I have an ADN and am currently working as a Labor and Delivery nurse, which is a job I love. I've worked in a few different fields (telemetry, CCU, dialysis). I've been a nurse since 1998 and love nursing. I have all the the prereqs (chemistry, stats, and so on) completed. Now it's time to go one day a week for three semesters and finish it....it's going to take a lot of paper writing, studying, money ($5,000) and time The school is about 1 1/2 hours from home- My problem: I just am not excited about it at all...I'm not looking forward to finishing this degree. The thought of dedicating a year of my life to doing this depresses me. I don't plan on going any further with education after the BSN - so what's the point...I'll be 40 this year and kind of want to start enjoying my life - I want to take a photography class and a spanish class - I want to start running again. I work full time and in my free time I don't want to listen to hours of lectures on nursing research and data management, professional nursing, advanced comprehensive assessment...(some of the first semester classes.) It's not that I don't think I can do it...I, like many nurses, have high standards for myself when I do take a course and have not made anything below an A in any course...including stats, chemistry, and so on. I just don't know if I want to do it...My question is...is a BSN needed for anything other then furthering your education, for example to MSN, and being able to say, "I have a college degree." Please don't take this the wrong way...I do respect education and how much effort and work it takes...I just don't know if it's for me...
Do what you love. There really isn't any reason to get a BSN if you don't plan on "climbing the nursing ladder." You can always change your mind and go back for it.
Right now, do what you really want to be doing. Take photography, take Spanish, go with what your gut tells you. Who knows, you may find that you'll have a photography career on the side. Life is too short to suffer doing what you don't want to be doing. :Melody:
Just wanted to say thanks to all the posters that answered my question! I worked last night so this is the first opportunity to read the posts! I'm going for a run and when I get back, I'll get on the net and look up what the times are for the photography class!! Thanks again!!!! I knew what I wanted in my heart...it's just sometimes good to hear the opionions of others in case there's something I missed!
Good for you! Enjoy your classes. If you want to go back later you can. I'm now in an online MSN program and learning a lot! but it took me 23 years to go back to school. You can go back whenever you want if you want. Life is too short not to do the things you want when you can.
I'm still trying to figure out why having a management course in a BSN program automatically makes scores of people think that the BSN is only for progression into management. Even if you never intend to move into a management position what you should learn in a nursing management course will make you a better "hands-on" nurse." In addition to being a supervisor at one hospital, I do three 12 hr shifts on an long-term rehab unit. Our patients are very physically ill and often straight out of ICU.
I was orienting a nurse a few weeks ago and she remarked that I didn't seem to move very fast but that everything got done. Why? Time management skills originally learned in a nursing management class. In your nursing management course you should learn about delegation, people management skills, coordination of care, levels of authority, hospital chain of command and hopefully a little about reimburse issues, among other things. All these very much impact the way you provide "physical care" to your patients. You may also now have a clue as to why some hospitals are on the verge of collapse and why many doctors are closing their practices. "Management issues" reach all the way to the bottom and impact the care you provide.
roxannekkb
327 Posts
Do what you love. There really isn't any reason to get a BSN if you don't plan on "climbing the nursing ladder." You can always change your mind and go back for it.
Right now, do what you really want to be doing. Take photography, take Spanish, go with what your gut tells you. Who knows, you may find that you'll have a photography career on the side. Life is too short to suffer doing what you don't want to be doing. :Melody: