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.

Don't you just love how people that aren't nurses know more about nursing careers than an actual nurse?! I know people like that who hear one little comment or read an article and think that it is "fact". It's very frustrating. But I definitely get that you were trying to educate them and get them to stop believing something that isn't true. Sounds like are a couple of uppity know-it-alls, to me.

Specializes in DHSc, PA-C.

It's just a matter of time before degree creep takes over everything. To be an MA you'll need an associates, LVN bachelors, RN masters and NP doctorate. Then in 100 years basically everyone with a college degree with be called doctor. Dr. Mail Man, Dr. Grocery Bagger, Dr. Medical Assistant....

Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Don't you just love how people that aren't nurses know more about nursing careers than an actual nurse?! I know people like that who hear one little comment or read an article and think that it is "fact". It's very frustrating. But I definitely get that you were trying to educate them and get them to stop believing something that isn't true. Sounds like are a couple of uppity know-it-alls, to me.

Yes, lay people who think they know everything about nursing get under my skin. I don't pretend I'm the best nurse ever, because I know I'm not. It doesn't matter how long I've been a nurse, I'll always have something to learn. I also don't pretend to know anything about any other profession because I don't! I didn't go to school to become a teacher, radiologist or astronaut so I don't pretend to know their job.

But I think it bothers me more when CNAs/med aids/etc act like they can do our job & run circles around us. I guess I can give lay people a pass for their common ignorance but when I work with med aids & CNAs & they think they can do my job just because they see me doing it, that really irks me. I busted my hump in school & they think they can be a better nurse than me just by watching me? Seriously??? That's not how it works.

Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
It's just a matter of time before degree creep takes over everything. To be an MA you'll need an associates, LVN bachelors, RN masters and NP doctorate. Then in 100 years basically everyone with a college degree with be called doctor. Dr. Mail Man, Dr. Grocery Bagger, Dr. Medical Assistant....

Well there are associate MA programs, I don't understand why & it seems like a waste of money.

But education is a business so anything to reel people in & take their money, right? lol.

Specializes in DHSc, PA-C.
Well there are associate MA programs, I don't understand why & it seems like a waste of money.

But education is a business so anything to reel people in & take their money, right? lol.

Oh my goodness! Give me 8 hours and I can teach someone how to be an MA.

Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Oh my goodness! Give me 8 hours and I can teach someone how to be an MA.

I know, right! How much are they paying these schools to get their associates degrees to become MAs? I'll take their money & teach them!!!! Lol!

Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.

I graduated with my ADN in 1989. I have been hearing the same thing about a BSN being the minimum requirement since then! It's BS. I get paid the same as the nurse sitting next to me with a BSN. Only a manager makes more than I do. Ignore them.

Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
I graduated with my ADN in 1989. I have been hearing the same thing about a BSN being the minimum requirement since then! It's BS. I get paid the same as the nurse sitting next to me with a BSN. Only a manager makes more than I do. Ignore them.

Woman going to nursing school told me she heard about it way back in 1999. I asked her, has anything changed? She told me no. I said, it also goes back farther than 1999. If nothing has changed between 1999 & now, what is gonna change in 2.5 years?

Specializes in MDS/ UR.

This has reincarnated multiple times since I started in 1979. Soon entry level will be FNP...

Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
This has reincarnated multiple times since I started in 1979. Soon entry level will be FNP...

I love this forum because it is full of information, that she didn't believe.

Omg. Lol. Then after that entry level will be a doctoral degree.

Specializes in ICU; Telephone Triage Nurse.

I call this type of information folklore truths - stuff that a friend's sister's husband's brother's cousin swears is gospel. Kind of like the break room beliefs we have about the rules at work - until we see protocols that spell it out quite differently.

I too have heard this for decades - we were being told a BSN prepared nurse would be the only RN's to be hired in the near future back when I was a nursing student in the very early 1990's (oddly, in 2017 this still hasn't come to pass yet).

Take it with a grain of salt. Some people just can't be convinced they may be wrong. You know the truth - let that be good enough.

Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
I call this type of information folklore truths - stuff that a friend's sister's husband's brother's cousin swears is gospel. Kind of like the break room beliefs we have about the rules at work - until we see protocols that spell it out quite differently.

I too have heard this for decades - we were being told a BSN prepared nurse would be the only RN's to be hired in the near future back when I was a nursing student in the very early 1990's (oddly, in 2017 this still hasn't come to pass yet).

Take it with a grain of salt. Some people just can't be convinced they may be wrong. You know the truth - let that be good enough.

I have an easier time explaining things to my 3 year old than I did to two grown adults.

I guess what I found insulting at all was that they didn't believe me when I have been a nurse for 7 years.

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