Difference between BSN and ADN

ellaballet · Oct 12, 2013

I live in Boston and most of the hospitals only hire BSN. I'm a tech at a LTACH outside of the city that has continued to hire ADNs - but now only if they're enrolled or planning on enrolling in a BSN program within a year. It all depends on where you live and where you want to work, I know the new grad BSNs and the new grad ADNs get the same pay at my work though!

THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN · Oct 12, 2013

Depends on where you live. In Nevada the ADN nurses from my school are preferred BUT leave nothing to luck. Work hard, network and try to at least get a per diem job in a hospital if that's where you want to be. There are plenty of sources correlating higher levels of education with better patient outcomes, HOWEVER remember from statistics that correlation is not the same as causation.

Also, I am kind of anti private schools simply bc of the outrageous tuition costs. But if you are okay with that then I see no reason for you to worry. You will be making enough to pay your loans off in a timely manner.

Good luck!

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Oct 12, 2013

I live in an area where basically most of the nursing programs are the same; ADN or BSN; however, the BSN program had more opinions in terms of clinicals; there were electives for peri-OP nursing, as well as a public health clinic class separate, allowing for a public health setting and was allowed to be involved with a NIH-approved program and teach family and children about their chronic diseases, and a host of other experiences that were a great fit for me.

ADN programs are similar in time as BSN programs; pre-requisites are at least 2 years to complete prior to starting the major nursing courses.

Depending on your area, there is preference for BSN nurses to be hired before ADNs, especially when there are more BSN programs than ADN or Diploma programs; now that there are more BSN programs in my area, I see that as a trend of "BSN preferred" as a permanent occurrence.

Your best bet if you are already in a program taking nursing courses; make sure it's accredited by ANCC and ACEN (the accreditation bodies for nursing programs) and plan to bridge immediately after graduation and licensure; you never know where your nursing career may take you; it's best to be flexible in an employer's market. :yes:

hermione77 · Oct 13, 2013

Totally depends on where you live, from what I can tell. In my area of the country there isn't a hiring preference for the most part and pay is really similar.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Oct 14, 2013

Think beyond the bedside. Not to do so is a common shortcoming in many students. It's completely understandable, because all they see in clinical is patient care at the bedside, and you probably also hear snarky remarks about BSN and MN nurses who left the bedside as if that were some sort of failure to care about what's really important. However, you have a long working life ahead of you.

This is one of the most contentious issues in nursing: the level of education needed for a profession. As many of the NN'rs know, I come down squarely on the side of a BS in Nursing or BSN as entry-level educational preparation. When I had smaller kids and they asked me a question, I always asked them, "Do you want the short answer or the long one?" Since I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times they ever said, "Short" and still have enough left over for the Boy Scout salute, here it is again.

(Disclaimer: Have worked as a staff nurse in several settings, inservice/staff development, instructor, NCLEX prep course instructor, case manager in multiple settings, and other stuff too numerous to mention. In short, been around, seen that, done that.)

What's a profession? Is nursing a profession? What's the basic educational prep for people you think of as professionals? Would you want your chemistry research done by someone with an associate degree? Your child taught high school math or English? Your income tax advising? Sure, there are good people with lower level education who succeed in life, but don't let that "we all have the same license and sit for the same exam" fool you. Better education makes you better at what you do. There are any number of people who can give you examples of BSNs or MNs who don't know how to take a rectal temp (why does everyone focus on that and bedpans when they think of nursing, anyway?) and marvelous crusty old LPNs who saved the resident's butt one dark and stormy night, but for every single one of those I will see your anecdote and raise you half a dozen godawful errors made by nurses who didn't take the coursework and didn't get exposed to the idea of autonomy in school.

Time: The bachelor's degree takes four years. The associate's degree (AS or ASN) takes ... three and a half, once you count all the prerequisites you're going to have to take before they admit you into the nursing program. And those who say you can work on your BSN while you are working as an RN with an AS don't tell you (and maybe don't know, to be charitable) that some of your course hours from the AS program are not transferrable, so it won't just be a matter of a semester or two or three. AND working as a nurse is HARD, almost as hard as nursing school ... think you'll have the mental, physical, social, and financial energy for more education at the same time? Oh, and in most jurisdictions you can't sit for the LPN exam and work as one while partway thru a AS or BSN program anymore, either.

And "there are only a few differences, just a leadership course and a research course, I don't need that." Well, if hospitals are hiring more BSNs than anything else, and making up the staff with unlicensed personnel. you'd better have some theory at least in management, because you'll be managing every day even if you aren't a charge nurse. And evidence-based practice gets more important every year in this health care milieu, so you'd better be able to recognise the difference between good and bad "research."

Job opportunities: Although the old a-nurse-is-a-nurse-is-a-nurse attitude is fortunately fading away, at entry level for new grads, about the same, and I realize that people who are just starting out have a very incomplete idea of what it means to be a nurse. However, look around the place and see who's working. Are you planning to be older some day? Do you see older nurses working in those entry-level staff or charge positions? If not, where did they all go? Why do you care? Well, suppose you work on a general medical floor and get entranced by cardiac rehabilitation after following a patient who did it. A job comes up in the department, hooray! Oops, BSN only. Or you find your heart drawn to helping underserved women in a public health clinic for high-risk pregnancy. Sorry, BSN only in public health. After five or six years as a staff nurse you have become a resource to new hires and your peers and you realize you have a gift for teaching. You see that a position in staff development has come open, and you are first in line at HR to apply. You got it.... BSN is the minimum. School nursing? BSN. Hurt your back and want to go for a job in case management? BSN. You discover you have a gift for asking, "Why do we do it this way?" and are amazed to find you want to look into jobs in management or nursing research.....BSN minimum. And if you look at the regular old want ads for nurses in the paper, you will see more and more and more of them say "BSN preferred/ required." And if BSN is becoming "preferred/required," then exactly how is getting the BSN later going to help you now? You are starting to get the picture now. Also, many, many practice settings give you a differential for BSN. No, I know, not all, but hey. One more factor.

Growth: The questions in the licensure exams (NCLEX) are developed from errors made in the first year of practice by new grads, and regardless of pass rates from different level programs, anyone in practice can confirm the research: In the first year of work all new grads perform at about the same level as they get their feet under them and get used to the idea of working as an RN. But after that year, the BSNs pull ahead in ways that are related to their higher level of education. Why? Because what we call in the ed biz "psychomotor skills," the things you do with your hands, can be done by anyone with enough practice. Hell, we teach lay people how to do peritoneal dialysis at home or suction tracheostomies. But the understanding of WHY some things are as they are is something you get in better education: more science, more sociology, more psychology, more history, a basic statistics class, exposure to more clinical settings (I doubt if you'll get a full semester in peds, psych, OB, or any public health at all in any AS program) give you the insight to ask better questions and make better decisions.

Well, I hear you about the challenges of getting into and staying in nursing school. But if you really want to be a NURSE, don't you want to find yourself in the camp of folks who are grateful they learned more, rather than the ones who find they had to for advancement or competence and wish they'd done it in the first place?

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Oct 15, 2013

^ Whoot! GrnTea!!!

Love when you post this... :yes:

My favorite post from you :inlove:

samsonite_mary · Oct 16, 2013

I was trying to decide this for myself recently. What I found is that in most areas (at least in my state), most hospitals will hire both, and the pay for the first couple of years is just about identical (with BSNs making maybe 500-1000 more each year). The real difference I have found is in opportunity for growth. If you are going to want to advance in rank, or go into a specialty, I have found that most hospitals look for the BSN over the ADN. That seems to be the general consensus everywhere I've looked. So really, it depends on what your career goals are, and of course, your location. Also, the difference in pay seems to come once you're hitting around the 5 year mark, with BSNs making a decidedly larger income than ADNs (in some hospitals in my state, the difference is between 5 and 8,000/year!).

