Is your hospital requiring BSN or higher?

[aballard2318]

Hello all, I am currently a fourth semester student in my local college's ADN program set to graduate in December. As of now, the hospital I am applying for still accepts associate degree new grads to work there, however, the hospitals in the bigger surrounding cities are starting to require BSN to work as an RN. Have the hospitals that you work at made the switch to requiring BSN or higher to work as an RN? If so, did they compensate you for this change and how long did they give you to finish your bachelors?

Thank you in advance for your responses!

[mindofmidwifery, ADN]

The hospital I'm working at and plan on working at as a nurse is a magnet hospital and hires ADN nurses, they just require that you obtain your BSN within 5 years. I believe this holds true with all the hospital systems in my city.

[lehaley1989, ADN, RN]

I'm in a small city. The hospitals in my area prefer nurses to have their BSN, but will hire ADN nurses who are planning to complete their BSN. I believe they give new hires somewhere around 4-5 years to complete it, and they all have pretty solid tuition reimbursement programs. Might be a good thing to ask about during your interview.

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

It depends how competitive the hospital is for jobs. Most of them aren't going to turn down ADN applicants while having over 200 unfilled RN job postings. But if there's too high of a demand for jobs either on a specific unit or the whole hospital, your degree is one of the ways they can limit applications. This applies to anywhere. It's caused people with 30 years experience working in IT to have to return to school because of not having a bachelor's in computer science after a layoff. Typically cities are going to be more strict at hiring for any job because cities commonly pay higher.

Also, talk to nurses, they've been hearing that everyone has to have a BSN for years, just like how every NP is going to have to have a doctorate.

But then some hospitals they'll hire you with an ADN and you can work there for life never having to go back to school.

They all have their own rules for hiring.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

The answer to this frequently asked question is that it is entirely dependent upon geographical location.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

The answer to this frequently asked question is that it is entirely dependent upon geographical location.

Precisely!

case in point: Indianapolis was all gung-ho 'everyone needs a BSN' about 5-6 years ago. In the past six months, ALL major systems had dropped their 'must have BSN in 3 years' hiring requirement. I attend Senior Day at the community college for their ADN grads. Last time around, every single one of them had jobs pre-graduation.

[llg, PhD, RN]

At my hospital, an ADN can only get hired if they are already enrolled in a BSN. Must finish within 3 years of hire. An exception is made for a few positions in very hard-to-fill deparments for ADNs with several years of relevant experience.

There is no increase in pay for having a BSN, but we do offer good tuition reimbursement after 6 months of employment.