ADN or BSN: What's the Big Deal?

The results of the 2017 allnurses Salary Survey will be released soon. In the 2015 survey, the numbers of BSN and ADN nurses were tied. Read more to see if that has changed. Nurses General Nursing Salary Survey

I was talking about this topic with one of my younger nurse friends. She shared the following comments with me.

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Funny to me that 20 years ago when I graduated with my BSN, I was told that ADN/ LPN programs were being phased out and that minimum entry level nursing positions would soon be BSN. Fast forward 20 years and it appears ADN and LPN programs are going strong.

I want to start by saying that quality bedside nursing care can be provided no matter the advanced degree or not. As a new graduate, I survived and so did my patients thanks to the care and support and knowledge of many many LPN's and ADN's. There are also plenty of not so great nurses out there with various degrees. That being said, there has been much discussion, surveys and studies done regarding the differences in the career of a BSN prepared nurse, LPN, and an ADN prepared nurse. The results of the 2015 allnurses salary survey presented that 39% of respondents held an ADN and 39% held a BSN. As we are about to release the comprehensive 2017 allnurses nursing salary results, we will see where the trends have gone.

So what's the big deal...as long as you are an RN? The title of RN whether earned through a Degree or Diploma program will allow you to provide the same level of basic nursing care as we see in hospitals, clinics and doctors offices. The BSN prepared nurse, however, has many more options that require higher responsibilities, therefore higher pay. This is due to the more in-depth coursework in physical and social sciences including public health, nursing research and nursing management. An RN with a BSN can choose a career in nursing education, public health, or clinically focus in specific diseases or adult, pediatric, geriatric care. A BSN is required to be considered for many positions or to further one's education to focus on speciality care.

In 2010, the Institute of Medicine introduced new demands on the nursing field when it set a target goal for 80% of all nurses to hold bachelor's degrees by 2020. This goal was derived from academic research indicating that patients receive better care in hospitals when the majority of nurses hold a BSN or higher. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) devised the Magnet Recognition Program to draw attention to top healthcare facilities. This recognition means that 100% of the organization's nurse managers have a BSN or graduate degree. "Achieving Magnet status also means that there are generally a higher number of nurses holding a BSN degree for jobs in direct patient care. Approximately 50% of all nurses associated with direct patient care in a Magnet-recognized hospital currently have a BSN."

The 2017 allnurses survey results have shown some slight shifts. In 2017 the percentage of BSN prepared nurses has remained steady at 39% while ADN's have dropped by 2 percentage points. The number of MSN's have increased by 1%. Why might this be? Is there a greater demand for advanced practice nurses? Are employers encouraging and/ or supporting advancing degrees? Is retirement a factor in the decrease in ADN's? As our final results are revealed, new light might be shed on factors influencing the slight shift from last year to this year. Will the trend continue? Are you thinking of furthering your education? We want to hear from you!

We as nurses should support each other in furthering education, as well as respecting those who have years of bedside experience but might not have higher education degrees. As the field of nursing continues to grow our knowledge base will be required to change to keep up with the technology and level of care.

The 2017 allnurses salary survey results will be released soon. It will be interesting to see if the interactive survey results show pay differences based on degree as well as location, speciality and gender.

2015 allnurses Salary Survey Results

When a senior in high school begins the process of choosing a career or at least exploring what they want to be when they grow up, they now look at the average income for said career.

This was me recently:

"When you look into the average income of a nurse the powers that be group ADN degrees with MSN degrees and pop out a pretty good number....our new generations are smart enough to realize that there is a low earning group of nurses and a high earning group of nurses, so the people who are looking to support themselves or be head of household get into nursing now days with the immediate goal of a masters degree......Which just about any other terminal career already requires!!!"

This is me now:

"This whole argument is so old, I am personally super happy that we have a faltering ADN and BSN group, because it is pushing creativity at the top of nursing. Nursing is so top heavy with education right now that the powers who wanted this are crapping their pants.

See what we have found with this whole education push is that no matter how much you educate someone in nursing you cant force a mindset that demands a higher wage, get better frontline nurse managers, or develop a nursing administration who understands the organizational side enough to facilitate better day to day operations...

Kudos nursing...it is so fun to think that we will soon all be PHDs earning the same as the ADN, guess that fifteen thousandth dissertation on patient safety r/t fall scores was worth it:) "

I started as an ADN. Then 25 years later went back to school and got my BSN. What did I learn? Sorry to say nothing. 17,000$ for BSN behind my RN. I was blessed to have worked in many roles even as a Director in a Level II Trauma Center. My question why have the AD programs? The new grads that I encounter with an ADN I highly suggest don't wait to go back and get their BSN. How long will the AD programs last. My last thought - we all take the same state boards. I've never had a patient ask me what degree did I have. They just wanted to know if I was a Registered Nurse.

