ADN/BSN/MSN

Published

ok so i just want to let people who read this know that i am only 17 i am a junior in high schoo:dl nursing seems like the place where it is at and it seems like something that i am interested in because i know a lot about disease and taking care of things plus i think i can be a good leader and be a good listener as well as not being so judgmental, caring and always remembering the little things about some one that would make there day if you asked about it in the future (if that makes sense). ok so the other day at school we had a guest speaker in one of my classes it was a cop, he asked each and every one of us what we wanted to do as a career after high school and of course i said nurse, ok well he went on about how everyone needed to get as much education as they can because it's a competition, i've heard this before by my econ teacher but he put it as we need to set our self's different form everyone else in the pack... ok i can do this get good grades get my cna join some organizations study somewhat outside the field(:idea:like in art, literature, music, dental, you know things that don't go with being a nurse), piece of cake!:yeah: (in my opinion)

ok so this is where it gets complicated:uhoh3:, my mom's side of the family is well known around town and my family knows a lot of people around our town too. i was telling my aunt that from her being the person that runs our family business that someday i wish to be the head nurse of the hospital in our town, because if you knew this hospital you would know that things need to change for the better like faster more efficient results and tests to get patients where they need to go faster and in a less timely manner, better hospitality, and more paying attention to the situation and not being in "denial" about the patients conditition and saying they have something else when they clearly have something that's not the something else or saying that their fine even when they're not, because recently a mrsa outbreak occurred and a man almost lost his life because of it but thank god his wife took him in to the nearest largest city of fort wane to a competing hospital that diagnosed correctly and started the correct treatment thank god that is life wasn't cut short because of the local hospitals negligence, but there was a mal practice law suit brought apoun the er doctor that saw the sick man. so pretty much i want to be in a position where i can make some changes and do well for the patients as well as be a better service to the community:heartbeat

my aunt then told me that the officer that i had in my class as a guest speaker was married to the head nurse of our hospital (so the saying is somewhat true nurses and cops making the world a better place one person at a time.) well uh there's a little problem, they kind of hate us because my aunt was arrested as well as my cousins and my uncle for marijuana possession almost 9 years ago and you won't believe it was the same cop that came in to talk to us... he doesn't know me because i don't share the same last name as my aunt the name of our family business and my aunt told the head nurse off at the hospital because she was being an air head and wasn't doing what the doctor had told her to do for my grandma when she was in the hospital before she had passed away, and now i feel that some of the decisions that my family has made that now it might hold me back and that i may not get to do the things that i want to do or at least try and do. but we don't share the same last names and i'm not a pot head and i have a clean record and i'm far from being like them except i can be a bit ****** if things are going like they should be but for the right reasons, if that makes sense.

so i know that an adn would not be enough to be the head nurse someone told me bsn , well i was looking on the internet and i knew that there was higher than a bsn and that an msn so my main question is which one can i be a candidate to be the manager of the hospitals nursing staff (if chosen) even if i couldn't be the manager of the hospitals nursing staff i still want to be a nurse so that i can help people and maybe even change a few things even if there small things, i know that with an msn i can teach people who are becoming nurses (i think) but another thing is what if nursing turns out to be something that isn't for me and i want to become a high school biology teacher (and theirs also a lot of thing that need to be changed in the local school districts for the better, but that's another story for another day) or a dental hygienist or even a medical transcriptionist... ok so i know that the msn is probably my best option (because i'm getting the most education and i would most likely have to go to school less to transfer to a career that is in the medical or science field) to be hired by the local hospital plus make them think that i'm nothing like my family (under educated barley made it out of high school have criminal records family that expects something for doing nothing) in case someone knows

:confused: but can some one tell me the steps id have to take to get their like

  1. do i have to get an adn and work my way up for example practice for a minimal time with an adn and move up to bsn (through going back to school) and repeat the process to get to an msn?


  2. can i just go to school all at once and get an msn or a bsn?


  3. does any one know the requirements for indiana licensure?

    :nurse:


  4. witch one says management material or "he knows what he's doing" degree?


thank you so much for reading my extremely long has nothing to do with my question(s) post

Up Vote Up Vote ×

A liberal arts education at a university in a town away from all of the small-town drama you have experienced would be a wonderful growth experience for you and would allow you to get your BSN. Good luck to you!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Neuro/NSGY, critical care, med/stroke/tele.

  1. do i have to get an adn and work my way up for example practice for a minimal time with an adn and move up to bsn (through going back to school) and repeat the process to get to an msn?


  2. can i just go to school all at once and get an msn or a bsn?


  3. does any one know the requirements for indiana licensure?

