An Associates Degree Isn't A Real Nursing Degree...Vent!!

mntgrl · Dec 24, 2008

Hi Suzanne,

First, Congrats for graduating!!!! YEAH!

Secondly, it is JEALOUSY,JEALOUSY,JEALOUSY! Try not to take it to heart. Some people can't help the fact they are donkeys.

I just got off of the phone with my sister in law. Family says the weirdest things sometimes. I am a nursing student and both of my sister in laws work in Dr. offices. I have been in the mortgage biz for a long time and always wanted to go back to school for nursing. I am currently working my butt off to get good grades and become a nurse. (just got through my 1st real nursing/clinical class I absolutely love it, nursing is what I should have been doing all along)

They have done nothing but give me grief since I started. The program I am going to is a hosptial based diploma program. Even though I will have an RN they keep telling me that I will be the one emptying the bed pans and doing all of the nursing assistant work since it is not a real degree. One never finished high school and the other...well let me just say that she has no idea. She has even told me on a few occasions that the NCLEX would be no problem for her since she has so much experience and that it is not right that she would have to take all the prereqs and nursing classes just to take the NCLEX. I mean really what do you say to someone like that???

At least now she has stopped telling me all kinds of stuff that happens in the dr office, I think it is because she knows I know what I am learning and she can no longer b.s. me on things.

Just remember no one can take away what you have accomplished, it is yours, you earned it. Hold your head up high. You deserve to be proud of your accomplishments.

A. Mntgrl

Doubledee · Dec 24, 2008

I don't know if there is anything in mursing that annoys me more than the ADN vs BSN rant. I can appreciate the justification of broader education for the four year degree.

So then, why doesn't my Bachelor's and even a Master's degree count?

Fortunately, there really isn't so much of a distinction on the job. My ADN in addition to my previous education and experience is valued by my employer.

jmgrn65, RN · Dec 24, 2008

Well for starters you can tell them that all the diploma, assoc. and BS take the very SAME test for boards! The bachelors is just more fluff, I had ADN for about 13 years went back for my BSN and frankly did not learn more about nursing except about theories and THeorists yea that is helpful at the bedside.

And for the person that thinks they can sit for nclex with the classes take an nclex book with tests and have go at it. THat ought to shut her up.

BroadwayRN, ASN, RN · Dec 24, 2008

I'm sorry someone is trying to rain on your parade, not to mention it's your own Grandmother. Call Grandma and tell her how you feel (nicely of course) ASN and BSN, as already mentioned, take the same NCLEX and BSN's start out at the same salary and doing the exact same jobs as ASN's. If you decide later, after you have some experience, that you want to move into management you can always go back. Tell Grandma how much it hurts your feelings. :cry:

And Congratulations Graduate RN !!!

scarlettelilly · Dec 24, 2008

I'm pretty sure you need a BSN to get your master's in nursing . . . unless you take the route of

ADN to MSN. Of course, obtaining the BSN will be easier for you because you probably have

many of the pre-reqs of the BSN program. Just check it out. Congratulations on graduation!

saarein · Dec 24, 2008

Suzanne, Congrats!! You have worked hard and I do remember it well! I'm so proud of your accomplishment. It is a long and hard path to travel down with all the bumps along the way but when you finally arrive, it is all worth it. :yeah:

I have to tell you this debasing of nurses with lower than BSN degrees has gone on long before I became a nurse back in 1990 and I am sorry to say I feel it will continue to exist unless we (all RN's) come to the realization that we are all NURSES, period! I chose the ASN route because I had small children and my husband and I needed more cash flow and needed it as soon as possible and I couldn't afford another two years for college. I read a comment on another thread that the LPN's and ASN's do not have a good education and have flooded the nursing field. Does this "superior than thou" attitude exists with all BSN graduates? For goodness sakes we all take the same boards. There is not one test for the BSN's and one test for the ASN's. We will never have a large enough voice to empower the masses if we are fractured at the base. :banghead:

I've been a hospital patient on a couple of ocassions and when I look at the name pin and see he/she is an RN, I don't care if there is a BSN or ASN after the RN. I make my judgment on the skills I observe and the way he/she treat me as a human being lying in that bed. Now don't get me wrong, I do think going back to school for my BSN will be an advantage for me and I am planning on doing that next fall, but as to the skill level, we are all on the same wave length, at least we have all been prepared the same way. How we choose to market ourselves is up to us. I had a co-worker who graduated from the same school (IU) the same year as I and she let it slip one day that she wanted a different name tag with the BSN after the RN (the hospital we worked for at the time would not differentiate between BSN, ASN, or diploma graduates on name tags) because she worked hard for that degree and she didn't want anyone to think she was an ASN graduate. Needless to say I didn't look at her with the same respect as I had before her comment. I think some nursing schools perpetuate this notion and that is such a shame since we are all working for the same ideals.

So, Suzanne, be prepared to weather the storm of comments from your fellow nurses. Take heart though, not all are like that. I have worked with many nurses, BSN, ASN, Diploma, and LPN's, and they have been the most brightest, nicest, caring people to have crossed my path. I thank God for everyone I have been blessed to work with. Some have been what I aspire to become and some have not. So good luck and may God bless you always. :saint:

Merry Christmas,

Sharon

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 24, 2008

Congratulations!!!!

Be proud of your degree.

DeadHeadRN, BSN, RN · Dec 24, 2008

That's funny because I have an ADN and I also have a NY state nursing license with my name on it that implies that I am a real registered nurse with a real degree. Fortunately, the nurses I work with and the hospital I work for does not feel this way. Try not to let it get to you. You are a real nurse with a real degree and in my area at least, the ADN and BSN programs have the same exact amount of clinical time in school. I work along side many BSNs who are doing the SAME EXACT job that I do. There is no difference between what we can and cannot do. We all took the same NCLEX and the only difference is they make $1,000/year more than I do which after taxes equals about .58 cents/hour, While I plan on going back for my BSN, I am proud of my ADN and I know I worked hard for it, as you did. So, as frustrating as it may be, be proud of what you've accomplished and hold your head high.

cuzhenrys · Dec 25, 2008

Suzanne, congrads girl

please dont let anyone hate on you, be proud to hold the RN title be it ADN, BSN whatever, i for one would think that someone who holds a BSN and hates on the ADN may be doing so because they may feel a little jealous that you can pass the same state board examination as them that they took four years of studying to complete and you've done in two

RNDreamer · Dec 26, 2008

I am in a BSN program. Maybe she gets this attitude because of her professors? In my program, we actually had a discussion on the ADN vs. BSN issue. As a matter of fact, it was a test question after they told us the the BSN would be required NEXT YEAR. No one was able to provide us with proof, yet it was a queston on an exam.

sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN · Dec 26, 2008

HI ALL...
LET ME START BY SAYING THAT I GRADUATED THIS PAST THURSDAY FROM SCHOOL!!! HIP HIP HOORAY:yeah:!!!
A little history, well almost pre-historic history, >>smiles
Well, no telling what she would say about a Diploma RN graduate... heehee esp. from '72.......... but it does come to mind my very first job at City of Memphis Hospitals......After graduating from a Texas Diploma Hospital based program.. I was hired for CCU....... I spent 2 days in formal orientation, testing assessments ... and then off to CCU..........the Univ.Tenn. BSN graduates...... spent a full 6 weeks in orientation.
I had 3 &1/2yrs. college before nursing school, as a Biol. mjr..., never felt un-informed....... had a few "critical thinking skills"
After, I thought I had retired, some 28 yrs. later, got bored, went back to school, desiring to learn a different facet... respiratory therapy and completed AS Resp. Therapy.... did learn a little... past registry exam 10 days later... worked critical care, my little diversion, post retirement backfired........ I could not just focus on resp. therapy.... there was the rest of the patient, the family the everything... so "back in the saddle again."
Oh, and the non BSN nurses will never advance issue........... I have been head nurse, unit mgr., at major teaching hospitals, even coordinated a "nurse clinician" program, which took critical care nurses, increased their assessment skills, and we did all the admitting history and physicals in a VA Hosp. ER/Admission area... ( pre- cursor to a real FNP) an geeeeez that was just 2 years after graduating from nursing school.....
Our nursing history has had three avenues to become a RN, now really 4, counting the LVN to RN programs, which I am getting more impressed with.......... Remember there was only one in the beginning.... even more primitive than the diploma programs......More education is always good. Our nursing profession, evolution, research will take this profession to a awesome higher level. In many ways it already has.
Inflated egos........ on who is a nurse, is a nurse....... is only counter productive. Face it, if we pasted our RN boards, we are RNs, we truly can learn from each other, rather than eat our own.:heartbeat