Bachelor Degree - Needed in every state?

Nurses Professionalism

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I see a BSN is needed to work in major hospitals within New York City. Does this hold true across the nation, for every state? If not, do you think it's definitely headed in that direction?

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

It does not hold true everywhere at the moment. However, most major hospitals "prefer" BSN's even if they don't "require" them.

And yes, the educational standards have been increasing slowly but steady for nurses (and most other professions) for the past 200 years. I don't see why that trend would not continue. However, there will be lots of ups and downs along the way ... slight variances among regions ... etc. The trend of advancing the profession is pretty well-established. Health care is getting more complex, etc. Professional nurses are expected to be decision-makers, not just hand-maidens, etc.

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No I think this over education is about to reach it’s end. Sorry to all those educators, Phd’s and students with graduate degrees awash in student loan debt. Sorry you don't need an excel spreadsheet or statistics to wipe buts as a bedside RN, you dont need to figure out the standard deviation in a group of patients with diarrhea. Wake up people. Sorry to disapoint you but nursing is not a science no matter how you would like to pretend it is. Remember it is a skill requiring compassion and decision making which is learnt over time at the bedside and all those fools that got you $80,000 in debt are just that.

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Specializes in Urgent Care, Oncology.
On 3/22/2019 at 10:02 PM, gr8macaw said:

No I think this over education is about to reach it’s end. Sorry to all those educators, Phd’s and students with graduate degrees awash in student loan debt. Sorry you don't need an excel spreadsheet or statistics to wipe buts as a bedside RN, you dont need to figure out the standard deviation in a group of patients with diarrhea. Wake up people. Sorry to disapoint you but nursing is not a science no matter how you would like to pretend it is. Remember it is a skill requiring compassion and decision making which is learnt over time at the bedside and all those fools that got you $80,000 in debt are just that.

This is so off base as what goes into a BSN degree. Why does EVERYONE always reference wiping butts? Nursing is so much more than that.

You DO need to know statistics to understand nursing research. Nursing research and evidence-based practice are crucial to advancing the science of nursing. Even as a beside RN, one should know how to track and correlate data, and then potentially undertake a research opportunity to improve practice in your area.

Is the BSN 50% fluff? Absolutely. But, there are also crucial aspects of the degree that translate across multiple disciplines. Pathophysiology and Advanced Assessment were not required for my ASN program, but they were for my BSN program. I advanced my knowledge and improved my nursing practice a ton just from those two classes. Furthermore, it is important to be able to write analytically and critically appraise scientific research, another skill which is promoted in BSN programs. And now working at a Magnet hospital as "just a bedside nurse," I used the knowledge I acquired in Advanced Nursing Research to participate in published nursing research studies.

And yes, I am getting my MSN in Nursing Education, and yes I'm going into debt, but it is SO worth it to be able to properly educate the next generation of nurses.

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Specializes in Urgent Care, Oncology.

Here in Central Florida it is about 50/50. Where I live, there are two major facilities that only hire BSN prepared nurses and then there are two facilities that hire ASN prepared nurses. The facilities that hire ASN prepared nurses typically have nurses sign a contract saying they will obtain their BSN in 3-5 years and they usually pay approximately $5000 a year in tuition reimbursement.

Typically the more saturated the market, the more the BSN seems to be mandated. But, I'm sure other posters will chime in otherwise. It really does vary not only from state to state but even areas within states.

I don't believe the BSN will be mandatory everywhere ever. While there are very few nursing shortages currently, in the next 10 years many anticipate that there will be due to the Baby Boomer population retiring and also needing more healthcare services. Schools can't obtain more clinical slots so the number of nurses put out may not increase. So, ASN programs will still be alive and running to keep putting RNs into production.

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On 3/22/2019 at 10:02 PM, gr8macaw said:

No I think this over education is about to reach it’s end. Sorry to all those educators, Phd’s and students with graduate degrees awash in student loan debt. Sorry you don't need an excel spreadsheet or statistics to wipe buts as a bedside RN, you dont need to figure out the standard deviation in a group of patients with diarrhea. Wake up people. Sorry to disapoint you but nursing is not a science no matter how you would like to pretend it is. Remember it is a skill requiring compassion and decision making which is learnt over time at the bedside and all those fools that got you $80,000 in debt are just that.

I'm genuinely curious... how does it feel to have such a low opinion of one's own profession?

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On 3/28/2019 at 1:22 PM, TheNurseHawk said:

I'm genuinely curious... how does it feel to have such a low opinion of one's own profession?

Probably about as bad as it does to have high regard for the meaningful work of the profession but then realize that employers don't! (I'm quite sure that fact is the foundation of butt-wiping-type comments).

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
On 3/28/2019 at 10:22 AM, TheNurseHawk said:

I'm genuinely curious... how does it feel to have such a low opinion of one's own profession?

Actually, I was wondering if this person is even a nurse.

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There are some popular, repeatable studies that suggest a higher percentage of BSN nurses reduce mortality rates at hospitals. On a side note I haven't yet seen a good study that compares initial BSN to RN-BSN or different programs, because some are much higher quality. In my experience on nursing units I don't see any difference between ADN and BSN new grads.

Add to the built-in preference for BSNs the fact that the wage for BSN nurses is the same as ADN nurses. If a hospitals mortality rate will go down without spending any extra money you can see why hospitals would prefer BSN nurses. Thus everything being equal, every hospital is going to prefer BSN nurses as opposed to ADN nurses. This is a national trend.

Logistically the question is how picky can hospitals afford to be? Most hospitals cannot be fully staffed with only hiring BSNs. Many hospitals aren't picky about which RNs they hire and are still nowhere near fully staffed. A hospital near me has 90 open RN positions. The reality is that nursing is in a national shortage that is only going to get worse over time. Thus there will always be ADN jobs at hospitals.

In urban areas I have seen some hospitals "prefer" or "require" a BSN for floor nursing jobs. These are usually only the "premier" hospitals with big names or reputations etc. that can afford to be picky. It's not every hospital.

I have never seen a rural hospital require a BSN for floor nursing jobs.

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On 3/22/2019 at 9:02 PM, gr8macaw said:

No I think this over education is about to reach it’s end. Sorry to all those educators, Phd’s and students with graduate degrees awash in student loan debt. Sorry you don't need an excel spreadsheet or statistics to wipe buts as a bedside RN, you dont need to figure out the standard deviation in a group of patients with diarrhea. Wake up people. Sorry to disapoint you but nursing is not a science no matter how you would like to pretend it is. Remember it is a skill requiring compassion and decision making which is learnt over time at the bedside and all those fools that got you $80,000 in debt are just that.

If all you do is wipe butts, you've got yourself one sad little job there.

My BSN at a public university cost me less than sending my kid to a private elementary school. No debt for me.

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Whether or not the BSN is required is highly dependent on geographical location. There is no one state to my knowledge where the requirement of a BSN is universal. In every state one can find nursing positions that do not require a BSN. That may not be the case in your desired facility or specific city, but generally speaking, it shouldn't be that hard to find employment without advanced formal education.

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