Diploma Program vs Associates Degree

[shannonyocum]

Does anyone have any advise on these two types of Nursing Schools. Will many hospitals hire R.N 's who graduated with a Diploma instead of a degree?

[RunBabyRN]

There are a zillion threads on this- peruse the forum.

Ultimately, it comes down to the market where you are.

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

Good day:

There is a diploma-based nursing school in our geographic area (Reading Hospital School of Health and Nursing Sciences); and there are jobs for nurses with diploma-based RN's. That stated, there continues to be a greater and greater push to have a BSN. In terms of my own decision making process I ended up picking a school that has both a AD and BSN program (when you are accepted into the AD program, they automatically enroll you in the BSN program so you can continue) because more credits will transfer. My own concern over a diploma based program is that when you make the journey to BSN, the journey might be longer than if you had your associate degree.

I recommend doing some homework as to how getting a BSN from the diploma-based school(s) you are looking into might work as compared to any AD-based schools in your area.

Thank you.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

There are far fewer diploma schools than there used to be decades ago. When I was a student there were probably 3-4 (maybe more) high quality hospital based programs in Chicago. Now there is one one in the entire state.

There are so few diploma grads now that it's rare to see diploma grad listed on a job posting, but go ahead & apply for anything requiring an ADN. I would have no problem hiring a qualified diploma grad, but since the BSN is moving towards being essential, you need to consider the differences in what transfers toward the BSN.

[shannonyocum]

Thank you for the replies. It really encourages me when people give me information I'm seeking. :)

[s2bLuluRN]

I asked my advisor this exact question. Here in Tennessee more hospitals are requiring a degree and even let go and stopped hiring LPN's all together. Vanderbilt advised their current RN's to get the degree and are paying 80% for them. I would love to get this done in two years, however, I also don't want to waste my time. My best friend just graduated LPN school and the hospital she works at as a monitor tech will not hire LPN's, so she is forced to go to a nursing home type of job.