Is it true that a BSN will be mandatory soon?

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An instructor of mine (I'm in another state) stated that she recently went to a national educators conference and that they were saying that within the next several years in NY it would be mandatory to have your BSN. Does anyone know anything about this? Thanks

Specializes in Utilization Management.
I guess I don't understand why you would just want to settle with an AD when you can further your knowledge and benefit your patients.

Because to be perfectly honest, at an ADN level, I make a good salary and I can tolerate the working conditions. If I had to have a BSN, I would be unhappy with my salary and expect better working conditions. In addition, I would have yet another big bill to pay back.

In short, if I had to have a BSN, I'd probably find another line of work.

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Because to be perfectly honest, at an ADN level, I make a good salary and I can tolerate the working conditions. If I had to have a BSN, I would be unhappy with my salary and expect better working conditions. In addition, I would have yet another big bill to pay back.

In short, if I had to have a BSN, I'd probably find another line of work.

That's too bad that you would change the line of work you're in because you don't want your BSN.

BUT!

The majority of health care facilities will pay for you to go back to school to further your education (so you can't use that as an excuse)

How would you be unhappy making more money you in the job you love!

And aren't better working conditionts for everyone, not just because you have a BSN.

Still doesn't make sense to me.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
That's too bad that you would change the line of work you're in because you don't want your BSN.

BUT!

The majority of health care facilities will pay for you to go back to school to further your education (so you can't use that as an excuse)

How would you be unhappy making more money you in the job you love!

And aren't better working conditionts for everyone, not just because you have a BSN.

Still doesn't make sense to me.

Why wouldn't I want to further my education and get a BSN? Because the BSN winds up in management on a salary, basically working 70 hours a week or more, for peanuts.

I prefer working at the bedside. I prefer to be paid by the hour. I prefer my 40-hour week to mandatory overtime without overtime pay.

I've gotten more "bang for my buck" with an ADN. In addition, I insist on having a family life outside of my job.

Most institutions in my area don't really care about what type of degree we have. The hospitals I've worked hire both LPNs and RNs, ADNs and BSNs.

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Why wouldn't I want to further my education and get a BSN? Because the BSN winds up in management on a salary, basically working 70 hours a week or more, for peanuts.

I prefer working at the bedside. I prefer to be paid by the hour. I prefer my 40-hour week to mandatory overtime without overtime pay.

I've gotten more "bang for my buck" with an ADN. In addition, I insist on having a family life outside of my job.

Most institutions in my area don't really care about what type of degree we have. The hospitals I've worked hire both LPNs and RNs, ADNs and BSNs.

I, too, want to work by the bedside. Not all BSNs want management positions. Plus, I don't consider $65,000 to $70,000 "peanuts." In the hospitals where I'm applying that's what the BSN nurse will get paid. Also, I want a family as well. Why can't I? Not everything in life is about work.

AND the majority of hospitals I applied to want BSN, bottom line. It's sad that the people you work for don't care about you.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
I guess I don't understand why you would just want to settle with an AD when you can further your knowledge and benefit your patients.

Because some people do not see it as "settling". They are happy where they are, and do not care to continue. This is all some people need.

Two more reason for not going for a BSN: Time (away from kids, family), Money (not all facilities pay tuition reimbursement, and a lot of people have enough of a time trying to pay the mortgage and the bills).

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I've gotten more "bang for my buck" with an ADN. In addition, I insist on having a family life outside of my job.

Most institutions in my area don't really care about what type of degree we have. The hospitals I've worked hire both LPNs and RNs, ADNs and BSNs.

BINGO!!! With my ADN in this area I'm making pretty well.

(There are some hospitals in this area that hire ADNs for managers.)

As you know though, I'm going back for my BSN, just in case I need it in my old age and want to do something different. But it's a serious committment of time and money that I wonder if it will be worth it, with all the bang for my buck I'm getting already.

I can understand totally why people go the ADN route and stay there!

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Wow, I'm amazed by all of this. A BSN does not necessarily make you a better nurse and neither does an ADN. It's the person behind the degree that makes the difference. There are some nurses with their ADN that make better nurses than some BSN nurses and vice versa. If you want to be in a management position, then you should get your BSN. However, keep in mind that just because you get a BSN does not mean you will automatically be leadership material. You should also get your BSN if you plan on going on to graduate school, unless you can find an ADN to MSN program. And if you just want to get a BSN because you feel the more knowledge you have the better you will be, then go for it. The important thing is an ADN nurse is not less of a nurse than a BSN nurse. If your performance as a nurse is less than par, then you ARE less of a nurse.

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i guess i don't understand why you would just want to settle with an ad when you can further your knowledge and benefit your patients.

i hope eventually new york goes with only bsn prepaired students! let's work together to have insight and more knowledge so that nursing can be recognized as the profession that it needs to be!

you're only going to benefit your patients if you're a good nurse...period. i'm not sure why you think getting an adn is settling. if adn nurses felt they would make much better nurses with a bsn, then i guarantee we would see adns applying in droves.

if new york changes their requirements, then you should be prepared for the working conditions that will follow. this law will force some to quit their jobs and others to just move out of the state where their adn is good enough. there's already a shortage and even considering this law is just asinine. mandating a bsn requirement seems only to be about what it "looks like" versus any real benefit to nursing.

