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 may be clinging to this desperately, but I hope to someday see a national BSN mandate with grandfathering (using Canada's model).

I wish to see this ONLY for reasons of unity. Once all RN's are 'on the same page' educationally I hope some solidarity will follow. Now, the feuding interferes with us having one clear voice and vision for our profession, IMHO.

I'm a diploma RN but I feel it will be necessary for nurses to adopt this to save our profession...right now everybody is defining us except US.

I don't know if higher education is going to get you guys the respect you deserve. Look at the state of teaching in NYC. Now all teachers must complete their master's degree within 5 years of gaining their initial temporary certification or lose their jobs. This has not caused an improvment in the quality of public education.

Instead teachers got stuck paying for their own master's degree (for the most part there are some exceptions) When they are done they get a whopping 3k raise...you go from 39k to about 43k and people stil have no respect for them.

Anyone who talks about how easy teachers have it with their summer vactions and getting off at 3:00pm has NO IDEA what teaching is about. Belive me I spent plenty of days in my classroom prepping until 7pm and 8pm at night.

You also spend plenty of money out of your pocket to supply your classroom etc. I bought book bins..a rug...chalk...paper etc etc. The schools are suppose to provide you with these things but for some mysterious reason they are always short. :rolleyes:

Have you all consider that additional degrees will not get nurses the respect they deserve? Have you all ever considered that nursing like most female dominated professions isn't well respected simply because it is A FEMALE dominated profession?

Same as secretaries (i've done that too and at the corporate level it IS a skilled profession) or any other profession that employs mostly women. I think a lot of it is plain old sexism and having 10 degrees behind your name isn't going to change a thing.

If nurses want respect they simply have to band together and demand it. Instead I see a lot of division amongst the different levels of nursing.

Without unity nurses will never get ahead. :o

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This is an excellent point. A Master's degree for a junior teacher is ludicrous. But citing sexist causes for an ailing market is a red herring.

In my response, I was referring to the BSN as a first (undergrad) degree not an additional one. Perhaps, given the forum climate (in that the majority of forum users are in the American system), I should have been clearer. The associate diploma is not a degree. Neither is a diploma. When registering in Australia or NZ (for example), the ADN is not considered to be a nursing qualification for registration nor are any of the other lesser qualifications. A close friend of mine, an American, suffered a huge shock to find that upon immigration to Australia that her quals were not sufficient enough for registration even though she had been working as a nurse in the US for some years, I have seen the gap first up. Yes, by all means let's do it for unity but you won't get that, not unless the organisations that represent nursing support this and elements of the nursing profession educate themselves about the ramifications of the degree system (and what a degree actually entails...there's a lot of false terminology out there). As I sit here writing, I don't want to be seemingly pompous about the distinction - after all, I'm an undergrad at the moment! - but just making the dileanation. For while I am venturing into nursing from a self-fulfilment perspective, I'm also acutely aware that today's medical setting makes new and increasing demands of the nurse and therefore also speak from a career advancement point of view too for in order to gain that competitive and marketable edge, you must be in the same race as everyone else and, from the information I have to hand, the US is still at the starting block.

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This is an excellent point. A Master's degree for a junior teacher is ludicrous. But citing sexist causes for an ailing market is a red herring.

In my response, I was referring to the BSN as a first (undergrad) degree not an additional one. Perhaps, given the forum climate (in that the majority of forum users are in the American system), I should have been clearer. The associate diploma is not a degree. Neither is a diploma. When registering in Australia or NZ (for example), the ADN is not considered to be a nursing qualification for registration nor are any of the other lesser qualifications. A close friend of mine, an American, suffered a huge shock to find that upon immigration to Australia that her quals were not sufficient enough for registration even though she had been working as a nurse in the US for some years, I have seen the gap first up. Yes, by all means let's do it for unity but you won't get that, not unless the organisations that represent nursing support this and elements of the nursing profession educate themselves about the ramifications of the degree system (and what a degree actually entails...there's a lot of false terminology out there). As I sit here writing, I don't want to be seemingly pompous about the distinction - after all, I'm an undergrad at the moment! - but just making the dileanation. For while I am venturing into nursing from a self-fulfilment perspective, I'm also acutely aware that today's medical setting makes new and increasing demands of the nurse and therefore also speak from a career advancement point of view too for in order to gain that competitive and marketable edge, you must be in the same race as everyone else and, from the information I have to hand, the US is still at the starting block.

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i can concede that you do have point. i mean, while i think that requiring a master's degree for an elementary level school teacher is ridiculous. the fact is that no one would even consider allowing a teacher into a classroom with anything less than a bachelor's. it isn't even an issue. isn't nursing just as important if not more so than teaching? :) i see what your getting at. however, that said requiring a uniform level of education amongst all nurses will not guarantee automatic respect. i still believe that sexism does play a large role in the bias against viewing nursing with the same level of repsect as some male dominated professions. also, why ask for respect? aren't nurses in the position to demand it at this point?

the world needs really needs you all so desperately. why is it that nurses don't use this to their advantage?

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i can concede that you do have point. i mean, while i think that requiring a master's degree for an elementary level school teacher is ridiculous. the fact is that no one would even consider allowing a teacher into a classroom with anything less than a bachelor's. it isn't even an issue. isn't nursing just as important if not more so than teaching? :) i see what your getting at. however, that said requiring a uniform level of education amongst all nurses will not guarantee automatic respect. i still believe that sexism does play a large role in the bias against viewing nursing with the same level of repsect as some male dominated professions. also, why ask for respect? aren't nurses in the position to demand it at this point?

the world needs really needs you all so desperately. why is it that nurses don't use this to their advantage?

