ADN or BSN

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Specializes in Mental Health.

I'm sure this has been addressed but I'm not finding a thread at the moment-

Anyway, I'm 40 and currently doing my prerequisites at a community college. I have a 4.0 including A&P I so far, and am taking advanced A&P this summer with an accelerated 6-week program my current professor teaches and said I would do fine in.

My original plan was to finish my ADN, work in an ER while finishing my BSN, and then apply to schools to become a NP since I needed the emergency experience for NP school anyway. Does this make the most sense? I would be in school less time overall if I went for my BSN first, but then I would be in school a year longer before I could start working if I'm doing the figuring right.

Anyone have some insight to offer on this decision?

Thanks :)

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I would just make sure that ADN's are being hired in your area. Some hospitals do with the requirements that you start a BSN program soonish, and some don't care at all. I'd also make sure that ED's in your area hire new grads.

Lastly - are you needing critical care experience? I'm not sure the ED qualifies for that - I was under the impression you needed ICU experience. Something to look into, I could be wrong.

Good luck!

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I suggest to make sure the ERs in your area are hiring ADNs, especially new ones. Otherwise, I would go for the BSN route.

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Specializes in Mental Health.

According to their hiring website, they require a two year program for ER nurses. They have a pretty extensive-looking training program for new nurses though, I'm guessing one wouldn't be a full-fledged nurse for a while.

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A friend of mine graduated from an ADN program, enrolled into RN-BSN, took the nclex, and was offered a new grad position (Providence's Transition Into Practice program) in the ER shortly after. He has to commit to the program for 2 years. Is this the program you're talking about? He had to sign some formal papers saying he'll get his BSN within 3 years. If you know the right people and network, it's entirely possible to secure a new grad ER position with just an ADN. This is in SoCal too. His stats weren't particularly great either. He was accepted into a lottery-based RN program w/ a 3.0 cum GPA, 3.0 prereq GPA, and 65% on the TEAS.

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Specializes in Mental Health.

They call it a "nurse residency program", but it says ALL nurse hires that are new grads or have less than one year of experience are required to go through the program. They have a 6-23 week orientation (depending on the unit you are hired to) and once that is finished you have 13 months to finish the residency program. It doesn't say anything about getting a BSN.

I've checked the major hospitals in my area and they all require just an ADN for ER nurses as far as I can tell. I'm in the Milwaukee area. I'm guessing there isn't an overabundance of nurse grads to nursing jobs around here.

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I would apply to both types of programs. Just because it is an ADN program that doesn't mean its easier to get in. Then once accepted to both, I would ask this question again. If you end up getting accepted to only 1 type of program, then your question has been answered for you automatically.

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Specializes in Mental Health.

That's not really an issue where I go to school - we were told last year they had about the same number of openings as they had people petitioning for them. Given my GPA so far in prereqs I would be one of the first considered. I'm in SE Wisconsin so we either have too many nursing schools or too few students. lol

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That's not really an issue where I go to school - we were told last year they had about the same number of openings as they had people petitioning for them. Given my GPA so far in prereqs I would be one of the first considered. I'm in SE Wisconsin so we either have too many nursing schools or too few students. lol

I would still apply to both. It's a big decision and you might change your mind later on and it wouldn't hurt you. If getting the ADN (plus doing an RN-BSN) is the cheaper route then I would do that since NP school will be costly. If getting the BSN is comparable in tuition I would personally would do the BSN. In a perfect scenario, your plan is great but it may not come to fruitition in reality considering you want to be hired in a particular nursing speciality as a new grad. However, you know your area more and in my area I would chose the BSN route.

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Before you take the accelerated A&P class, make sure the nursing program that you apply will accept it. I forgot which school, but when I did my nursing application, I encountered one school which didn't accept hybrid classes on core science classes like Anatomy, Physiology...

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Specializes in Mental Health.

So I was talking to my anatomy teacher about this topic after class yesterday, and he said the reason that all of the hospitals in my area still hire ADNs is because of the program I am in. Apparently it is even more respected than getting a BSN from either of the two big universities near us. Of course, that means that clinicals are apparently very tough, but if one can make it they are pretty much guaranteed a job. He also said that all the hospitals around here still pay for you to get your BSN.

So that was all pretty good to hear. He also said since I have an A in his class (He is a very hard teacher) that almost all of his A student's are able to make it through the whole program.

After our talk I guess it looks like I'm staying where I am. :) I gotta say I'm really glad I don't live where some of you live though. Lol

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