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you're only going to benefit your patients if you're a good nurse...period. i'm not sure why you think getting an adn is settling. if adn nurses felt they would make much better nurses with a bsn, then i guarantee we would see adns applying in droves.

if new york changes their requirements, then you should be prepared for the working conditions that will follow. this law will force some to quit their jobs and others to just move out of the state where their adn is good enough. there's already a shortage and even considering this law is just asinine. mandating a bsn requirement seems only to be about what it "looks like" versus any real benefit to nursing.

if nys changes its requirements then the "old" adn would be grandfathered in and any new adn grads will have a period of time to get their bsn. like i said before, i was looking into adn, but for me it didn't make sense to go 2 yrs to get a adn when i could go only 1 year total and have my bsn. i'm not putting down the adn nurse at all. i have friends who are adns. but all the adn that i do talk with wished they went all the way and got their bsn b/c it's so much harder to go back to school and get it. i don't know where you live (if you live in ny or not), but the majority of hospitals in nyc want bsn, it's harder for the adn to get a job in the bigger cities.

i just feel, if nursing was at bachelor level it would become more of a profession and not a technical type of job. which as a result, would improve nursing in general. but, that's just my opinion! however, the majority of people that i talked with (adn & bsn) agree with me.

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if nys changes its requirements then the "old" adn would be grandfathered in and any new adn grads will have a period of time to get their bsn. like i said before, i was looking into adn, but for me it didn't make sense to go 2 yrs to get a adn when i could go only 1 year total and have my bsn. i'm not putting down the adn nurse at all. i have friends who are adns. but all the adn that i do talk with wished they went all the way and got their bsn b/c it's so much harder to go back to school and get it. i don't know where you live (if you live in ny or not), but the majority of hospitals in nyc want bsn, it's harder for the adn to get a job in the bigger cities.

i just feel, if nursing was at bachelor level it would become more of a profession and not a technical type of job. which as a result, would improve nursing in general. but, that's just my opinion! however, the majority of people that i talked with (adn & bsn) agree with me.

i know exactly where you're coming from. i'm proud to say that i too have my b.s. degree, though it's not in nursing. my main complaint about this whole situation is that even if all nurses have their bsn's, they will still end up doing the same exact job that nurses currently do now. it won't change the job description. the same knowledge will be used that is currently used by adn and bsn nurses today. the only benefits to a bsn are the added management and research classes. those are great if you plan on pursuing nursing research or if you want to be a manager. however, one or two classes in management will not necessarily make a leader.

i see nursing as a professional job now. having a bsn won't necessarily make it more of a "profession." it's unfortunate, but the nursing profession does not always get the respect it truly deserves. i feel a lot of it boils down to the environment some nurses have created within the world of nursing. it seems that most of the problems i read about on this board carry a common theme...nurses eating their young or some kind of bullying. even though most nurses don't conduct themselves this way, it only takes a few to affect the entire profession. it almost mirrors high school and jr high bullying. this is probably why some in other health care professions treat nureses less like professionals and more like children sometimes. if nurses want to be respected as they very well should be, then they must start by respecting one another first. that's professionalism. it's really hard to treat someone disrespectfully when that person carries an air of professionalism at all times. i'm not sure that having a bsn will altogether catapult the nursing profession to a higher playing field though. higher standards aren't just about having a higher degree. it's also about standards of conduct. i would respect a person more who sets higher standards for themselves than one who lacks those standards...bsn or not.

sorry! i didn't mean to go off on a tangent. if there were any real added benefit for the entire nursing population to get their bsn, i'd be all for it. that's why i feel that if any state wants to require a bsn, then in order to be fair it should not be retroactive. it should only affect those students who have not yet started a program.

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I'm a new RN who graduated from a BS nursing program recently. Since there was no state school within 150 miles, I chose to go to a private college (and racked up a boatload of loans in the process). Only one area hospital is offering any differential for BSN ($.25 an hour), which I find disheartening. I was fortunate to receive merit scholarships that covered half of my tuition, but I still have more than $30,000 of loans outstanding.

Of course, it was my choice to incur the expense of a private BS program. Unfortunately, I don't feel better prepared (clinically) than the ADN nurses I work alongside. I spent my first year at a SUNY ADN program and let me tell you, that was a much more tightly run ship- the new grads from the local ADN program are generally looked upon as to be more proficient than grads from my BS program!

If a BSN is required by NYS anytime soon, I hope the state looks into adding BSN programs to many SUNY campuses. Creating quality, affordable BSN programs might encourage more students to pursue baccalaureate preparation.

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I'm a new RN who graduated from a BS nursing program recently. Since there was no state school within 150 miles, I chose to go to a private college (and racked up a boatload of loans in the process). Only one area hospital is offering any differential for BSN ($.25 an hour), which I find disheartening. I was fortunate to receive merit scholarships that covered half of my tuition, but I still have more than $30,000 of loans outstanding.

Of course, it was my choice to incur the expense of a private BS program. Unfortunately, I don't feel better prepared (clinically) than the ADN nurses I work alongside. I spent my first year at a SUNY ADN program and let me tell you, that was a much more tightly run ship- the new grads from the local ADN program are generally looked upon as to be more proficient than grads from my BS program!

If a BSN is required by NYS anytime soon, I hope the state looks into adding BSN programs to many SUNY campuses. Creating quality, affordable BSN programs might encourage more students to pursue baccalaureate preparation.

Good Point! If it's worthwhile, many current nurses and future nurses would probably jump on the BSN bandwagon. There has to be more of an incentive (besides mgmt and research classes, and more ease in getting an MSN) for nurses to be willing to go that route.

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