hear how "unfaaaaaiiirr" it is from one more adult I swear I'm going to lose it. Perhaps I already have.