Is It Just Me?

[Mijourney]

Is it just me that is noticing the large volume of new graduates, especially our younger graduates, that desire to spend very little time, if any, at the bedside before pursuing a non-traditional role in nursing. New graduates come into the profession and immediately want to go into an area such as case management or informatics which generally require over three to five years of clinical experience in order to provide high level service to the client or patient and family. What gives?

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

I'll be graduating next year with my ADN and I don't even want to get my BSN if I don't have to.

People always say, "You can't go into management if you don't have a BSN" -- but here's a newsflash.... I've been in "management" for the past two decades, I want OUT of management!!! Why spend thousands and thousands of dollars on theory classes for a BSN degree that I'll never use?

I could understand a bit more if a BSN included some sort of clinical instruction, but the only difference between my upcoming ADN degree and a BSN degree is class-time. If I don't plan on using it to go on to management, what's the point?

[caliotter3]

To me, just an indication that nursing school instructors are not hitting on the basic realities in school. No one should leave nursing school with these unrealistic expectations that are more appropriate for someone just starting out in nursing school.

[Mijourney]

Interesting responses. Yes I am old hat-old school, if you will. But, that is okay. It takes all kinds.:) A couple of posters pointed out that perhaps nursing instructors are not doing a good job of creating excitement and desire among the student population for providing direct bedside care. That sounds intriguing as a contributor to low tenure at the bedside.

For those of you who desire to advance your education, I have no qualms with that as I have been doing the same. My concern is that when you reach NP, DNP, EdD, PhD status, if you have had no or minimal bedside experience, you have no real foundation to work from.

Some posters also pointed out that nursing schools and authorities may be encouraging the preempting of bedside experience in an effort to rally as many qualified candidates as possible into graduate level programs, a cash cow for most programs who have them. Again, that sounds intriguing as a contributor to low tenure at the bedside. However, we now see CNL programs on the rise as well as efforts to see that the DNP become the requirement for APNs within a certain timeframe. Nursing authorities write that the complexity of patient care requires that degree requirements for APNs be escalated and that all nurses should continue their education. With reference to my above statement on a real foundation, if you did not crawl before you walked, your practice may ultimately suffer as a result.