    :nurse:


  4. witch one says management material or “he knows what he's doing” degree?


you can definitely go to school all at once to get your master's degree (msn). a couple of things, though... most msn programs will either require you to already have a 4-year baccalaureate/bachelor's degree (bsn) (or may ask you to take a few extra courses in order to make up the learning). you could look into rn -> msn bridge programs if you were to only go as far as a 2-year associates' degree (adn) before you started working. this would do the same thing, essentially, and help fill in the gap from not having the bsn.

you don't have to work for a specified time with any certain level of education. as soon as you are qualified to take the nclex-rn (which is as soon as you've completed at least a 2-year adn program) and pass, you have a license to practice. of course, you can do the 4-year bsn and pass after that, too, but there's no standard work requirement before you go back for the next level of education (though some masters programs like you to have a certain amount of experience).

in terms of management, i'd say it varies hugely by institution. i think to be competitive, thinking about having a masters level/post-graudate education (msn) is probably a good idea but experience counts for a lot, too (i'm sure there are countless nurse managers/charge nurses who are adn prepared but who have decades of hands-on experience and on-the-job learning/training). what the msn will probably do, though, is give further education about teaching and leadership within the nursing role, which is invaluable in any management position.

hope that helps, good for you for having your sights set high & being ambitious! :-)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

You're going to be a great nurse someday!

The difference between an ADN (associate degree in nursing) and a BSN (bachelor of science in nursing) is weather you go to a 2-year school (think community college) or a 4-year school (like a state university).

You don't need an ADN before you get a BSN.

You do need a BSN before you get an MSN (master of science in nursing).

The NCLEX (the test you take to become an RN after you've finished nursing school) is a national test and a national license, so your state wouldn't have any part of that. (If you went on to become an advanced practice nurse in a specialty area, that would be different... but nevermind that for now.)

I would suggest having your school guidance counselor help you set up an appointment with an admissions officer at one or more of your local nursing schools. The admissions officer(s) will be able to explain to you all of your career options in nursing and what each of those options will require. The admissions officer(s) may also be able to point you in the right direction for senior-year courses that will help you out once you get to college, or maybe even prevent you from having to take certain courses in college (like some biology and chemistry courses).

I think I speak for most of us on these message boards when I say that we will be happy to answer any questions you may have as your pursuit of a nursing career continues. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Whew! It's great to see a young person who is looking to the future. You have received some good advice already and I'll just add a couple of comments.

1. Given that you intend to move to a high level, you will definitely need a 4-year college education, so your first step will be to choose a college that will give you the option of Majors (Nursing, Biology, or Economics, most likely). You usually choose a major in your sophomore year of college. Be forewarned that Nursing can be highly competitive, often requiring a very high grade point average to be accepted. If you are able to go to school full time for 4 years and you get good grades, you should skip the ADN option. That is a great option for some people but in your case, you should skip it, if possible.

2. Once you have graduated from college you will definitely need to obtain a Masters. If you majored in Nursing, you can enter a Masters in Nursing (MA Nursing Administration or an MSN program). There are many specialties at the Masters Level but you will only be in a position to decide which is right for you after you have completed basic nursing. You may also decide that you wish to major in Business (MBA) or other business related degree which can also lead to leadership positons in a hospital.

3. If you have majored in something other than nursing, there are bridge programs where you can obtain a BSN and Masters together.

Start where you are - good grades in high school with a good guidance counsellor who can help you choose the right college. Do your own online searches, as well. Then move step-by-step. Keep in mind that you can be in a position to run a hospital without a nursing degree. You may wish to go the economics/administration route. With that degree you will become an expert in the financial spreadsheets, costs of running a hospital, etc. If you wish to make your decisions from with the Nursing Department then you will definitely need to go the nursing route.

Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
A liberal arts education at a university in a town away from all of the small-town drama you have experienced would be a wonderful growth experience for you and would allow you to get your BSN. Good luck to you!

I'm in full agreement. Leaving home can be one of the best things that will ever happen to a person. Apply to out-of-state BSN programs (or at least in-state schools a ways away from where your family and its history are popular lore) and start a life of your own that has nothing to do with that town without pity you're in now. Some folks love to stigmatize others. Don't be afraid to deny them their pleasure.

