Better clinicals with BSN program???

Perpetual Student · Jul 29, 2008

Like has been mentioned, it's totally dependent upon the schools and hospitals in your area. The ability of a person at a school to persuade good hospitals to accommodate their students' learning needs cannot be underrated. As has been mentioned, some hospitals are now giving the best choices of units and times to BSN programs, but others are more open to all programs.

Obviously, a BSN (the degree itself, not a nurse with a BSN) is greater than an ADN, as it will provide more opportunities for you to advance your career. That said, it might not be the best choice for a particular person for a number of reasons, possibly including cost, convenience, and so forth. It can be much more convenient to complete a BSN after being a nurse. With how competitive entry is to all nursing programs (at least those that don't have a lottery system), it isn't like just any idiot can get in, graduate and pass the NCLEX.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jul 29, 2008

It's not true here. The ADN's and the BSN have the same number of required clinical hours, in pretty much the same areas. From what I've seen they both come out of school ready for entry level practice.

83studentnurse · Oct 29, 2008

You can have great clinicals or terrible clinicals, depending on your clinical instructor, and regardless of whether it's a BSN or ADN program. It's my understanding that, in general, the best clinicals are usually at hospital-based programs, as they have a very strong clinical focus. I understand that many programs use ad-junct instructors -- and often not the best instructors -- for clinicals, but in my diploma program, all of the best teachers lead two clinical groups. I notice we also have much smaller groups than I've seen from BSN and ADN schools (when I see them in the hospitals, they often appear to have 8-10 students; I know our instructors only have 4-5 students per clinical group). But of COURSE, this is only a generalization! What is true of one BSN, ADN or diploma program won't be true of all of them, so you should definitely look at each one individually!

When it comes to evaluating the schools that will prepare you best for being a nurse, I've been told to look for 2 things:

1) Total number of clinical hours (there is a minimum all nursings students must have, but some schools go above and beyond that. I know I will graduate with about 1/3 more clinical hours than I would have had I chosen the BSN program I was considering. Of course, this varies from school to school)

2) NCLEX pass rate. You want to know that this school prepares its students to pass the licensing exam!

LoveMyBugs, BSN, CNA, RN · Oct 30, 2008

I am in a ADN program and at my first semester clinical site there are two other schools there doing clinicals and they are both BSN programs. The students are doing the same things that I am doing in clincial.

I didn't choose a ADN program I was lucky enough to have been accepted into the program, however I am glad that I will be done in 2 years at 1/3 the cost. I will get my BSN later.

When talking with nurses that I work with they have said that they have noticed that nurses who come from ASN programs come ready to "hit the ground running" where the BSN grads need more help with the clinial skills because they have spent more time on theory than in clinical.

However everyone has to take the same test, and I would be looking at your schools pass rates.

prinsessa · Oct 30, 2008

Since i keep hearing that ADN programs have more clinical time....how much clinical time do ADN programs have? I am in a BSN program and we are there for about 6 hours twice a week. Our last semester we have a preceptor and have to be with that person for about 2 12 hour shifts every week for 1/2 the semester.

Annisme · Oct 30, 2008

As a BSN student, I was prepared for ADN students to have more "clinical skills" than I did in the beginning. However, I think it not only depends on the individual school and faculty but more on the individual. We do all take the same NCLEX and I work with many ADN nurses who have so much experience and wisdom, I love to learn from them!

CuriousMe · Oct 30, 2008

Since i keep hearing that ADN programs have more clinical time....how much clinical time do ADN programs have? I am in a BSN program and we are there for about 6 hours twice a week. Our last semester we have a preceptor and have to be with that person for about 2 12 hour shifts every week for 1/2 the semester.

I don't know how many hours for the program...but I know for my BSN program, this term (the first of 9 terms) we have 80 clinical hours. I've also been told that we spend most of our senior year in preceptorships...so very little classroom time and a lot of clinical time.

