Glutton for Punishment?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Preface: Sorry this is so long, summary at the bottom.

So I got into an argument with these two women about the fact that there is absolutely no law on the books about BSNs being required by 2020 (also including LVNs being phased out of hospitals). I told them I've been an nurse for 7 years & have heard that since I started. The first woman told me that she was told this by an advisor at her daughter's school, who is a nurse with advanced degrees. I told the first woman that the advisor shouldn't be spreading such lies without documentation to back up what she is saying. I was also shocked that someone with an advanced degree would say something like that with no proof.

Needless to say the second woman got pissed off too & jumped in on the bandwagon. I asked both women several times for proof of the 2020 rule/law but never received anything. I did get shown an op/ed piece from the second woman but now law stating LVNs would be allowed to work in hospitals & all RNs would be forced to get their BSNs.

Both woman continued to bash LVNs & talk about how this nurse new more about this "law" than me. How LVNs kill more people in acute care & how unsafe they are. Did I mention that neither women are nurses! LOL!

I provided them with proof that LVNs are still being hired into hospital positions in the state of Texas as well as ADN grads. I tried to explain to both of the women that it isn't a law but up to the hospital if they want to hire LVNs, ADNs or BSNs. But according to those to, in 2.5 years all the LVNs & ADNs working in hospitals will be SOL & out of jobs.

Do they know something we all don't? I asked for proof over & over. Where is this magical law that states LVNs can't work in hospitals & RNs *must* be BSN prepared to work in hospitals by 2020? I figured you guys could lead me to the law since those two couldn't.

i guess I just like beating my head against a wall for funsies. Because that's what it was like. No matter how I tried explaining to them, it could've been in any language, they didn't believe me. Probably because I'm "just an LVN". But because an RN with a BSN & MSN told them, it *has* to be true.

It just blows my mind that 2 "educated" people can't realize that after a simple Google search what that nurse said wasn't true. Just because someone says something, doesn't make it a fact.

TL;DR: Two women said the BSN by 2020 was a law (also LVNs being phased out of hospitals), I tried to show them otherwise. They didn't believe me because they were told so by an RN & I'm "just an LVN". Neither women are nurses nor could they show me any proof of said law while I showed them proof of LVNs & ADNs being hired in TX hospitals.

Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
No, there is no *law* stating BSNs are the standard of entry for RNs. However, there is a strong "recommendation" from the Institute of Medicine to have 80% of RNs have BSNs by 2020, especially for hospitals seeking magnet status.

Magnet FAQ's | UC Davis Nursing

As for LVNs, in my area, LVNs have already been pushed out of acute care for the most part, but that is because the area is saturated with so many RN schools and every hospital in my neck of the woods wants to go magnet. In other places where there is more of a need, LVNs remain strong. Unfortunately, that isn't the case everywhere.

Yeah, I showed them that. That it is *reccomended* but that it is not a *law*. But they still heldfast to the belief that LVNs will be phased out of hospitals everywhere & RNs will be 100% required to have their BSN by 2020. I guess they just didn't want to believe that an LVN could be right over an RN-MSN. *gasp*

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Because IT'S THE LAW!!! *eyeroll* I mean, really? I've heard that forever too ... we are nowhere close to coming together to even decide such a thing!

Lol. I know, I told them it's been going on since before I was a nurse & even before I was alive! I can't tell you how many times I rolled my eyes. I can't believe they're still in my head! I told them if we can't get decent patient ratios, how the hell are we gonna get 100% RN-BSNs by 2020??!

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Contradictory information on nursing employment prospects is rampant. For every legitimate news source reporting a dire nursing shortage there's another one reporting such saturation that it's near impossible to find work. I've been hearing for years about LPN's being "phased out" and BSN becoming the entry level degree for RN's. Now in areas that truly have a saturated job market this might very well be the case, at least in acute care. But there are also areas where a nursing shortage truly does exist and finding a job regardless of degree is as easy as applying for one. Employment prospects are so geographically linked it's impossible to report either a shortage or saturation as a nationwide issue.

That's why I was trying to clear up the confusion. But apparently the advisor was an MSN prepared nurse (I never had an advisor who was a nurse but maybe she was). So for me to try to tell these immature "women" that this RN with an MSN was wrong when I'm "just a lowly LVN" was earth shattering for them.

But of course, I remain professional & what do they do? The start smearing LVNs & me. Because they don't have a leg to stand on. But *I'm* the immature one & the one who started all the drama even though I never once cursed at anyone or demeaned anyone's profession.

Both these "women" are old enough to be my *mother* but don't have enough maturity to admit when they're wrong or enough class to back down & not act like a teenager in high school. One of them is actually applying to nursing school so, YIKES! >.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

I've long since given up trying to educate stupid people. For most, stupid is a choice and they've staunchly chosen it. "Oh, they're going to phase me out soon? Guess I'll have to look for a nice job selling shoes someplace. Thanks for the heads up." End of useless conversation.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
I've long since given up trying to educate stupid people. For most, stupid is a choice and they've staunchly chosen it. "Oh, they're going to phase me out soon? Guess I'll have to look for a nice job selling shoes someplace. Thanks for the heads up." End of useless conversation.

Lol! I didn't know it would turn into a debate like that but it was my fault for staying in it. I like to clear up misconceptions in nursing but I feel I have no leverage being "just an LVN" or maybe it's just stupidity. People will believe whatever they want to believe. Even if I was an RN, she would still have a higher education than me. No matter what I can't win. Ignorance is a killer.

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Specializes in OB.

Uh, have you noticed who's in the freaking White House??? Facts officially don't matter.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Uh, have you noticed who's in the freaking White House??? Facts officially don't matter.

Omg! LMAO! You win the Internet for today! I wish I could like your post more than once.

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Sometimes I wonder if there is a social class angle to this.

Nursing seems to becoming a gentrified neighborhood. Think of a lot of the original residents of the nursing neighborhood as the LVNs and the ADNs who went to community college and a lot of them are from working class backgrounds.

The new people moving in come from a few rungs higher on the social scale, and 4 year college educations come standard. Higher education, advanced practice become commonplace, and there is a culture clash of what nursing is and who belongs.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
Lol! I didn't know it would turn into a debate like that but it was my fault for staying in it. I like to clear up misconceptions in nursing but I feel I have no leverage being "just an LVN" or maybe it's just stupidity. People will believe whatever they want to believe. Even if I was an RN, she would still have a higher education than me. No matter what I can't win. Ignorance is a killer.

There are just some very misguided people out there that believe the degree is the only important measure of education. I've worked with LPN's that have more practical knowledge than most RN's, I've had the privilege of working with a few diploma RN's and boy was that a thorough education! They could run circles around just about anybody. It's just not worth letting some fool get under your skin that thinks just because the information came from an MSN level nurse that it must be right. I for one really don't feel the need to get a PhD just to prove I must be more right than the MSN nurse.

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Idk. With those types of people I like to say, "Oh ok" and move along. And no, pretty sure that's not a law, seeing as my employer is absolutely fine with me not having my BSN by 2020 and also seeing as my employer is still hiring LPNs (it's a hospital by the way).

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Oh, OC. You do love yourself a good pissing contest, lol.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

The DSM definition of a delusion is "a firm, fixed belief in spite of evidence to the contrary".

The People you were dealing with were delusional, OrganizedChaos.

They're out there. And they haven't been formally diagnosed.

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