Nursing is a popular profession among military spouses and single parents. The ADN to BSN option allows these demographics to become educated and begin working long before they would be able to if all nursing programs moved to BSN entry. This path is frequently more affordable and realistic for someone with a lot of outside responsibilities. As others have mentioned, nursing is also a popular second career and it is a much more attractive option for educated adults if they don't have to clunk down so much time and money to earn yet another bachelor's degree.

I was fortunate to attend an excellent community college ADN program. I was happy with my BSN program as well. There are poor programs at every level, but those who want to become great nurses have opportunities to research programs and decide which will benefit them and their future patients most. If we invest in our careers through hands on experience and education, we can do great things. It takes dedication and effort, but our patients are worth it.

I have worked with excellent diploma nurses, ADN, and BSN. The big deal is that many employers require a BSN and you will surely need a BSN or higher if you want to be a unit director or nurse educator. I'm doing my BSN currently so I do feel the squeeze.

FTR, I am all for people getting the most education they possibly can and am in the "nursing needs to go to a one entry point only into the profession" camp (that entry being BSN) but...I am utterly disappointed that this site thought it appropriate to choose a title that further pushes the "us vs. them" mentality fully knowing the crap-storm that was sure to follow. It's fine for an individual to post their thoughts but the site itself should strive for inclusiveness. Furthermore, if the administration here is going to post an article it would serve them well to not have one riddled with inaccuracies. One has been pointed out but I'd like to add that diploma and ADN nurses have been able to "specialize" and become experts in their chosen specialty. Some are published and have taught nationally. All this without classes in management, research and public health. The level of care delivered by a nurse is entirely based on the individual's aptitude and their willingness to continue to advance their knowledge/skills. Someone with a BSN can stagnate just as easily as someone with a diploma can advance. There should never be an end-point to education. Whether a nurse delivers excellent, skilled, EBP-based care rests entirely on the shoulders of the individual nurse and has little to do with their foundational education.

Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

The title is not "ADN versus BSN", but instead "ADN or BSN: What's the Big Deal?" It is not the intention of this article to pit one nurse against the other but rather to look at the data provided by more than 18,000 nurses and see if there are any trends. The article also discusses possible causes of any trend.

The article does include all nurses in the statement "quality bedside nursing care can be provided no matter an advanced degree or not."

It is up to each reader to interpret this article and the statistics provided for themselves.

chacha82 said:
I have worked with excellent diploma nurses, ADN, and BSN. The big deal is that many employers require a BSN and you will surely need a BSN or higher if you want to be a unit director or nurse educator. I'm doing my BSN currently so I do feel the squeeze.

Precisely. If employers require the BSN before hire, or put pressure on the employee to get the credential to retain a job, then that IS the big deal.

Specializes in Psych, Corrections.

This is why I don't get my BSN; I suspect I will pay 15K and learn theories.

Specializes in Medical-Surgical/Float Pool/Stepdown.
Psych77 said:
This is why I don't get my BSN; I suspect I will pay 15K and learn theories.

Shop around. You could pay less than $4000 and get a reputable education from WGU if you are an independent learner and don't procrastinate. Wish I had known this when I did my RN to BSN but at least I found out for my MSN. (Which I am on target for finishing in just under a year for $8000 but I have a friend at work that did her MSN in less than 7 months but I couldn't pull that off!)

Specializes in Healthcare risk management and liability.

I was interested to see the percentage of nurses with a BSN vs. other degrees, especially as I look around and see other healthcare professions such as pharmacy and PT moving to the professional doctorate as the entry to the profession. That has paid off well for them insofar as it has reduced the supply and increased the wages of those practitioners due to demand. Interesting to contemplate if nursing could do the same, but as someone who has been in healthcare for 30+ years, this debate has been going on for many a year.

The letters don't make the difference... I have many BSN deal rather poorly with patients, as well as ADN, what did make a difference was the commitment to ensure excellent patient care. Both ADN and Bsn need to use critical thinking, both require continuing education to keep up with the new best practice quidelines. Ensuring the best possible care depends on the nurses attitude towards their job....

I was just recently accepted into a BSN and an ADN program.... so after reading this I am more confused than ever on which to choose?! In the BSN program I would start as a Junior since I have all of my pre-reqs completed.