Need convincing? I grew up in a very very small farm town, whose inhabitants were the children and grandchildren and great- and great-great- and great-great-great-grandchildren of the town's founding fathers and so on and so forth--you get the picture. In this town was a particular family of very smart, pleasant and generous people. This family had a curse on it. Seems that, generations back, farther back than anybody could remember firsthand, somebody in this very nice family had done something that was to the displeasure of a member of another family in town. Nobody really remembered what had happened or how things had come to be as they were, and yet they were. This very nice family was the town's laughing stock, and, although no one could say that anyone from the family had done anything untoward in recent memory and most people thought of them as nice enough, they were denigrated as untrustworthy, underachieving, shiftless, stupid and "from bad family." This had gone on for generations, until it came time for one of this family's boys to marry a very smart and savvy local girl. This girl knew that the family hadn't done anything to deserve what was happening to it, and she loved the boy madly. Her family disapproved. She told them to go soak their heads. Shortly after their marriage, the very smart savvy girl told her very smart and generous husband the hard facts: that no matter what high achievements and accomplishments they might envision for the future, as long as they lived in that little town they would never be anything more than gutter trash and that the time had come to leave. For the sake of their futures, he agreed. The change was almost immediate. Nearly as soon as they had settled someplace else and were allowed to reach their potential without being sniped at from behind the neighbors' lace curtains, he became a success in business. She continued her education, had their children and got on with life, free of the stigma of having "married badly." Their children have never known the treatment their forebears got, and have gone on to professional and personal success. It's astonishing how something as silly as a personal grudge in a small town can do so much damage, and how moving away from it can make it like it never happened.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Firstly, as the others have stated, you don't have to start at ADN and work up to MSN, but getting your BSN and then MSN would be the way to go.

Secondly, might I suggest taking some electives (during your bachelors program) dealing in communication and/or business management, so that you have a background to pull from for this higher level of work.

May I also add a few suggestions:

- Take as many science classes in high school as you can so that you have a strong background of anatomy and physiology, chemistry, and biology; some psychology or sociology would also be a good idea.

- Our college requires us to take the CNA course before applying to the program, of course, the college you attend may be different (they all are), however, I do think it's a good idea because you get a chance to get used to dealing with patients and you learn some basic patient care techniques.

- The thing with working up is, generally, you have to have worked as a staff nurse and then move up, rung by rung, to the top of the ladder as a DON. Generally, speaking, it may be difficult to obtain a staff nurse position (it is around here) if you already have your MSN. So, yes, experience is going to be a BIG difference.

And, please don't let the interactions between your family and the family of the current DON get in your way of reaching your dreams and goals. Maybe God doesn't have this particular hospital in the plans through you, maybe it's somewhere else, or maybe once you obtain a position as an RN, you will decide that that is where you want to be.

In the end, if you want something, you need to go for it, and do what it takes.

Good luck! :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Home Health Nurse.
Generally, speaking, it may be difficult to obtain a staff nurse position (it is around here) if you already have your MSN. So, yes, experience is going to be a BIG difference.

Just out of curiosity and I don't know I am actually going to school now to get my masters degree. But how would having a masters degree (MSN) make it harder to get a staff nurse position?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Just out of curiosity and I don't know I am actually going to school now to get my masters degree. But how would having a masters degree (MSN) make it harder to get a staff nurse position?

There is a new trend for students to complete the entire education without having any work experience. There is a huge downside to this because the level is practice is different. If I were an employer why would I hire an Advanced Practice Nurse (MSN) who has no experience? Simply, I wouldn't.

Even if that nurse were applying for a staff nurse job I would be forewarned that the individual didn't really know very much about the profession to have moved forward to a Master's Level education without nursing experience and that the individual's expectations about the staff nurse job would likely be unrealistic. It would be a risk that the employee would leave the job very soon. It is said in the industry that it costs approximately $83,000 to orient and train a new graduate. As an employer, I want to choose individuals that I think are really planning to stay awhile. Someone who gets a Masters in Nursing degree (any of the Masters level nursing degrees) is not planning to stay. So, if I am an employer, your application will be at the very bottom of the pile and, even if you were the only applicant, I may not hire you - not as a staff nurse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

this is greatly apreciated from all of you thank you! :) so from reading your posts i also relized i forgot to menchion i can not go out of state because my mom is sick, with things like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and shes falling fast! so going out of state for me isnt an option incase somthing happens:crying2: 2nd i really can not stand big cities i can get along with fort wayne and theres a university known as IPFW its 45-60 minutes from where i live and i think that that is where im going to go or i will suck up my fear and go to IU southbend:heartbeat:redbeathe... but i dont want to leave my friends either, most of them arent going to college and the only one that is is going to fortwayn to be a nurse also...

