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

I was told that some time ago there was a push to get all RNs to have a 4-yr degree at the state legislative level. Only 2 states followed through... North Dakota is one of them were a bachelor's degree in nursing is mandatory for RN's. I believe this applied to new RN's only, while practicing A.S.N RN's were grandfathered in, but I don't know for sure.

I am not sure what other state also has this requirement. I live in Minnesota and we do not have this requirement here although some hospitals are pushing towards this on their own as the previous post states.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

70 percent of all RNs are ADNs.

There are simply not enough BSN programs to meet the demand right now, if a law were ever passed to mandate that all nurses possess the BSN degree.

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Looks like North Dakota had a requirement, but has since dropped it...and that was few years back.

https://www.nln.org/governmentaffairs/pdf/jun2004.pdf

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Not going to happen

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Very emotionally charged subject. With many other professions requiring a BS or even a MS, I would suspect that at some point we will have to consider a 4 year degree as the entry level requirement. Go to the UK or other countries and you will see educational requirements of several years. Look at the paradigm shift in EMS. I am starting to see many 2 year paramedic programs and even a few 4 year options. Look at RT's and PT's, they have BS and MS programs as well.

I do not see any drastic changes in the near future; however, Nursing may need to consider other educational options as other professions advance and adapt to the changing healthcare envionment.

I understand that I may anger many AD nurses; however, this is simply my honest assessment. In addition, I am an AD educated RN, and this is nothing personal against AD educated nurses.

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
Very emotionally charged subject. With many other professions requiring a BS or even a MS, I would suspect that at some point we will have to consider a 4 year degree as the entry level requirement. Go to the UK or other countries and you will see educational requirements of several years. Look at the paradigm shift in EMS. I am starting to see many 2 year paramedic programs and even a few 4 year options. Look at RT's and PT's, they have BS and MS programs as well.

I do not see any drastic changes in the near future; however, Nursing may need to consider other educational options as other professions advance and adapt to the changing healthcare envionment.

I understand that I may anger many AD nurses; however, this is simply my honest assessment. In addition, I am an AD educated RN, and this is nothing personal against AD educated nurses.

I have you beat. I dropped out of my diploma program seven months before my graduation. I gtaduated from an AD program. I returned and received my B.S.N. Do I think it will happen? NO,NO, NO. It will not happen as long as there are many more programs that offer an AD rather then a BSN.

Woody:balloons:

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Specializes in ICU, ER.

With the current shortage (and future predicted shortage) and lack of programs it would be almost impossible to require. ALso, think about the increase in healthcare costs to give pay raises to all the BSNs.

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Specializes in LTC, Sub-acute, correctional.

Whew! Thanks for all the replies. I was told this information like it was already a cold, hard fact. While I certainly love continuing my education, and dream of going on to my BSN after completing the ADN program, I was just overwhelmed with the idea that I HAD TO do it by a certain date.

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
With the current shortage (and future predicted shortage) and lack of programs it would be almost impossible to require. ALso, think about the increase in healthcare costs to give pay raises to all the BSNs.

Do you really think that a pay raise is the issue? We are treated by physicians, hospital administerators, LTC administrators as second class citizens, entitled to second rate pay, because they view our education as second rate. And they may have a point, since we are one of the few 'professions' that have three levels of education, sitting for the same licensing exam.

But what do I know? I am only a nurse with a B.S.N., who did get paid what she was worth based on her education, knowledge and experience.

Woody:balloons:

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As I stated, I do not see sudden changes; however, to keep up with the many changes in healthcare, we should seriously look at our eductional requirements. In addition, I think some of it will come down to credibility when compared to other providers. While I know many great AD Nurses, I still think we will need to seriously look at how well we prepare our entry level Nurses. This does is not exclusive to AD providers however.

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Do a search for this topic on this site, and you'll find lots of threads with dozens of pages each. It's an old discussion, going on for years, and the upshot is that the question is always the same ("ohmigosh, do I have to get a BSN to be employed as an RN in XX years??") and so is the answer ("No.").

It's been considered and dropped a number of times in a number of States.

North Dakota had this requirement, and it was revoked.

New York had been considering it (same 10 year deadline, that number should become an Urban Legend soon), but that legislation is dead in the water. Done.

Regardless of anyone's opinion on whether RNs should all be BSN-educated or not, there is one very compelling reason it isn't a realistic requirement:

There aren't enough schools with BSN programs to accomodate new wannabe nurses (over 38K ELIGIBLE BSN candidates denied entry in 2006 alone) to even consider clogging the works even further with those who ARE nurses and are only joining to meet the new requirement. Even if you eliminate those nurses through a proposed "grandfathering" of already-licensed RNs, getting NEW nurses from that point on to fill in the vacancies thqat are ever-expanding would be close to impossible.

Anyway, this is something that we have threads going on for YEARS about, LOL....and yet again, it rears its ugly head.

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NRsKaren posted this thread on the NJ forum under Local concerning this.

https://allnurses.com/forums/f162/resolution-seeking-legislation-require-10-year-bsn-passes-2006-annual-meeting-205057.html

I think you will find out all you need concerning this subject.

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