BSN minimum requirement

[Lburns]

It is my firm belief that the minimum requirement for nursing should be a BSN. We want to be accepted as a profession, yet we allow 2 year programs to dominate the field. Now I went to a 2 year program and will be finishing my BSN this semester. My school did a great job preparing me for "tasks" of nursing, but oh, it is so much more than that. Many other countries have moved or are moving towards 4yr degree minimums and the US needs to stay atop in this competative field. The nursing shortage will not always be here and it is to your advantage to get your degree now. The 2 yr programs will make a great footstep in the years to come, but the 4yr degree will become the RNs of the future. As nurses move into the 21st century we need to pull together to demonstrate our power as a profession, the only way to do this is to have strong, educated nurses in not just bedside tasks but critically thinking, politics, research and community health. Think about it, comments welcome.

[Lburns]

Originally posted by ajohnson:

"...critically thinking..."? what does that mean? With your BSN, you had to take some grammar and English and you know the phrase is "critical thinking." I had a pretty strong reaction to you attitude, but I see you were responded to with a great deal of enthusiasm by a great many nurses. I, too, am an ADN, and I'm good at what I do. I don't care if you're a LVN, CNA, ADN, BSN, or MSN, we're all in it together. divisiveness is not the answer to any working problem. Why would you want to do that? School is school, academics are just that, and many many people have college degrees with little or no common sense to secure their intelligence to practicality. You must know that by being alive in the world. Personally, I'll take all the help I can get without assuming that a degree is a measure of the human involved. Your compassion seems to be aimed toward your ego and not toward the mammoth problems that are coming. Compassion is what's required for the patient and the nurse, even if she/he is a lousy ADN...

I unfortunately didn't catch the mistake until I posted the message. It just goes to show that there is no such thing as too much proof reading. However, I would love the division to end and that is exactly what I am proposing. Academics are far more important than you give credit to, especially in specialty and professional areas. I never suggested that a degree gives a human their measure of worth and no degree instills common sense. The struggle over who is the better nurse is not the topic of discussion. There are many caregivers without any initials out there that are giving excellent care. My goal is to increase the level of nurses in the eyes of the community and hospitals; to set a baseline that forces the powers that be that we are a united group serving all people and along with that deserve fair wages, benefits and VOICES in the medical community/decision and policy making. There are great nurses in every arena of health care and that will not change by raising the academic scale. As a side note, compassion is something that cannot be taught and must be inherent in the nurse and if a nurse is lousy, be s/he ADN or BSN, s/he should find another career.

[Lburns]

Originally posted by ajohnson:

"...critically thinking..."? what does that mean? With your BSN, you had to take some grammar and English and you know the phrase is "critical thinking." I had a pretty strong reaction to you attitude, but I see you were responded to with a great deal of enthusiasm by a great many nurses. I, too, am an ADN, and I'm good at what I do. I don't care if you're a LVN, CNA, ADN, BSN, or MSN, we're all in it together. divisiveness is not the answer to any working problem. Why would you want to do that? School is school, academics are just that, and many many people have college degrees with little or no common sense to secure their intelligence to practicality. You must know that by being alive in the world. Personally, I'll take all the help I can get without assuming that a degree is a measure of the human involved. Your compassion seems to be aimed toward your ego and not toward the mammoth problems that are coming. Compassion is what's required for the patient and the nurse, even if she/he is a lousy ADN...

I unfortunately didn't catch the mistake until I posted the message. It just goes to show that there is no such thing as too much proof reading. However, I would love the division to end and that is exactly what I am proposing. Academics are far more important than you give credit to, especially in specialty and professional areas. I never suggested that a degree gives a human their measure of worth and no degree instills common sense. The struggle over who is the better nurse is not the topic of discussion. There are many caregivers without any initials out there that are giving excellent care. My goal is to increase the level of nurses in the eyes of the community and hospitals; to set a baseline that forces the powers that be that we are a united group serving all people and along with that deserve fair wages, benefits and VOICES in the medical community/decision and policy making. There are great nurses in every arena of health care and that will not change by raising the academic scale. As a side note, compassion is something that cannot be taught and must be inherent in the nurse and if a nurse is lousy, be s/he ADN or BSN, s/he should find another career.