highly educated, but underpaid?

[bostongal]

Hello, all! I am just about to finish the pre-licensure year of the MEPN Program at UCSF and have encountered what I feel is a dilemma of principle

After I take the NCLEX this June, I'll be taking a step-out year to work full-time as an RN before continuing with the Master's part of the program. So, I've been hired for the step-out year by a hospital in South Carolina that pays hourly wages based on the nursing degree held. Although I will have completed the equivalent of an entire bachelor's education in nursing in this past year, I will not graduate with another bachelor's degree or an actual diploma (as is customary of most direct entry programs). Therefore, the hospital is going to pay me at the two-year associate's degree level. What do other RNs, especially those affiliated with direct entry, think of this?

[Quickbeam, BSN, RN]

glasgow3, I feel your pain. I changed careers to nursing about the same time frame you mention. Nursing education was horrific. Rigid. Unyielding. I went to night school for 5 years (in addition to my BS and MA) in order to qualify for an accelerated BSN program. There were only 5 in the country. I had to uproot, move halfway across the world & quit my job. They made it really really hard.

I do take some comfort that nursing education has become more flexible. Too late for me but good news for career changers. I do worry about the ADN in 2 years vs a 2 year MSN direct entry...does seem hard to figure. I can share this from my university president. I spoke with him last year and asked how the accelerated nursing programs were doing. He smiled and said "ah yes. Accelerated nursing. Wonderful for cash flow". Accelerated BSN and direct entry MSN programs are cash cows for academia.

[jjjoy, LPN]

Bostongal - you can probably see that you've hit a nerve in the nursing community. If you look through old threads, you'll see that whether or not there ought to be a pay differential for bedside nurses with advanced nursing education can sometimes be a polarizing issue. Coming from another field, one might easily assume that more relevant education translates to a higher wage. In nursing, however, it seems that the standard is same job = same pay.

Your situation is fairly unique in that you've had the equivalent education of a BSN but don't hold the degree. Maybe where you're applying there's a big differential but as has been pointed out, in many places if there is a differential it's not that substantial.

I am curious to see how students of these direct-entry nursing programs fair as even students coming out of traditional length programs often have a hard time transitioning to the "real world."

Best of luck to you! I'd love to hear updates on your experience!

[Selke]

Just a question unrelated to your original question, bostongal -- but I'm curious. If you're at UCSF already, why go to NC for a one year nursing job? Why not get a job in SFBA or Boston? New grads in SFBA make, what? over $35/hr, and you already live there? I hear southern RNs don't get paid well. Just curious.

I did my BSN in 2 years at Rush in Chicago: I had 2 prior degrees (liberal arts, a BA and MA) and pre reqs. There were several of us students with prior college degrees (this was in the late 1980s) and the school lumped us all together in our clinicals. We were all told we had to get a BSN before applying to CNM programs. There was a lot of repetitve BS in our lectures that could have been condensed. Condensing a BSN can be done, especially if you leave out summer vacation, but it is probably even more important to get an excellent preceptorship program with your first job ... well this is important for everyone ....

[bostongal]

I agree, Selke, that a strong preceptorship is probably one of the most important factors in a nurse's success in a position and I plan to draw all that I can from mine.

To assuage your curiosity, I'm going to SC because the MEPN program allows us to take a "step-out year" between the pre-licensure year and the Master's portion. My boyfriend has just moved to SC and I figured, why not spend the year with him rather than another year long-distance. It will be difficult because I'm coming from an area where nurses are paid the best in the country to an area where they're paid the worst. Literally. And to top it all off, I'm a flagrant liberal! But again, it's only a year...