ADN v BSN coursework

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jan 26, 2004

Do you have an idea of which school you want to attend? Have you checked their admission requirements? The Univ. here is fairly strict in interpreting electives and prereqs. They accept no credits over 5 years old and have a 2.5 gpr requirement. Some other schools are not so strict and allow about 60 hours for an ADN. The 5 year thingy kept me from pursuing it at USC.

PMHNP10 · Jan 26, 2004

At this point I have no particular school in mind. From the research I've done though, it seems private schools typically have more flexibility in waiving certain credits and exchanging others than state funded schools. I would love to earn my advanced practice degree from the school I received my undergrad degree from, but the downside to the private school is the astronomical cost.

So are the post ADN nursing courses different depending on where you go to school?

fieryrn · Jan 26, 2004

I currently am enrolled in an RN/BSN program. I have completed all the humanities and such...there is 32 semester hours of nursing classes that I must complete. I am doing this part time so I will be finished Aug 2005.

LeesieBug · Jan 26, 2004

I'm sure this varies greatly state to state, school to school. Probably the only way you'll get an accurate idea of what to expect is to check out requirements of different programs in your area. I know our University is pretty good about accepting previous credit...there is no time limit.

I can give you an idea of the amount of coursework needed here. To go RN to BSN here, you have to have all the general education credits done, then take 25 credit hours of nursing classes (Nursing research, community health, nursing of healthy individuals, cultural dimensions, etc.). It takes about three semesters full-time.

RN to MSN do the same requirements as BSN, plus 8 credits that go toward the masters. After completing those you move on to classes in the specialty you have chosen to complete the masters.

Hope it all goes well for you!

joules300, BSN · Jan 26, 2004

You may want to check out schools on line. The University of Phoenix has RN to BSN and MSN programs on line. Their semesters are short and you can move along quickly. They are pretty pricey though. I have also heard you DO NOT need to take GRE's for their MSN. :idea:

Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN · Jan 30, 2004

psychrn03 -- Agree with your thinking. In your situation, don't believe you need to go the BSN route. The main purpose of that program is to round you out with more humanities, electives and the like -- which, with a BS, you don't really need.

Consider enrolling in an RN-to-MSN program when you're ready.

Good luck!

275Main · Jan 31, 2004

If you already have a BS then my advice would be to do an accelerated BSN program, they tend to be between 11-16 months long, they are intense but you get your BSN in about a year. And the difference betwen the two degrees is that you get nursing research classes in the BSN, which are important if you want to pursue an advanced degree in nursing (masters programs are big on research). But before making you decision I would check with the local ADN program and see if there is a waiting list, a lot of the associates programs have waiting lists and the lists are not based on GPA. So you might get your degree faster going the accelerated degree route, and then you would not have to retake the humanities courses you have already taken as an undergrad (alot of RN-BSN or RN-MSN programs would have you repeat some of the courses you have already completed). Good Luck.

New CCU RN · Jan 31, 2004

I am a traditional four year BSN grad... here is how my curriculum went:

Keep in mind i had thirty college AP credits before I started and so I didn;t take all of the core classes required for a bachelors degree as I already had credit

Freshman year Anatomy & Phys (they were seperate), Chem and Organic, english composition, spanish, psych 101, then a 300 level psych --don't remember the name, biology 1 and two and calculus was in there somewhere also

sophomore year-- semester 1 microbiology, fundamentals of nursing, health assessment (9 total credits of nursing), spanish, and sociology

semester 2-- med surg one (6 credits), english literature, spanish, 400 level psych class

junior year-- semester one ---pysch nursing (9 credits), spanish, statistics, and another elective i can't remember now

semester 2- maternal child health (ob and peds together)-9 credits, spanish, communications, anthropology

senior year-- semester one--- med surg 2 (9 credits), nursing research 3 credits, and i know there was some core course in there but i cant remember what

semster two--- leadership and management--6 credits and community nursing 6 credits

sophomore year first semester we had four 8 hr days of nursing. we did most of the fundamental stuff in labs that met twice a week and had many many check offs. we also did pharmacology built into that as well as an into into pathophysiology. we also had our health assessment there where we learned how to do a head to toe assessment which was system specific over the course of the semester also with many many check offs. we had papers due every week for each class.... ranging from 5-25 pages long... we had about 100-200 pages per nursing class a week of readings. we also had micro and other electives that semester.... that was an awful, awful semester :) we had clinicals in a nursing home the last month of the semster once a week... we did simple things like give flu shots, bed baths, foleys, etc also of course had routine exams about eveyr other week of course both classes would have their exams on the same day or day after

second semester sophomore year was med surg one... we had clinicals twice a week, eight hour days... a six week portion of it was spent doing home care, we also did a rotation through the pacu and the or.... many papers, ur typical pre clinical writeups, etc... also had to do major presentation at end on a particular patient,..... case study type thing also of course had ur routine tests usually every other week

junior year w/ psych(first semester)... clinicals twice a week....we were in diffferent places, adult day centers, in patient... etc... spent the semester there doing a major project.... mine was in particular on a patient with schizophrenia... i was in an outpatient facility but really it varied dependiing on location... we did group meetings, focus groups, therapuetic sessions one on one, etc etc

second semester was peds and ob together.... both at the same time, five days of nursing school--- three of class and three of clinical (one day overlapped)===did inpatient, outpatient, etc had way too many presentations, alot of calculations for peds, obviously, tests every other week......

first semester senior year was med surg two... three clinicals a week, a lab, and class two times a week alot of clinical time and fine tuning everything, again many papers and projects....

also nursing research....... wrote many many papers, including a few fifety page papers..... that class was actually very interesting and in retrospect i gained a lot from it.... helped me to be more into learning latest info...and just learn more in general ...... valuable valuable experience

second semester was community where one day a week i went to a pediatric clinic in the inner city and worked w/ a doc .... as well as class twice a week, learning various things about community nursing, gave me a more global view ...... then the second day of clinical was doing homecare------- we went independantly and saw one patient and did whole case study on their progress....we also were involved with research of the incidence of various disorders in the population in the area and means to prevent/treat/reach out .... that was a huge project that was also with the grad PT students, also organized a few health fairs in the local area... lots of projects and group work.....the other two days were spent doing clinicals for the leadership/managment class.... one half of the semester was spent on a med surg floor and we all took turns being "charge" and delegating tasks.... learned alot about real life conflicts, delegation, managing, etc....how to conflict resolve, etc........ the other half of the semester was spent two days a week w/ a nurse manager learning the role of the NM.......we did mini projects for them and we also did one huge project..... i redesigned their current flowsheet according to current jcaho recommendations..... class also twice a week where we learned about current health care trends, economics, delegation again, etc etc etc..........

i have said more than a mouthful......... hope this gives u an idea of the bsn curriculum.... i dont care to argue which was is better..... in my opinion i was very well prepared for the nursing world..... and that is all i will say..... :)