ADN vs. BSN

Really? This AGAIN?

Sorry, I just had to do that. LoL! You're probably new here but the reason the previous poster answered the way they did is because this question gets asked so much. I don't have a clear cut answer for you, someone here might. If you do not want to wait for an answer, you can go to the top search box and put in your thread title and several previous threads will pop up with tons of answers. GOOD LUCK in your journey.

HERE WE GO!

I'll keep it short and sweet for you:

No difference in pay in 99% of places, and if there is it's negligible.

If it's going to take you the same amount of time then get your BSN

everything old is new again...to somebody. here's my take.

this is one of the most contentious issues in nursing: the level of education needed for a profession. as many of of you know, i come down squarely on the side of a bs in nursing (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. ::note to self: copy this for cutting and pasting later::

(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 many 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. 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 rns. 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, hon, i hear you. 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.

Down in Houston many hospitals are only hiring BSN nurses. Same job, same pay, but if it's going to take you the same amount of time you might as well go for the BSN.

!! I didn't mean to bring up such a sore subject! I am already enrolled in a BSN program so that's not an issue, I just didn't know if it made a difference to employers, just out of curiosities sake.

...I'll search my question more thoroughly next time...

Many hospitals in Baltimore do prefer BSN nurses especially trying to achieve magnet status. They usually do not pay more for the BSN but it is important when it comes to moving up the career ladder.

That being said, I still chose the ADN route simply for financial reasons. Sometimes it just comes down to $$, especially when you are a single mother with two children. I do realize however that it is essential to get my BSN, and get it quickly. It will take me another year after my ADN but at least my employer will cover it.

Yes, this is a very "emotional" subject. I've been an ADN nurse most of my career and have recently obtained my BSN. I once believed - as most do - that there is no difference, but I saw the writing on the wall, as one has already stated "BSN-only" being the standard for all opportunities outside of bedside nursing. Not that I was trying to educate myself away from a bedpan, but as I enter my middle ages, I've seen more than a few nurses at or past retirement age that were really struggling at bedside nursing - not mentally, but physically. I have absolutely nothing against the noble art of bedside nursing - it is the bedrock of our career - and it will always be an option for me, regardless of where I'm at in life ... but my thing? I didn't want it to be my only option - because it can be hard, grueling work.

And ... when I went back to school ... I actually learned a few things! I didn't know all that could be known, and it really enlightened me to all of the wonderful things going on in nursing research, one article in particular that showed lower death rates when hospitals have higher rates of BSNs. So, it's not just an opinion anymore (like I once thought), it is becoming established scientific fact.

There are reasons why hospitals are pushing this, and if you need proof, google "Education levels of hospital nurses and surgical patient mortality" that was published in JAMA.

there's no PAY difference, no. But it's a LOT more difficult to FIND a job with an ADN than a BSN.

I just graduated from an ADN program and was lucky enough to have gotten a job in L&D at a level 3 NICU facility. And yes, I get the exact same pay as the BSNs. But, I also had to sign a contract saying I would have my BSN in 2 years and had a very high GPA. (However, I think I got the job because I was already enrolled for my RN-MSN at a top nursing university.) If I had known what I know now, I would of ABSOLUTELY gotten my BSN 1st!!! I applied to a couple of nursing schools and got in to the ADN program 1st and it was cheaper than spending 3 times the amount, I didn't take out loans, at the universities. My thought process was that the hospital I would get a job at would pay for my BSN (which they are) but I didn't realize until I started looking for a job that most hospitals want BSNs anyway. The recruiter that interviewed me explained hospitals are a business and what makes the business look better makes more $$. Makes sense right? Well, hospitals that have a certain % of BSNs vs ADNs can get "magnet" status (due to higher education levels) which attracts patients/doctors/etc which=more $$! Now, when the economy takes a dip, which we are in one now, RNs that left the workforce come back to work, making new graduate jobs slim...which allows hospitals to get more picky when it comes to hiring new interns for the few spots they do have. Bottomline-GET YOUR BSN 1st. It doesn't make you a better RN, as you will see when you get out there with some awesome ADNs, but it WILL get you a job! Oh, and keep you GPA up in nursing school, because most hospitals want to see your transcript and if your GPA is so-so that is another reason you won't get the job in the specialty you want... Best of Luck!!!