ADN or BSN which would recommend for a mom?

springchick1, ADN, RN · Mar 3, 2013

You can search this subject on the site. This question seems to be asked at least twice a week. There are probably 648,139,436 post on this subject. Ok, that may be an exaggeration:). Because of where I am I'm life right now and financial reasons I'm getting my ADN.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Mar 3, 2013

This is one of the most contentious issues in nursing: the level of education needed for a profession. As many of the NN'rs know, I come down squarely on the side of a BS in Nursing or BSN as entry-level educational preparation. When I had smaller kids and they asked me a question, I always asked them, "Do you want the short answer or the long one?" Since I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times they ever said, "Short" and still have enough left over for the Boy Scout salute, here it is again.

(Disclaimer: Have worked as a staff nurse, inservice/staff development, instructor, NCLEX prep course instructor, case manager in multiple settings, and other stuff too numerous to mention. In short, been around, seen that, done that.)

What's a profession? Is nursing a profession? What's the basic educational prep for people you think of as professionals? Would you want your chemistry research done by someone with an associate degree? Your child taught high school math or English? Your income tax advising? Sure, there are good people with lower level education who succeed in life, but don't let that "we all have the same license and sit for the same exam" fool you. Better education makes you better at what you do. There are any number of people who can give you examples of BSNs or MNs who don't know how to take a rectal temp (why does everyone focus on that and bedpans when they think of nursing, anyway?) and marvelous crusty old LPNs who saved the resident's butt one dark and stormy night, but for every single one of those I will see your anecdote and raise you half a dozen godawful errors made by nurses who didn't take the coursework and didn't get exposed to the idea of autonomy in school.

Time: The bachelor's degree takes four years. The associate's degree (AS or ASN) takes ... three and a half, once you count all the prerequisites you're going to have to take before they admit you into the nursing program. And those who say you can work on your BSN while you are working as an RN with an AS don't tell you (and maybe don't know, to be charitable) that some number of your course hours from the AS program are not transferrable, so it won't just be a matter of a semester or two or three. AND working as a nurse is HARD, almost as hard as nursing school ... think you'll have the mental, physical, social, and financial energy for more education at the same time? Oh, and in most jurisdictions you can't sit for the LPN exam and work as one while partway thru a AS or BSN program anymore, either.

Job opportunities: Although the old a-nurse-is-a-nurse-is-a-nurse attitude is fortunately fading away, at entry level for new grads, about the same, and I realize that people who are just starting out have a very incomplete idea of what it means to be a nurse. However, look around the place and see who's working. Are you planning to be older some day? Do you see older nurses working in those entry-level staff or charge positions? If not, where did they all go? Why do you care? Well, suppose you work on a general medical floor and get entranced by cardiac rehabilitation after following a patient who did it. A job comes up in the department, hooray! Oops, BSN only. Or you find your heart drawn to helping underserved women in a public health clinic for high-risk pregnancy. Sorry, BSN only in public health. After five or six years as a staff nurse you have become a resource to new hires and your peers and you realize you have a gift for teaching. You see that a position in staff development has come open, and you are first in line at HR to apply. You got it.... BSN is the minimum. School nursing? BSN. Hurt your back and want to go for a job in case management? BSN. You discover you have a gift for asking, "Why do we do it this way?" and are amazed to find you want to look into jobs in management or nursing research.....BSN minimum. And if you look at the regular old want ads for nurses in the paper, you will see more and more and more of them say "BSN preferred/ required." You are starting to get the picture now. Also, many, many practice settings give you a differential for BSN. No, I know, not all, but hey. One more factor.

Growth: The questions in the licensure exams (NCLEX) are developed from errors made in the first year of practice by new grads, and regardless of pass rates from different level programs, anyone in practice can confirm the research: In the first year of work all new grads perform at about the same level as they get their feet under them and get used to the idea of working as an RN. But after that year, the BSNs pull ahead in ways that are related to their higher level of education. Why? Because what we call in the ed biz "psychomotor skills," the things you do with your hands, can be done by anyone with enough practice. Hell, we teach lay people how to do peritoneal dialysis at home or suction tracheostomies. But the understanding of WHY some things are as they are is something you get in better education: more science, more sociology, more psychology, more history, a basic statistics class, exposure to more clinical settings (I doubt if you'll get a full semester in peds, psych, OB, or any public health at all in any AS program) give you the insight to ask better questions and make better decisions.

