BSN Clarification

You know I can not begin to comprehend what makes a person think like this. You say you want respect, that emptying trash, cans rubbing backs, performing posterior care is beneath the dignity of an education. The status that is to be the implied reward becuase of 4 to 5 years of hard faught learning . Who's respect are you looking for, the Doctor?, the Administrator?, or the CPA that does your taxes. all the while you alienate yourself from the hard working, dissappearing, Nurse aides, and LPN/LVN. Who will take care of the patient, when you do away with your ADNs, the backbone of this profession. The do it all nurse, roll up your sleeve, and stand side by side the CNA and LPN/LVN. Will the Patient/Client or Consumer see the nurse as a giant in the economic circle, or get pissed and lose respect because no one is there for them to mop up their diarrhea trail to the bathroom. Did the meaning of nurse somehow sale its very soul. I wonder if professors think less of 1st grade teachers, or teachers aides. Maybe they will phase them out, and just have PHDs what do ya think. You go ahead and rise up to your cloud in the sky. I am an LVN and if having a BSN means this, I elect to stay down here in the basement with the patient, the CNA, and the ADN which I respect.

Rex,

You seem to have misconstrued my whole argument. Say you work on an intensive cardic ward, and patient's are calling you to help them go to the restroom, or perhaps to pick thier tray up after a meal. It would be nice to accomodate every patient's needs in a timely and orderly manner, but as one nurse caring for 4-6 patients at a time, you simply cannot. I tend to prefer safe care. If this means that I cannot pick up a tray or get ice for someone immediately then I feel I have made the more proper judgement. I said nothing about ADN or Diploma nurses giving any less care. I did however say that again, in order to establish ourselves as a profession, we must act professional. I believe this would mean nurses not walking around with tons of jewerly on or heavily scented perfumes also, but I see this everday as well. Most profession, and you may research this fact, have at least a Bachelor's degree as an entry level requirement. Thier will always be nurses who are ADN's that out perfom BSN's and vice versa, but the point again is that we need an established minimum requirement and not a mix of fruitsalad blended as one. There are at least two states to my knowledge that have already established the BSN as a minimum reqirement.

Well I apologize if I miss understood you, I based my anger from this quote.

"Nurses are suppose to do housekeeping duties and be considered a true profession. All of my friends who graduated college outside of the field of nursing do not have to empty trash cans with their 4-year degrees."

You know I hate emptying trash cans too, and perhaps you that have BSN degrees, have earned the right to move on, to more focused, and responsible duties. I don't buy this argument that the world at large, does not respect nurses because of education levels within a profession. Perhaps by some means of enlightment, I will see the light if I decide to do what it takes to add the BSN after my name. but really what is the core problem here, is it self image? or perceived image.

1 Why don't nurses get what there worth?

2 Why is the next generation of kids not looking at nursing as career move

3 Why cant we raise leaders within nursing to um lead us to the promise land

we do it on the floor someone is in charge and without question as long as that person is competent even a BSN will follow a ADN Nurse we all have to hold our heads up and be proud of our own place and purpose in this life and if you can not respect a person or feel you are not respected because of a difference in education how will you ever overcome the issue of how the physician controls your stature and position. someone once lead nursing and the rest followed I believe her name was Florance or something

I have tremendous respect for anyone who set 2 to 5 years of their lives aside to be a nurse we need all of us to hold our heads up and demand respect, from the PHD to the Nurse aide we trust with the most important of patient data collection. lets not cut our hand off before we look to change our nursing world. Your BSN friends will respect your profession if you do first.

I think one of the problems with this process and argument that has been going on is seperating the proximate issues like duties on the floor, who is the better nurse, who is more prepared, should I be doing this or not from the universal issues like how the profession is viewed and what the profession (not the individual) needs to be more respected and advance.

To me, making the minimum entrance into the profession would do much to promote it in terms of public respect and professional advancement. Mark however that this would not change our duties. It would not necessarily make everyone better or worse nurses. It would however raise the bar so to speak in terms of the base educational level which may also raise the overall respect for the profession. To illustrate this, take this example.

Jim has a high school diploma and is now a manager at McDonalds. He is clean, well groomed and very polite and professional in his manner at work.

Ed is an engineer with a university degree. He tends to dress in wrinkled shirts, has a bit of an odor problem and his interpersonal skills need some work.

Who would be more likely to be called a professional? And on what basis? Education.

A university degree carries respect regardless of what you actually learned. By making the BScN the minimum we could promote unity and decrease the internal bickering this issue causes. I'm not saying kick out everyone who doesn't have a BScN but work on the next group coming in.

All this is a moot point however. With the nursing environment as it is we need everyone who is a nurse. Sweeping changes that will decrease the number of new nurses, which upping the educational standard to BScN would, will not happen. Not now and probably not for awhile.

Cheers,

J-P