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

[Newbie Nurse SMP]

HI ALL...

LET ME START BY SAYING THAT I GRADUATED THIS PAST THURSDAY FROM SCHOOL!!! HIP HIP HOORAY:yeah:!!!

NOW I NEED TO VENT AND I THOUGHT IF ANYONE COULD UNDERSTAND AND APPRECIATE THIS TOPIC IT WOULD BE YOU GUYS/GIRLS HERE ON ALLNURSES.COM (AND ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE NEW GRADS LIKE I AM). SO TODAY I FIND OUT MY AUNT (WHO IS CURRENTLY IN SCHOOL GETTING HER BSN) TELLS MY GRANDMOTHER THAT I (WITH AN ASSOCIATES DEGREE IN NURSING) DO NOT HAVE A REAL NURSING DEGREE, AND THAT I HAVE TO GO BACK FOR MY BSN!!! I SERIOUSLY THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HIT THE ROOF WHEN I HEARD THIS:scrying:! NOW I ALREADY HOLD A BA IN ANOTHER SUBJECT, AND BECAUSE OF THAT I CAN START MY MASTERS DEGREE RIGHT AWAY (I HAVE ALREADY LOOKED INTO THAT AND CONTACTED SCHOOLS).

BUT THE IGNORANCE ON HER PART TO TELL SOMEONE THAT I DO NOT HAVE A REAL DEGREE IN NURSING AFTER I BUSTED MY BUTT WITH TESTS, CLINICALS, CARE PLANS, ETC FOR 2 YEARS WAS A REAL KICK IN THE BUTT!! I AM SO ANGRY!! NOW I DID STRAIGHTEN OUT MY GRANDMOTHER'S CONFUSION, AND MY DAD THINKS SHE MIGHT BE TALKING THIS WAY BC OF PLAIN IGNORANCE BUT ALSO BC OF JEALOUSY.

WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK? ARE YOU AS APPALED AS I AM? HAVE YOU EVER COME ACROSS PEOPLE WHO FELT THIS WAY?

ANY WORDS OF WISDOM WOULD BE HELPFUL BC I AM STILL PRETTY DEVASTATED OVER HERE EVEN THOUGH I KNOW I HAVE A REAL DEGREE AND ONCE I TAKE AND PASS MY BOARDS I WILL BE A REAL NURSE WORKING IN A REAL HOSPITAL.

THANKS FOR LISTENING,

SUZANNE :)

[patrick1rn, MSN, RN, NP]

Hi Everyone,

Wow...thank you for all of your responses! You have really made me feel better about myself and my degree! I especially like the comment about sending my aunt a card with the initials RN after my name...LOL!

But in all seriousness, we do take the same boards and we will perform the same tasks once we get on the floor. I know i busted my butt to get where I am today and I am proud of my accomplishment and degree!

I haven't confronted my aunt as of yet, but i plan to (in a non-attacking way) just so she knows that I know what she said and how she feels. And to hopefully shed some light on the subject that my degree in nursing is a REAL one!

Hugs,

Suzanne :heartbeat

Yea good luck

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

When I went to get my RN to BSN it was 16 classes, not all of them fluff. Heck if the difference between an ADN and a BSN was only one class, I'm sure we wouldn't even be having this debate, as we all would take the one dang class and get a BSN.

If we are to be respected as ADN nurses, there's no need to lift ourselves up by disrespecting the other degree because two wrongs don't make a right.

[FA to CRNA2b]

When I went to get my RN to BSN it was 16 classes, not all of them fluff. Heck if the difference between an ADN and a BSN was only one class, I'm sure we wouldn't even be having this debate, as we all would take the one dang class and get a BSN.

If we are to be respected as ADN nurses, there's no need to lift ourselves up by disrespecting the other degree because two wrongs don't make a right.

I had two associate degrees before getting my BSN. I never felt that the two added up to one bachelors. It's interesting how MSNs don't have this same debate with BSNs and PhD/DNPs don't with MSNs. There's no confusion and no need to defend your degree.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

I feel the same, have a degree ($$$$ for) and am getting my ADN as a second one (much less $ for). Can anyone tell my why, when I surf the major hospital career sites, I see many that say "BSN preferred"?

[truern]

Can anyone tell my why, when I surf the major hospital career sites, I see many that say "BSN preferred"?

As long as it doesn't say "required" why does it matter??

[Dragonnurse1, ASN, RN]

Congrats Suzanne - you have achived a great deal and quite a mile stone. When I finished school (with a ASN) I went to work in the Emergency Room and our nurse manager only had a ADN - she had been the Nurse manager of the ER for 15 years.

What is the difference in ASN and BSN? approx. 65 hours of NON NURSING subjects. You know the kind - art, music, history, math, PE, basket weaving etc etc and so on and so on. An ASN program has one goal to teach you how to care for a patient, why you do what you do, how to perform tasks at the bedside. In some cases you take what you have learned and your very first patient is an overdose and the medication of choice - pyridium. Any one know the antidote for pyridium poisoning?