I would advise doing the same thing I did--sit down and figure out what you want from your nursing career right now, and what you think you MAY want down the line. If there is even a slight chance that you will want to advance, I would advise completing the BSN now. You CAN always go back and do the RN to BSN track later on down the line, but in the end, that will actually cost more money and time, whereas if you complete the BSN track now, you get it all done with in one fell swoop.

I hope this helps! These were all the things I took into consideration and decided on the BSN track. It was a little daunting for me at first, realizing that I had 3.5 years of school ahead of me instead of 2 (which allllllmost made me decide on the ADN track, mostly because I actually already have a Bachelor's degree I finished in 2007, and the idea of 3.5 MORE years of school was kind of a turn off), but I'm really glad I chose the path I chose. It will be more work on the front end, but the payoff is great down the line!

HelloWish, ADN, BSN · Oct 16, 2013

I chose an ADN program to begin with, because the situation works out better for me. However, I am also bridging to a BSN directly following the ADN and hope to get some tuition reimbursement while working toward my BSN. My ADN program is in a much more convenient location with clinicals at local hospitals where I may actually work one day. The BSN alternative has clinical locations over and hour away from my home. Also the university BSN programs in my area require a nearly 4.0 GPA that I wouldn't be able to obtain due to a few C's in college days some 15-20 years ago.

I already have and associates degree, however I chose the ADN route because I will be able to reduce my commute by at least an hour as well as work at hospitals nearer to my home. Fortunately, the ADN program I am applying to bridges into a BSN program and the time difference in both is small. Also, the cost will be greatly reduced for me to go through an ADN program.

If I felt I could save time and money by going the BSN route, I would do that. However, ultimately I think it is important to obtain the BSN!

Friskee, BSN, MSN · Oct 17, 2013

ADNs are clinical and hospital only oriented. BSNs are trained in management and community health. With Obamacare coming up only the sickest of the sick will be admitted and community nursing is growing. Hospitals want the BSNs to also help them achieve magnet status which has to do with funding. The ANA also is trying to get rid of LPNs and ADNs because they say that if a BSN is not entrance level than nursing still cannot be considered a profession. So there is a huge push for people to get the higher degrees. I honestly say that within 5 years it will be super hard to get an ADN job. I just learned all of this in my professional nursing class.

THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN · Oct 17, 2013

Uhhhh my program includes both specialty clinicals, community health nursing and management. If I could've done a BSN program, I would've. But, if BSN programs met everyone's needs then there would be no ADN programs in business.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Oct 17, 2013

ADNs are clinical and hospital only oriented. BSNs are trained in management and community health. With Obamacare coming up only the sickest of the sick will be admitted and community nursing is growing. Hospitals want the BSNs to also help them achieve magnet status which has to do with funding. The ANA also is trying to get rid of LPNs and ADNs because they say that if a BSN is not entrance level than nursing still cannot be considered a profession. So there is a huge push for people to get the higher degrees. I honestly say that within 5 years it will be super hard to get an ADN job. I just learned all of this in my professional nursing class.

I have point out that you post has NO basis in fact. :no:

Nursing IS a profession that wasn't a doubt; the BSN is to ensure there are enough people to continue To advance and evolve our profession for generations to come at the beside level, especially with the new influx of technology and research for genetic and chronic diseases; as well as providing wholistic care for patients with multiple health issues, as well as meeting Healthy People 2020 goals more effectively.

There is only a RECOMMENDATION; and it's was by the IOM, NOT the ANA; and these orgs are not a regulating body.

LPNs and ADNs are always going to have a place; most LPNs have always worked in the community; if anything there will be MORE nurses needed in community settings; to eliminate ADNs and LPNs will be a critical error.

And I learned this in my BSN program, last year as well as my LPN program 8 years ago.

There is a place for each nurse on the scope; it's dependent on the communities they serve. :yes: