Today I was filling out a survey. Under the occupation section I immediately scanned for "professional"
Boy was I startled to see these first 2 options:
•professional (eg doctor, accountant)
•semi-professional (eg nurse, technician)
ummm what?!?! 😡😡😡 so frustrating to not be viewed as a professional when I have a bachelors degree, a speciality certificate, and 7 years experience not to mention a specialised knowledge and skill set for my PROFESSION of nursing!
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I'm sure the actual BSN programs can be considered more challenging and harder to get into than ADN programs.
Nope. In my metro area, the opposite phenomenon is happening: the ADN programs are more competitive and difficult to get admitted into than the local BSN programs.
Since ADN program tuition is $50/credit at the local community colleges, everyone and their mommas applies to these nursing programs. However, one can get admitted into several local BSN programs with a much lower GPA and test scores.
In my area, the more affordable a nursing program is, the more likely it is that people will apply. This makes ADN program admissions fiercely competitive.
Calm down, I'm not saying it's inferior at all. What I'm saying is that since RN-BSN doesn't have clinical components or prerequisites, it's going to be easier because you don't have to worry about either of those. Whereas in a four year BSN program there are prerequisites, clinicals, and whatever is in an RN-BSN program. So clearly it's going to be more challenging...
Starting off a post with the phrase "calm down" really isn't a good way to go. But I'll let that one slide.
It does have prerequisites. Sometimes it has coreqs. It depends on what you've taken prior to admission. Most ADN programs do not require Statistics; often required by BSN programs. You can take it along with your core classes or you can take it before. And no, there are not traditional clinical components, but there are clinical components that exist, including a clinical in community health, which can sometimes be incredibly difficult to secure and VERY writing intensive. You don't have to "worry about" clinical components, but you sure do have to worry about the large amount of papers, online posts, and upper level writing that is included in your studies, as well as keeping up that minimum GPA while working full-time at your RN job, if you still choose to do so. Difficulty can be measured in varying degrees; your post comes across as pooh-poohing those who took a RN-BSN path as opposed to a BSN path. The BSN degree is difficult in its own right no matter which path one takes to obtain it.
I was an LVN, immediately bridged to an ADN program afterwards and earned my BSN online through UoP. Therefore I am able to speak from firsthand experience and can say without a doubt my BSN program was way harder than my ADN program. My ADN program is very highly regarded and has a pass rate in the high 90's yet, during my time there, had almost zero community health requirements. I'm starting my FNP masters program next month and fully expect it to be more challenging than my BSN program. And I'm sure my doctoral program after that will be even more so.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I was an LVN, immediately bridged to an ADN program afterwards and earned my BSN online through UoP. Therefore I am able to speak from firsthand experience and can say without a doubt my BSN program was way harder than my ADN program.
I also started as an LVN, bridged to an ASN program, and completed an online BSN program. However, my perception of the degree of difficulty of these various programs is totally opposite of yours.
To me, the LVN program was the most challenging of the three. The ASN program was not difficult, and the online BSN program was the easiest of the three. I will be soon finishing my first semester in an online MSN degree program and, so far, it has not been difficult.
@Asystole: Registered Nurses do indeed have a standardized education. We all have the same basic education that grants us the privilege of taking state boards. Just because there are different pathways for getting there~ADN, ASN, BSN, etc.,~ the NCLEX and license is the same, and grants us the same scope of practice. An MSN prepared nurse in my state has the same scope of practice that a diploma prepared RN has.
Yes and no.
We all meet a minimum level of state determined education to receive our state determined license but there really is not a standard pathway to the profession.
The fact that someone with a diploma to a someone with a MSN can all be entering the profession at the same level is an issue.
We all have the same minimum level of training, we do not have the same minimum level of education upon entry into the profession.
There is not standard of minimum level of education for the profession which is one of the reasons for the big BSN push.
Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
Please be proud of our profession and your work. RNs must continue to respect the excellent care provided by fellow nurses, LPNs and LVNs, and by CNAs.
Entry into the profession is a registered nurse license.
Registered nurses are not educated, trained, and experienced to only just perform medical tasks, but to contextualize and synthesize all the information they collect to provide an individualized assessment of any particular patient. Nurses use that assessment to make ongoing judgments or decisions about the best course of therapy or treatment for that patient.
RNs are viewed as having "very high" or "high" ethical and honesty standards by 80 percent of the public, a full 15 points higher than any other profession in the Gallup Poll. Nurses have topped the list each year since they were first included in 1999, with the exception of 2001 when firefighters were included in response to their work during and after the 9/11 attacks.
"We hold that trust with our patients and communities as a sacred bond," she says. "Patients and their families expect nurses to fight for them at the bedside, even when it conflicts with the profit motive of far too many hospital managers, insurance companies and others in the healthcare industry who put the bottom line above patient interest." Debra Berger RN
Unfortunately to be considered "Professional", Nursing requires a more cohesive, united power base both at the federal and state level. My observation is that as a political force, Nursing organizations lack uniformity, consistency and ultimately power. There are different aspects of "Professionalism" at play...Professional behavior and conduct is a pinnacle of achievement, but unfortunately without the political "Professional" recognition, it doesn't amount to much, but self-satisfaction and an acceptance of a "Semi-Professional" status. Nursing needs to focus on unification, building sound professional standards and principles, and develop a unified, strong political voice at the national level that trickles down to the States. We can take a lesson from the AMA.
I don't believe, nor do I identify with nursing being considered a "profession." We are not. We are highly trained technicians. We have no control over our day. We don't make decisions, we simply interpret results and alert those that need to know. We don't "really" function is the medical arena, but function in the nursing arena, we carry out others orders for a patient's care, meds, etc. We don't make decisions, we carry them out for others.
Also, not to be a jerk, but look at how nurses dress...scrubs with happy patterns and juvenile designs. It is hard to tell who is who. I work with a lot of techs and my manager spends an inordinate amout of time making sure the techs don't feel "different" from the RNs.
Just to put things in perspective at one time *professional* and *practical* nurses did where nice white uniforms with or without a cap. There were also very tight rules about how much or any slap you could wear on your face, nail polish, perfume, hair so off the collar, etc... Everything was controlled often right down to the color of sweater you could wear while on duty.
Then things changed. Young gals protested the near conventual and archaic dress codes saying among other things professionals did not wear uniforms. Oh and the dreaded cap was a badge of servitude formerly worn by maids and waitresses (even they got shot of them), and for good measure were carriers of germs.
So during the last really true nursing shortage (around the 1980's through a good part of the 1990's depending upon local area) when nurses gained some bargaining power one of the first things to go were whites. Caps had long been going the way of corsets and girdles anyway so that was less of a battle.
So now everyone could show up for work in their PJ's and the scrub envy crowd at last could stare down unit, L&D, and OR nurses (the only ones formerly allowed out of whites) with satisfaction. Fair enough I suppose. But then things began to go down hill.
Leaving aside the quality of some scrubs things started getting a bit *too* casual. Between guys reporting for duty going commando and females looking as if they just rolled in from the beach things have been pushed far. Oh and yes everyone and their mother wears scrubs both in facilities and out. Some service worker unions that represent aides, housekeeping and techs have pushed to allow their members to be allowed to wear scrubs as well. Best a facility can do these days is color coding and ID badges and or uniforms with "RN" in big bold letters it seems.
Problem is you cannot un-ring that bell. Places are attempting to sort out some of the chaos but next to 12 hour shifts many nurses today especially from the younger generation simply would rather die than go into whites. Don't push them too far on make-up, hair, tattoos or other "self expression" either.
So what is left? Don't think bedside care is possible in a Chanel suit, high heels and nylons.
The problem with implementing the BSN has been that we did the same job after taking the same licensing exam, usually for the same pay. I got an AA in nursing in 1987 and a BSN in 1990. There was no raise in pay or change in status. I did it because it was supposedly going to be "required" very shortly after I graduated. I did not want my credits to expire if I waited a long time to go back to school. I am very glad I did go back to school. It helped me when I went for the MSN 20 years later.
The BSN at the bedside in the direct care staff RN role does not do anything different than the ADN or diploma nurse. She/he still has the same license. When push comes to shove and everyone needs "bodies" with the RN behind their name, those nurses will still have a job. We want BSN's for our "Magnet" hospital, but travellers I meet mostly have an ADN. When we need travellers, we do not care if they are ADN, BSN, diploma, or MSN. We care about it primarily for our number crunching for our own staff and Magnet. Today's BSN's are more literate in research, however, someone like me who got a BSN in 1990 usually does not have a huge edge in terms of understanding research from their nursing education. It wasn't part of the curriculum.I did get a lot of it in my MSN and CNS program and would say that I now am pretty literate in nursing research. That doesn't come from being an old TIME BSN.
TheCommuter, BSN, RN
102 Articles; 27,612 Posts
Since ADN program tuition is $50/credit at the local community colleges, everyone and their mommas applies to these nursing programs. However, one can get admitted into several local BSN programs with a much lower GPA and test scores.
In my area, the more affordable a nursing program is, the more likely it is that people will apply. This makes ADN program admissions fiercely competitive.