AA Degree in Nursing

in order to work as an rn in your state you will need to graduate from a board approved rn program (which i am sure is what broward [community] college south has), take the nclex exam and pass it to become licensed as an rn in florida. licensure as an rn is the legal authorization to work as an rn and can only be granted by the state you live in which is florida. it is not much different from getting a license to be permitted to drive a car except that nursing is much more complicated than driving a car and requires greater preparation so the state requires that you must attend specialized training. you are choosing a training program at broward [community] college south. however, many universities as well as some hospital based programs also offer rn training at the end of which their students are qualified to take the exam (nclex) to become licensed as rns.

an aa degree is a rank given to a student by a college or university after completing a specified course of study at their institution. a university offers a bachelors degree when their course of study is completed. a hospital based training program will give a diploma to the students who complete its training program. a college, university or hospital training program, however, has no authority to grant any kind of nursing license. they merely train and prepare people so they can take the licensing test. it is possible to complete an aa, bsn or diploma in nursing, but fail the nclex exam and not be able to get a license just as it is possible for someone to complete a driver's education course but fail their driver's test with the state and not be able to get their permanent driver's license.

when i graduate bc am i eligible to work in a hospital already as a nurse?

will i be ready to take my board exam?

i plan to transfer my credits to fiu so i would be doing a rn-bsn program correct?

im just confused about graduating in 2 years as an rn or in 4 years as an rn

welcome to the wonderful world of academia!

i have been an rn for 30 years and started as an adn and went back for my bsn 10 years after getting my adn. it makes no difference if you have a 2-year or 4-year degree when you are working as a staff nurse. jobs pay you according to what the pay scale is for the job. however, there are certain jobs that you are not likely to qualify for unless you have a 4-year (bsn) degree. those are usually management and supervision jobs. my bsn program very specifically focused on leadership and there was no question that we were being trained to be in management positions after graduation. there is no question that a 4-year degree is probably going to open up opportunities to work in management for you. pay, however, is something employers have control over. in some places that i worked administrative and management positions paid either equally or only slightly more than staff nursing positions. it depends on what the people who head up the facility have decided. a nurse manager pretty much is required to be a member of all kinds of facility committees and spends the day dealing with administrative stuff. it becomes very easy to become detached from the patients if you want it that way. many places still view the staff rn as a highly skilled and highly paid laborer compared to the unit manager who is a pencil pusher that sits around at meetings all day. in general, an experienced staff nurse who works extra shifts in a specialty area can make a lot more than a manager. managers are generally not able to make overtime. when i processed the time cards for my employees i was always astounded that there were some staff nurses who made way more money than we managers, but it was because they were willing to work a lot of overtime or worked in an area where they had to work on call in addition to their regular shifts such as the or. as a manager i was never able to get paid extra money (overtime) for working on staff to cover for staff shortages (and i had to do that a lot at one place that i worked as a manager). all we were allowed was compensatory time off which was a joke because they can never give it to you and it was a reason i quit one unit manager job. in general, i think you will find people who are disillusioned with nursing management. what happened to me wasn't unusual and as a result more and more non-nurses are being hired into unit management positions as nurses are smartening up and refusing to be taken advantage of in management positions in this way. i felt more taken advantage of as a manager than i ever was as a staff nurse.

i got my bsn because i wanted the knowledge and the degree. that is something that can never be taken away from me. and there is no doubt that it improved the way i practiced my nursing. it also put me in line for leadership jobs. however, after my experiences in nursing management, it is my choice to stay at a staff nurse level. any knowledge you get will always be put to use. my advice is to always aim to be the best that you can be. do it for yourself first.