High School student needing advice!!!

Published

I am a high school student interested in majoring in nursing in college. What is the difference between a BSN and an RN/BSN?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hello,

Congratulations for doing some thinking about these issues while in high school.

Your question is a very reasonable one for someone just looking into a new field.

When I decided to change careers to nursing, I went to a bookstore and looked for information. I found a very good book on the subject and it explained all these terms quite well. I strongly suggest doing something similar as there is a lot of information you need.

To answer your question literally:

BSN stands for "Bachelor of Science in Nursing." It is the 4-year degree you get from a university. Universities can grant degrees, but they cannot license you to practice nursing.

RN/BSN stands for "Registered Nurse that holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing." The RN indicates you have passed your state boards and can practice as a nurse.

There is a lot of other alphabet soup you might want to get familiar with, so please go look up those other resources - perhaps in your guidance counselor's office or a library. "The net" may not be the best place to get this type of info.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

A nurse with BSN on her tag went straight to a four year institution to obtain her bachelor's degree to practice nursing as opposed to a nurse with RN/BSN on her tag who went, first, to a two year institution to obtain her associate's degree to practice while later going back to a four institution to obtain her bachelor's in nursing. Both are registered nurses with bachelor's degrees...they just took different routes to get there. Some people want to go straight for the BSN while others may decide they wanna work while completing the last two years of nursing school. :heartbeat:nurse:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.
a nurse with bsn on her tag went straight to a four year institution to obtain her bachelor's degree to practice nursing as opposed to a nurse with rn/bsn on her tag who went, first, to a two year institution to obtain her associate's degree to practice while later going back to a four institution to obtain her bachelor's in nursing. both are registered nurses with bachelor's degrees...they just took different routes to get there. some people want to go straight for the bsn while others may decide they wanna work while completing the last two years of nursing school. :heartbeat:nurse:

your statements are not true unless there is a hospital out there that is confused about degrees vs. licensure!! as the poster stated above your post points out a bsn is only a degree; there is no such thing as a nurse that is a bsn because you cannot be a degree! instead you can be licensed (a registered nurse) and hold various degrees or certifications (a bsn). thus, someone with a rn/bsn designation is a registered nurse who holds the bsn degree. it does not matter if a registered nurse first got his/her bsn before becoming a registered nurse or received an associate before receiving a bsn. there is no distinction between these two types of nurses in terms of educational credentials because they both hold a bsn.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Do American hospitals really put educational qualifications on their ID tags?

It would never fly up here. The BScN is the only route to becoming an RN. Most provinces phased out the hospital/diploma route in the last five years.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Calm down...this is how the hopital does it here, in NC. If you are an RN, they show on your tag how you got there (BSN or ADN and ADN to BSN)! No big deal...:yawn:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Calm down...this is how the hopital does it here, in NC. If you are an RN, they show on your tag how you got there (BSN or ADN and ADN to BSN)! No big deal...:yawn:

You my friend are mistaken it is a big deal, there is enough confusion in the world, with people who are not nurses at all passing themselves off as nurses the public deserves to know who they are dealing with. This young person is looking for correct informative information not someones best guess. So as stated before the RN is the license and any thing after that is education, you can be a RN,BSN or any other RN -----ADN, PHD, MDN, but it is always your highest educational status after the RN. To complicate things more you can have any kind of certification after that and some nurses love to show them off and will work until they have the complete alphabet after their name such as RN,BSN,CCRN,RNC but I think that gets pretentious and confusing if not attached to a journal artical.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

:confused:......I understood that my comment was incorrect the first time...but I am a registered nurse and you? :nurse: What would be the point? "Passing themselves off as nurses" ......

You my friend are mistaken it is a big deal, there is enough confusion in the world, with people who are not nurses at all passing themselves off as nurses the public deserves to know who they are dealing with. This young person is looking for correct informative information not someones best guess. So as stated before the RN is the license and any thing after that is education, you can be a RN,BSN or any other RN -----ADN, PHD, MDN, but it is always your highest educational status after the RN. To complicate things more you can have any kind of certification after that and some nurses love to show them off and will work until they have the complete alphabet after their name such as RN,BSN,CCRN,RNC but I think that gets pretentious and confusing if not attached to a journal artical.
Up Vote Up Vote ×

New hospital NOTHING other than RN allowed $$,$$$ in debt for those B S N letters! Old hospital RN BSN on badge. They said that it just confuses the patient. Even our CNS doesn't have MS, plus the alphabet soup she earned! . But old hospital - no one ever asked what the BSN after my RN even meant. Really. One could say that not having the education level on the RN would make a patient believe that we are all educated equally. They don't really care, they just want respectful care.....old hospital had signs up.... did you receive respectful care???? If not see a manager. OK, how bout were you respectful to the nursing staff? No? You didn't like your spit mask?? :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion