Advantage of 2 year BSN programs over 15 month ADN program

[Beginningstudent]

I am applying to the West Coast BSN program and Texas A&M Commerce BSN program. Each program is comprehensive - one with 68 hours and the other with 71 hours of content. I know the profession prefers a BSN and above. Outside of magnet status, what benefit is it to an employer to have BSN graduates? Would there be any benefit to a patient? These questions may not be well-worded, but my intent is to make a wise decision.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Personally I would say BSN would be beneficial if you plan on doing something further with your career at a later stage. If you can do BSN then get it done, it may not make any difference to the patient but it may make a difference to you

[llg, PhD, RN]

Research shows that there are better patient outcomes in hospitals with higher percentages of BSN's. That doesn't mean that every BSN nurse is better than all nurses with ADN's. It just means that overall, the care is better when and where the nurses have the higher level of education.

That's why most professional groups (i.e. Magnet, the Institute of Medicine, major hospitals, etc.) are favoring BSN nurses.

For an individual nurse, the advantage of having a BSN is that it gives you more job opportunities -- and more varied job opportunities.