BSN vs ASN

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From what you have witnessed, are RN BSNs any better than RN ASNs in terms of skill, knowledge, etc?

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No. When my dad was doing cancer treatments all of the nurses were great and if one of them hadn't mentioned having an ASN I couldn't have told you who had what degree. The biggest difference between a BSN and ASN, as far as I know, is the amount of theory/research/management courses and the gen ed. classes.

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Anecdote is not the singular of data. For data, you go to the studies that show a considerable overlap in proficiency with psychomotor performance (what many students think are "skills" but are really just tasks that everyone masters in the first year of practice) over all levels of primary nursing education in the first year of practice. After that, the BSN grads as a group pull ahead in measures of competence, including fewer errors, broader critical thinking, and other measures of more education they can bring to bear in any work situation. Of course there will always be crusty old LPNs who will anecdotally save the resident's butt some dark and rainy night, and BSNs who can't tell their own butt from a hole in the ground. But from my personal experience, for every one of those I will see your numbers and raise you a number of appalling errors made by people with less education because they simply didn't know how to think any better.

So if you are a student and looking at nurses in your clinical area, you may not be able to tell the difference, but you have an extremely limited perspective. If you are wondering how to get your own professional education, take an example from other real professions: go for the BSN from the get-go, save time, and be ahead of the ASN new grads when you go to get work.

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Specializes in NICU.

Hold on while I open a "can of worms" :no:

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

As new grads, our facility prefers BSN's because they have had a longer time to identify as a nurse and seem to ajust to their new role faster. After a few short years the only way I have of telling them apart, and there are always exceptions, but the BSN nurses seem to understand the need to continue their professional growth. A lot of the ADN nurses "settle" for status quo. Just saying from my own experience with staff >20 years. As always, it is probably not a good idea to generalize too much.

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As someone who researched BSN vs ADN in my area, the ADN program had a much better reputation, and hospitals were more likely to hire grads from it than they were from the BSN program. It turns out that the ADN program had a higher nclex pass rate, required more hours of hands on clinical time, and stricter guidelines for passing each semester. I chose the ADN program because of this, when encountering people in healthcare who inquire about the school I go to, the reputation reaches beyond even my community and into the nearest large city. I do not believe all nursing programs are created equal, and if you are planning to work locally, looking into what hospitals think about graduates of local nursing programs would be beneficial.

Now I can say that in my ADN program from day one we have been strongly encouraged to continue our education, most of my nursing class plans to go straight into a RN-BSN program.

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Specializes in Hematology/Oncology.
As someone who researched BSN vs ADN in my area, the ADN program had a much better reputation, and hospitals were more likely to hire grads from it than they were from the BSN program. It turns out that the ADN program had a higher nclex pass rate, required more hours of hands on clinical time, and stricter guidelines for passing each semester. I chose the ADN program because of this, when encountering people in healthcare who inquire about the school I go to, the reputation reaches beyond even my community and into the nearest large city. I do not believe all nursing programs are created equal, and if you are planning to work locally, looking into what hospitals think about graduates of local nursing programs would be beneficial.

Now I can say that in my ADN program from day one we have been strongly encouraged to continue our education, most of my nursing class plans to go straight into a RN-BSN program.

Well I guess where I come from, ADNs are not being hired in major city hospitals anymore and being replaced by BSNs.

Generally speaking in regards of BSN vs ADNs studies have shown that there are less accidents and nurse sensitive problems with more BSNs on the unit.Nationally, BSNs have a higher pass rate for the NCLEX than ADNs.

OP just go for your BSN.

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Specializes in Hematology/Oncology.
No. When my dad was doing cancer treatments all of the nurses were great and if one of them hadn't mentioned having an ASN I couldn't have told you who had what degree. The biggest difference between a BSN and ASN, as far as I know, is the amount of theory/research/management courses and the gen ed. classes.

While I will always pick BSN over ADN(Due to the fact about research, knowing research utilization, Bachelors degree, etc). History and economics will not help you become a better bedside nurse.

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While I will always pick BSN over ADN(Due to the fact about research, knowing research utilization, Bachelors degree, etc). History and economics will not help you become a better bedside nurse.

Yes it can help you become a better bedside nurse. Those types of classes have completely changed my entire prospective and changed how I interpret/interact in the world- especially history classes and soc classes that go into depth about the inequalities that the world has/is still facing today. I value my education, and ALL of the classes that I have taken has helped me become a better bedside nurse and a better patient advocate.

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Specializes in Hematology/Oncology.
Yes it can help you become a better bedside nurse. Those types of classes have completely changed my entire prospective and changed how I interpret/interact in the world- especially history classes and soc classes that go into depth about the inequalities that the world has/is still facing today. I value my education, and ALL of the classes that I have taken has helped me become a better bedside nurse and a better patient advocate.

Maybe I feel that way because I grew up in a multicultural community ans this information has been fed to me my entire life.

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Maybe I feel that way because I grew up in a multicultural community ans this information has been fed to me my entire life.

But you can't just discount non-nursing courses, there is something to learn from them all that helps your bedside nursing practice regardless of your background; education is what you make it.

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Specializes in ER.

In my experience, it is the school that makes a bigger difference than whether it is a BSN or an ADN. However, when it comes to hiring, hospitals prefer BSNs because many of them drool over the thought of becoming magnet status or they also like the fact that they won't have to worry about scheduling issues or paying for the ADN to go back and get a BSN. My particular hospital will not pay for MSN programs anymore but the other hospitals in the company will. I think it is a budget issue.

I just graduated from an ADN program and our standards were higher than the other BSN schools. We also have a higher pass rate on the NCLEX because of it and our graduates are preferred. I have had 2 job offers before I even walked at graduation.

As for courses like history, either people had a sheltered high school education or they didn't pay attention enough. Although to be fair I attended a university and just took the bare minimum high schools in order to be ranked and to be considered a full-time high school student so my mom could still get benefits. Most of my classes were AP. I do support classes like requiring a language class like Spanish. In all honesty, I think a language class would beneficial to most students however very few list it as an option in their BSN programs unless they would accept it in place of another requirement like history. I encourage everyone to learn a little bit of Spanish or any other language they are interested in.

I think the biggest benefit of having taking an AP history class in high school was when I was initially accepted into another university. Basically I wrote that I would love to time travel to see Andrew Jackson's inauguration party. The topic was along the lines of if you could time travel, what person or event would you want to see. My other essay was about how I thought the toaster oven was one of the most important inventions in the last fifty years.

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