BSN requirement question

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Currenty doing the two year ADN program at my campus. Buddy of mine who goes to a different campus working to become a doctor mentioned to me that the nursing board here in WA has recently made it a requirement to have a BSN only to be a Nurse. I haven't seen anything stating this from searching and told him to forward me this information. I'm sure I would of heard this from the Nursing advisor at my campus.

I know I will regardless have to get my BSN and plan on continuing so after finishing up my ADN and becoming certified etc. I just wanted to see if anyone has heard of this or is it just rumors?

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Specializes in NICU.

If that were true, then all of the ASN nursing programs would have to change their programs to BSN. It would be all over the news and all of the ASN nurses would be out of a job.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

It is not the BON requiring the BSN, but rather the employers. Magnet has jumped on the IOM report that recommended 80% of nurses have a BSN by 2020 and made it a new requirement. In areas where new grads far outnumber the open positions, it is not uncommon to see BSN preferred or BSN required in the job posting- it's one way to weed out the number of applicants.

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It is not the BON requiring the BSN, but rather the employers. Magnet has jumped on the IOM report that recommended 80% of nurses have a BSN by 2020 and made it a new requirement. In areas where new grads far outnumber the open positions, it is not uncommon to see BSN preferred or BSN required in the job posting- it's one way to weed out the number of applicants.

It's my understanding that, aside from requiring managers to have a bachelors degree in nursing, there is no mandate from the ANCC regarding percentage of staff nurses with a bachelors degree in nursing. I've searched and have been unable to find this anywhere. Do you have a source for this?

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
It's my understanding that, aside from requiring managers to have a bachelors degree in nursing, there is no mandate from the ANCC regarding percentage of staff nurses with a bachelors degree in nursing. I've searched and have been unable to find this anywhere. Do you have a source for this?

That was my understanding as well, but now my facility's management has been sending out emails about having to have a plan to reach the goal for Magnet recertification.

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Well good too know. I figured that would be the case and that is kinda troubling hearing about the 'BSN' requirement for hires. that 2020 is around the time I should be an RN (If all things plan out correctly).

And if thats the case then I will find myself without a job. Definitely discouraging to hear this but we shall see. Thanks for the replies though.

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That was my understanding as well, but now my facility's management has been sending out emails about having to have a plan to reach the goal for Magnet recertification.

This keeps coming up on different threads. Unless something has changed v. recently (because I researched this within the last couple months or so for another thread), the ANCC has no requirement regarding percentages of BSN-prepared nurses for Magnet designation. The Magnet standards require that hospitals have policies and procedures that show a commitment to promoting and supporting ongoing professional growth of the nursing staff (I'm paraphrasing here; that's not a direct quote). The ANCC doesn't specify how hospitals do that. Because the IOM report and recommendations have gotten so much publicity, many hospitals have jumped on that bandwagon and made the "80% BSN" their goal -- but that is the individual hospital's choice, not a Magnet requirement. Hospitals could just as easily set as their goal that 75% of their staff nurses will be certified in their specialty. Or that every nurse is going to attend a professional conference each year. Or whatever. The Magnet program only specifies the general goal re: supporting and promoting professional growth (again, I'm paraphrasing). The individual hospital comes up with its own specifics.

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