Fashionable Degree

[javagirl]

Hi :

I also posted this in the student nurses forum, but I'm putting it here too because the 3 programs I refer to are all in NYC: Columbia, Pace, NYU.

There are a some of accelerated BSN-MSN programs. Two of them have the students transit to the MSN portion of the program after only a few months of hospital or clinical experience. This seems quite alarming to me.

Any thoughts on this? Any students or graduates of such a program? Was the education thorough? It's like bedside nursing is a dirty word so they try to pass over that career phase as quickly as possible to grow a Nurse Practitioner.

These programs are attractive and have a very polished sell when you visit them but I'm wondering about the value of such a program so I'd appreciate any input.

Thanks.

Javagirl, a coffee drinker, not a java programmer.

[275Main]

I think that the idea of a direct entry MSN program is that there is the belief that for a lot of students that have already achieved a BA or BS that they want a Masters degree next rather than soley another BSN. I know that when I applied to a couple of direct entry programs I met a lot of people like that and some who really want to be advanced practice nurses. I thought that I wanted the direct entry program at first until I read the fine print in my prefered masters program, that if I wanted to switch areas of concentration after the undergrad part, it was not a possibility. So I chose the accelerated BSN so I can make sure that this is the area of nursing I want to do. I also did not want the huge debt that would come from the direct entry msn. I do not think that these programs decrease the amount of knowledge that you will aquire, but if this is the way that you want to go I would ask if you can take a year off between the NCLEX and the masters area to work and get experience, or work part time while getting your masters. Also know that there are a lot of people in traditional BSN programs who go straight into the MSN. If this is what you want to do then go for it.