My mother, bless her soul, thought the RN stood for Real Nurse:lol2: and she was not joking she really did. But it was my mother that prodded me into trying for school. I was in the last class that took the paper and pencil test. My school had (and still does) a 100% passing rate (unless someone goes into labor during the test).:wink2: I was introduced to a Dr. visiting one of my parents friends. Mom was so proud, he asked what school and when I told him he said if I would go to the west coast I could get a job with any hospital. But I have an ASN - his answer - so what, BSNs are for management.

You do what ever your heart tells you and if you never get a "higher" degree I have only one question - what is a higher calling than tending to the sick?:redbeathe

[ImBeautiful1]

O

[Jillybean1988]

As a nursing student who did a whole lot of studying before deciding on which degree to pursue, I must first say that I am proud of you, and can't wait to be where you are now! I agree that while many people understand that whether you have a A or a B in front of your SN doesn't matter at all, there are BSN snobs, as well as ASN's who have chips on their shoulders because they are worried about being looked down on. In truth, the only thing a BSN will get you is the ability to be a charge and move on quicker to a masters. If you go for a BSN you only take one more year of school than a ASN, who graduates from a 3 year program and some of those classes are prereqs. BSN's learn to do more paperwork, theory and thats about it. In respect, that ASN RN has one year of practical experience that a BSN grad doesn't. They'll already be making more money by the time their fellow highschool graduates start! That can make many BSN grads unhappy to hear. Some states do offer differentials for having your BSN, but only a few and its chump change for what you paid for that extra year. I think many nursing students head off thinking that their BSN will earn them more pay or a higher status than ASN/LPN nurses. I have found that in many of my classes people look at me with disbelief when I say the pay rates are the same. I think some of the jealousy/superiority issues are simply aggravation that they didnt realize that in the end, we'll all be nurses and only your hard work will help advance your pay! I'm marrying into a family of so called "BSN snobs". It was even suggested that a cousin was more fit to help care for a sick relative because she was in for a BSN and I was only an ASN! Forget that I have three years of experience in a hospice setting! I know I will probably be looked down on because I shaved a year off my time in my family forever. We are all nurses. Some will post that BSN's should be required, but if you can do the NCLEX with one less year of school, then you should if thats what you want. The issue of respect for nurses comes down to simply being united instead of bickering over a year of school. People respect unity and effiency, not catty behavior and superiority/inferiority complexes. People look down on nurses because we don't show enough respect for one another.

[Amybeth56]

I understand how you feel. I am waiting to do my clinicals for lpn and my niece has already done hers, however she is now doing her rn clinicals and acting like my lpn is a joke. She was proud when she was doing hers. No matter what we do or what course we choose to follow i believe we should be proud of ourselves. Im assuming my niece is jealous because now someone else in the family is going to be a nurse. I dont know. All she talks about is more money what about rhe love of people and wanting to contribute to their care in some capacity?

You hold your head up!!! You are a nurse.

[adh67]

I have an associates of nursing degree but have recently held professional positions alongside bsn and msn nurses. I don't have the degree, but I've proven to be smarter and more professional than my current colleague. She seems to be to be jealous of the attention my work has brought to me by constantly throwing up an air of superiority r/t her degree. However, she has no leadership skills or experience. I was sought for this position but I am beginning to feel used, dumped on, and underappreciated.

Yes, there are degree snobs in nursing. What's funny is they don't earn a significant amount of more money. I think it's quite comical. However, there's just so much you can laugh off. I'm quiting my current job.

[HotDrew]

Obviously, an associates degree is a "degree". However most people do look down on this as some vocational certificate or something. I've found that bachelors prepared nurses get much more respect from everyone.

[SweetLemon]

Sorry to hear that your Aunt is misinforming your other family members. An associates degree in nursing is very much a degree and depending on the program/instructors you are working with it can be just as intense if not more so then a BSN. The truth of the matter is while both degrees can adequately prepare you to work as a new nurse and pass your NCLEX (which is the exact same exam regardless of which degree you obtain) they both have their pros and cons. In the school I went to the students in the BSN program got more time in community health and management skills while the students in the ADN program spent more time at the hopital and had more overall clinical hours. Sadly I wonder why all the animosity remains... I was really upset when approached by students in the other program who purposely made rude comments to me (without being provoked!) just to say they were more of a nurse then I :angryfire. I could not help but laugh knowing in the end we would all end up in a lot of the same units working with the same patients (I live in a smaller town) and all their unkind words would be pointless. The level of comepetivitveness between the two degrees in my opinion is really unhealthy, we should all be working hard to simply better ourselves as nurses and learn everything we can to make us the best nurses we can be. For some this may be getting their BSN and maybe even MSN.... for others it may be an ADN who chooses to become board certified in his or her own specialty. Either way those who choose to cut down others in such a rude and unkind way often times are insecure and need some way to build themselves... so when faced with your aunts comments dont be too upset she is just trying to build herself up (possibly jelousy-maybe beause you finished 1st and will have more experience). Either way Good Luck! and I hope things go better between you and your aunt.