Peace,

CuriousMe

83studentnurse · Oct 30, 2008

I don't know about ADN programs, but in my diploma program, we'll have 244 clinical hours by the end of first semester! I think 80-90 hours for 1st semester is standard for BSN (one 5-6-hour clinical a week), that is at least what it would've been had I done an ABSN program. whereas we have 8-hour clinicals, 2 days a week. The school also has such a strong focus that right here in our first semestser we're already learning things like putting in IVs (we're not expected to have that skill as new RNs, but they're trying to prepare us as much as possible for what it will be like as real RNs). About 8 weeks in to nursing school -- once they saw I could handle a seriously ill patient -- they've started to give me 2 patients (my friends in other schools all have 1 not-too-sick patient at this point, and said they probably won't have more than 2 patients even as seniors).

Now, on the flip side, I imagine the classroom lecture might be better at a BSN program (although I've been very pleased with 3 of my 4 instructors so far). For me, since I had a great undergrad education, the classroom excellence was less important than having clinical excellence, but that's just my perspective.

I hope that gives you a little perspective on the kinds of clinicals you might find at a diploma program!

83studentnurse · Oct 30, 2008

Oh, by the time I graduate, I'll have about 1400 clinical hours. At least among the schools I was comparing, this was a lot more than the ABSN programs (where I'd have gotten about 825 hours by graduation). I also liked that my school is the only one in the state that has students do a full semester of hands-on clinical in the ICU (all the others observe, but don't get any practice time). Of course, for you, a BSN, ABSN or ADN program could be the best one around! It all depends on the schools you're comparing.

CuriousMe · Oct 30, 2008

I don't know about ADN programs, but in my diploma program, we'll have 244 clinical hours by the end of first semester! I think 80-90 hours for 1st semester is standard for BSN (one 5-6-hour clinical a week), that is at least what it would've been had I done an ABSN program. whereas we have 8-hour clinicals, 2 days a week. The school also has such a strong focus that right here in our first semestser we're already learning things like putting in IVs (we're not expected to have that skill as new RNs, but they're trying to prepare us as much as possible for what it will be like as real RNs). About 8 weeks in to nursing school -- once they saw I could handle a seriously ill patient -- they've started to give me 2 patients (my friends in other schools all have 1 not-too-sick patient at this point, and said they probably won't have more than 2 patients even as seniors).
Now, on the flip side, I imagine the classroom lecture might be better at a BSN program (although I've been very pleased with 3 of my 4 instructors so far). For me, since I had a great undergrad education, the classroom excellence was less important than having clinical excellence, but that's just my perspective.
I hope that gives you a little perspective on the kinds of clinicals you might find at a diploma program!

do you guys have lab hours as well as clinical hours? If so, how many lab hours do you have a term?

Alternator81 · Oct 30, 2008

... ADN offers more clinical hands on time for the students...

... BSN students have more "book" knowledge and the ADN students have more hands-on skills.

Simply not true. There is a certain number of clinical hours that you have to complete in order to graduate. BSN students meet the same clinical hour requirements as ADN students. In fact, last year my BSN program had slightly more clinical hours than an ADN program in my town.

When it comes to who gets better clinical hours. I wouldn't say that we necessarily get better clinicals than ADN program, but I think that our program gets first choice. An ADN program here does many weekend and evening clinicals. Students in the ADN program don't know till the last minute where their clinical will be and the times they will be, and I already know where I will be next semester.

But a new BSN program from another state university the norther part of my state opened a new program in my city. They are fighting to get clinical time at the hospitals-- in fact they are doing med/surg at a nursing home. So there you go!

83studentnurse · Oct 30, 2008

We have very few lab hours (only 45 in the whole program). They give us just enough to make sure we know what we're doing in clinicals, but they feel that time with patients is much more useful and prepare us better to be RNs. Since we usually only have 4 students per clinical instructor, we get a LOT of one-on-one instruction during clinicals. We're never doing any new skill alone, but we get to do stuff like using sterile technique to change a central line dressing right from the get-go (I think I did that my second week!). The staff is also really friendly to our students, so the pain management and wound care nurses have let me do stuff like removing Stryker pump lines within the first month of school. I'm pretty amazed -- I didn't expect to be getting to do so much so soon.

Like Alternator81 said, it all depends on the school. My program gets great clinicals at the best hospitals in our area (probably because it has a reputation for producing GREAT nurses and because the program has been around for a LONG time). Like I mentioned, we get a full semester in the ICU (not sure how they manage that, since none of the other schools do) and time in the OR, etc. But I'm sure BSN programs or ADN programs could get better clinicals in other areas. It all depends!