i also thought last night after i had posted i would get my CNA to work through college but what if i did get an ADN to earn more money but go right back to school when the next semester started, I dont know thats just a crazy idea of mine now:lol2:... and yeah i am taking as many science calsses as posible as well as math classes in high school last year i took a medical terminology class as well as a science class that combined chemistry and physics and another science class that was earth and space... and to be honest i havent even taken my SAT and or ACT yet im going to take both this year closer to may/june, most likely im going to take both because i screwed up my sophmore year and got sick and they kicked me out of school:down: because i had missed tomany days and it wasnt like i was faking i was in and out of the hospital and had notes from my doctor and my surgeon... then i went back the nxt year and faild alot because i got sick with H1N1 and a few other infections plus was diganosed with depression (which to me is NO excuse) and missed a lot(so im suposed to be a sienor now but not until after this trimester so 3 more weeks and im a sienor:eek: but i still have to go back the next year to get other classes that are regirued to graduate so im graduating late early if tht makes sense but as long as i get out of high school ill be happy and ill be even happier when i move on to college)... but this year im on a role again for the first time since i got sick, i did summer school and im going to do more summer schooling this year if the government didnt cut it from the funding, as well as get my CNA this summer, so im going to take the ACT and the SAT so i can proove that im not screwing around and that i mean business:mad:! plus also raise my high school GPA some where around a B, wich is going great!:yeah:

and before i forget where i live i think that it would be better for me to get an MSN because theres only one nurse that i know of that has one and she teaches a CNA class at the trade school in my town so if i got my MSN after a BSN with some years of expierience then i will be like king (not really)of the nurses at the hospital, i dont mean to sound like the typical male (i am gay tho so i dont see it) i also thought about working in a nursing home because it would be able to remember what the residence like and dislike you know like what they like to eat, how they like to take there medications, who they like and dislike, remember some of there childrens names, you know things like that but i dont know it just depends on where life takes me i supose

Up Vote Up Vote ×
this is greatly apreciated from all of you thank you! :) so from reading your posts i also relized i forgot to menchion i can not go out of state because my mom is sick, with things like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and shes falling fast! so going out of state for me isnt an option incase somthing happens:crying2: 2nd i really can not stand big cities i can get along with fort wayne and theres a university known as IPFW its 45-60 minutes from where i live and i think that that is where im going to go or i will suck up my fear and go to IU southbend:heartbeat:redbeathe... but i dont want to leave my friends either, most of them arent going to college and the only one that is is going to fortwayn to be a nurse also...

i also thought last night after i had posted i would get my CNA to work through college but what if i did get an ADN to earn more money but go right back to school when the next semester started, I dont know thats just a crazy idea of mine now:lol2:... and yeah i am taking as many science calsses as posible as well as math classes in high school last year i took a medical terminology class as well as a science class that combined chemistry and physics and another science class that was earth and space... and to be honest i havent even taken my SAT and or ACT yet im going to take both this year closer to may/june, most likely im going to take both because i screwed up my sophmore year and got sick and they kicked me out of school:down: because i had missed tomany days and it wasnt like i was faking i was in and out of the hospital and had notes from my doctor and my surgeon... then i went back the nxt year and faild alot because i got sick with H1N1 and a few other infections plus was diganosed with depression (which to me is NO excuse) and missed a lot(so im suposed to be a sienor now but not until after this trimester so 3 more weeks and im a sienor:eek: but i still have to go back the next year to get other classes that are regirued to graduate so im graduating late early if tht makes sense but as long as i get out of high school ill be happy and ill be even happier when i move on to college)... but this year im on a role again for the first time since i got sick, i did summer school and im going to do more summer schooling this year if the government didnt cut it from the funding, as well as get my CNA this summer, so im going to take the ACT and the SAT so i can proove that im not screwing around and that i mean business:mad:! plus also raise my high school GPA some where around a B, wich is going great!:yeah:

and before i forget where i live i think that it would be better for me to get an MSN because theres only one nurse that i know of that has one and she teaches a CNA class at the trade school in my town so if i got my MSN after a BSN with some years of expierience then i will be like king (not really)of the nurses at the hospital, i dont mean to sound like the typical male (i am gay tho so i dont see it) i also thought about working in a nursing home because it would be able to remember what the residence like and dislike you know like what they like to eat, how they like to take there medications, who they like and dislike, remember some of there childrens names, you know things like that but i dont know it just depends on where life takes me i supose

Don't take this the wrong way as I mean it only as constructive criticism but you need to give more attention to your mastery of English. If you wish to succeed in college (both Baccalaureate and Masters levels) you will need to improve your spelling, grammar, and sentence structure.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

i have a spelling and some what reading problem so theirs absolutly nothing i can really do to improve that so ive been told and i just say it as it comes when it comes to posting things on message bords i really dont care what my sentace structure or grammar looks like on these things, ive made it this far with my education with out being the best english student im sure that i can do it in college also :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion