ASN or BSN ????

darmor11 · Feb 15, 2013

You won't always work in hospitals. I know that it's the very rare student who has even a shred of that in his/her head, when pretty much all they do is focused on bedside care in hospitals. But still. Read on.
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 and the pay's the same" 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 may not be 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 an RN. 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, 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.

You always give the best advice... Thanks!!!

LisaNICUrn, BSN · Feb 15, 2013

Well I chose to get my ADN so I could start working earlier and hopefully find a great organization I could start working for and most hospitals help pay for college so they would help pay for my BSN. I just started 2 weeks ago at a mental health hospital, after putting in dozens of applications at every hospital around and even skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, etc. And the behavioral med was the only ones to even call me for an interview. During orientation, I was the only one with my ADN, and one of the administrators even stated they don't try not to hire ADN with no experience unless they have no BSN choices. But to answer your question, I do not believe there is much of a difference here in Florida. I believe I will get a .50 raise when I finish my bachelors.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Feb 15, 2013

got my BSN after years of working as ADN. Automatic $1/hr pay increase, which meant that in just a short time I had "paid" for my degree. Later got MSN to change duties. I learned in every level. But to answer your question, at least keep BSN in mind as current national goals include that 80% of RN's will be BSN educated. Writing is on the wall. Do not limit yourself.

francoml, ASN, RN · Feb 18, 2013

Don't stress so much about going to an ADN program!!! I am about to graduate from an awesome ADN program and I already have a job lined up in the ER! It's all about networking and impressing people in clinical. 3 of my 4 professors started nursing at my community college and now one is a nurse practitioner one is a DNP and the other has her MSN! It's all about internal drive! You can do what ever you want in life if you just go for it!!!

BlueEyedGuy · Feb 19, 2013

It really depends on your local job market.

Apply for the BSN (flexibility), and if get a job out of school, then drop it or go part-time on the BSN; or drop it an find a more convenient online BSN if you still want to finish it.