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I'm feeling old, LOL! I can remember getting out of LPN school 30+ years ago and hearing then they were phasing out LPN's. Then they were not going to recognize diploma programs. ADN's were not going to be considered "professional" nurses, and the list goes on.

Knowledge is power. But the initials after your name doesn't necessarily mean you are knowledgeable. Some of the best nurses I knew and know were diploma nurses. Having that wealth of clinical time is something that I think is missing in nursing school today.

Perhaps one day, nurses, like doctors will be able to specialize. Meaning they take their core classes (sort of like med students) and then focus on one area. I respect and admire people who continue their education. Getting a BSN, MSN or doctorate is hard work. But when I'm sick, I really don't care about your degree. I just want you to know what you're doing.

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I'm feeling old, LOL! I can remember getting out of LPN school 30+ years ago and hearing then they were phasing out LPN's. Then they were not going to recognize diploma programs. ADN's were not going to be considered "professional" nurses, and the list goes on.

Knowledge is power. But the initials after your name doesn't necessarily mean you are knowledgeable. Some of the best nurses I knew and know were diploma nurses. Having that wealth of clinical time is something that I think is missing in nursing school today.

Perhaps one day, nurses, like doctors will be able to specialize. Meaning they take their core classes (sort of like med students) and then focus on one area. I respect and admire people who continue their education. Getting a BSN, MSN or doctorate is hard work. But when I'm sick, I really don't care about your degree. I just want you to know what you're doing.

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New York doesn't have any diploma schools anymore though. Our teacher said they did away with them since the early 80s. I think that they are only trying to start the BSN thing only in NY right now.

no....don't see it coming anytime soon...too many diploma schools out there..
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New York doesn't have any diploma schools anymore though. Our teacher said they did away with them since the early 80s. I think that they are only trying to start the BSN thing only in NY right now.

no....don't see it coming anytime soon...too many diploma schools out there..
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Specializes in ER/SURGICAL ICU/PACU/MEDICAL ICU.

At the end of the day, this mandatory policy wouldn't be too good of an idea. New York already surfers from a lack of RN's as it is. To make it mandatory to attain a BSN will only further push away the potential candidates of age that were remotely interested in getting into the nursing field. Consider the fact that a large percent of nurses also tend to be career changers who after already attaining a B.S. and even a M.A. in a prior career then decide to go into nursing. This policy might only scare the ones who are on track to get their ADN, due to the fact that now, besides having to take a good 3-4 years just to get an ADN, have to consider 2 more years for a BSN.

Now, besides the nice title of BSN next to R.N., what's the big deal? I do agree that furthering your education is always good, I come from a B.S. and a M.B.A. in Business, but when it comes to nursing, I find that both ADN's and BSN's carry about the same weight. Both have to pass the NUCLEX in order to be a licensed nurse and both get paid just about the same, granted a BSN can at times grow more in terms of attaining a managerial position, but that's not to say that a regular ADN RN can't make the same by just throwing in a few extra days of overtime to balance out the pay scale.

There seems to be many loopholes around the idea. Granted, a 10-year time frame would be a good amount of time to have in order to get the BSN, but many people already have various restraints as it is to then have to devote more time into getting a BSN. I guess, Im torn in terms of what side to sway with. If it's passed, then without a doubt I would go about getting a BSN through a spaced-out time frame while working, if it isn't passed, then good, one less thing to have over my head. I just think that as understaffed as New York tends to be now a days with nurses, this policy might complicate matters quite a bit.

**If what they are saying is true and this policy is being voted on in the next few days, can someone/anyone who gets an official article on this, please post it here?**

Thanks Everyone!

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Specializes in ER/SURGICAL ICU/PACU/MEDICAL ICU.

At the end of the day, this mandatory policy wouldn't be too good of an idea. New York already surfers from a lack of RN's as it is. To make it mandatory to attain a BSN will only further push away the potential candidates of age that were remotely interested in getting into the nursing field. Consider the fact that a large percent of nurses also tend to be career changers who after already attaining a B.S. and even a M.A. in a prior career then decide to go into nursing. This policy might only scare the ones who are on track to get their ADN, due to the fact that now, besides having to take a good 3-4 years just to get an ADN, have to consider 2 more years for a BSN.

Now, besides the nice title of BSN next to R.N., what's the big deal? I do agree that furthering your education is always good, I come from a B.S. and a M.B.A. in Business, but when it comes to nursing, I find that both ADN's and BSN's carry about the same weight. Both have to pass the NUCLEX in order to be a licensed nurse and both get paid just about the same, granted a BSN can at times grow more in terms of attaining a managerial position, but that's not to say that a regular ADN RN can't make the same by just throwing in a few extra days of overtime to balance out the pay scale.

There seems to be many loopholes around the idea. Granted, a 10-year time frame would be a good amount of time to have in order to get the BSN, but many people already have various restraints as it is to then have to devote more time into getting a BSN. I guess, Im torn in terms of what side to sway with. If it's passed, then without a doubt I would go about getting a BSN through a spaced-out time frame while working, if it isn't passed, then good, one less thing to have over my head. I just think that as understaffed as New York tends to be now a days with nurses, this policy might complicate matters quite a bit.

**If what they are saying is true and this policy is being voted on in the next few days, can someone/anyone who gets an official article on this, please post it here?**

Thanks Everyone!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Burn ICU.
New York doesn't have any diploma schools anymore though. Our teacher said they did away with them since the early 80s. I think that they are only trying to start the BSN thing only in NY right now.

Actually NY does have diploma schools...I researched a few in the NYC metro area, but they didn't appeal to me. Just wanted to let you know in case you might want to research them.

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