Well, I hear you about the challenges of getting into and staying in nursing school. But if you really want to be a NURSE, don't you want to find yourself in the camp of folks who are grateful they learned more, rather than the ones who find they had to for advancement or competence and wish they'd done it in the first place? My answer is clear.

bopeep82 · Mar 3, 2013

I'm doing the ADN because the 4 year univi's are not within a manageable driving distance for me. I'm a mom of 3, married, blah, blah, so I have that to take into consideration. When it gets down to ADN verses BSN, to me it's all semantics. It's really that a community college can NOT offer a bachelor's degree. I have taken all the prerequisites towards a BSN, because I was never sure where we'd end up since my husband is in the military. I prepared for both, but took what fit my situations during this time.

bamaguy1989 · Mar 4, 2013

I got my ADN and had no trouble getting a job. A lot of people I went to school with had kids and a life and it was more manageable than a BSN would be. Plus ADN at a community college is cheaper! I just graduated in December and am about to start back for my BSN in a couple weeks. Hopefully in about 2 years I will hold a BSN

ddunnrn · Mar 4, 2013

Once you are an associate s RN, any further nursing education is tax-deductible. you might also be able to get loan forgiveness or other subsidies from your employer. Also, why go to school for 4 years to find out you can't stand nursing? I've been a diploma rurse for28 years, and never had a problem finding a job. Good luck!!

mooniemac · Mar 5, 2013

I just had this conversation with another student working clinical on the same floor today. She is a BSN student, I am an ADN student. I have two kids, own a business and have household renovation projects collecting dust. I have all my pre-reqs for my BSN done, I just opted for this route because I figured at the end of the day, I have nothing to prove to anybody. I know I will get my BSN right away. I chose a school that has an agreement with the local university to work as a feeder program into their RN to BSN program, so I have nothing to repeat. I also will not have $30K worth of debt hanging over my head. The question I had to ask myself was, "Am I doing this to impress people with how awesome and smart I am by finishing up my bachelors so quickly? Or am I doing this to inspire my little girls, with whom I want to have a relationship with throughout these two years?" For me getting a BSN isn't about if, it's about when. What fits your schedule?

Skips, MSN, RN · Mar 5, 2013

I'm married, and I have one child who is in preschool. I am doing a BSN so that I do not have to worry about it after graduation. If I ever want to go to grad school, there's one less thing to worry about. Not to mention the job opportunities are much more in my area with a BSN. I want a job when I graduate (that's why I'm doing this!), even though it is the more expensive route.

It depends on the financial situation of your family, as well as job prospects. Good luck with whatever you choose!

Destiny'skid · Mar 5, 2013

Thanks everyone! Especially grn tea for your informative answer. Nurses all want to be seen as professionals so we should shoot for the professional degree. Also I looked at my local university and sure enough its two years to complete once your pre-recs are done. exactly the same as the adn! so why all the hype about these adn programs?

I have decided to try to do all the pre-recs for the bsn and then apply to as many programs as I can, if I absolutely cant get in Ill do adn as a last resort then bridge.

This really helped me sort all this out, thanks again!

Amnesty · Mar 5, 2013

The first thing I'd look at is what is realistically being hired in your area. I'm doing my ADN because I know my local hospital is large and only growing and they need nurses and prefer ADN grads from the local college's program. Once I start making some money, I can go back and complete my BSN, and I know several nurses who work at the hospital who have told me that they absolutely would work with me on that, plus pay for part of it after I'd been there a year.

However, I live in an area where there is really just one local program, with maybe two or three more if you go about an hour out. In an area where you can easily be a BSN, I'd imagine that employers probably would prefer BSN grads. Check it out and see what works for you, but if you can, I'd shoot for the BSN.