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 Med-Surg.
Trust me, hospitals could care less what degree you have, unless they are pretending to want to be magnetized.

It seems to be a regional thing. In areas where there isn't a nursing shortage it seems hospitals are getting more particular. I'm seeing more and more posts from new grads having trouble getting jobs. Some hospitals are hiring only GNs with BSNs and some aren't hiring GNs at all. So it's hard to generalize a statement such as yours.

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Specializes in psych. rehab nursing, float pool.

After reading these posting for the last several hours yikes. Lets rephrase the " Nurses eat their young" to Nurses eat Nurses. I have all the respect in the world for anyone in nursing no matter their title. Furthering education harms no one. Again medicine is changing, economics are changing how our system works, who they employ. We can go on forever and bicker and slight others.

I would prefer reading positive reinforcement for those who have persued their educational goals without the pointing of fingers as to why such in such is better etc. Education is a great thing, it is not an entitlement to look down on anyone with a lesser education. My beloved is a Surgeon, having been in practice for over 30 years. We have had many of these discussions. He has more than once stated why is it with all the eductional he has that at the end of the year after paying overhead , for his practice that his take home pay would be less than a nurse? Mind you this had only been an issue for the past 10 years. That spending hours in surgery to performing a nephrectomy, continued care of the patient while in the hospital and then one follow up visit in the office . What was his reward beyond good outcome for the patient? $400.00 paid by the insurance company. No, I did not misplace any zeroes in that figure.

Yes, the year he closed his practice his take home pay was less than mine a LPN. That was two years ago.Medicare and the insurance companies are driving our healthcare and will force changes. That is why it is so important for everyone in healthcare to be active stay up to date and support everyone's desire to have some feelings of autonomy and to feel respected and valued in their roles.

Nurses think they have it bad paying back student loans etc , you should hear the doctors and their feelings about trying to survive in the current health care climate. Please, I don't want to start any thread about the rich doctors, yes there are some, there are many more today who have had to take out second mortgages on their homes to remain in practice. Thankfully that was not something we had to do. He retired with feelings of resentment and bitterness that he could no longer afford to work. Imagine not being able to afford to work? . I still work, it helps to pay our day to day living expenses. oops I digress.

Good luck to all in the career of medicine,, it is blowing in the wind in some respects.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Administration (briefly).
It seems to be a regional thing. In areas where there isn't a nursing shortage it seems hospitals are getting more particular. I'm seeing more and more posts from new grads having trouble getting jobs. Some hospitals are hiring only GNs with BSNs and some aren't hiring GNs at all. So it's hard to generalize a statement such as yours.

We've been beating this dead horse for 40 years, alienating many in our profession, and presenting our politiicans with untenable options.

I do not believe the industry gives a rat's a.. what degree we have, as long as the title RN is there.

Academics care, but then they are in the degree business.

Yes, to be sure, there are systems that prefer a BSN. Many more could care less.

The day a major state enacts mandatory BSN legislation will be the day I revise that opinion.

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More education for way more money than it cost to get the first degree, for what? Will you have more time to apply tihe greater knowledge, skills, ability? Who cares what you know?

I have wanted to continue my nursing education for a long time for my own knowledge and feelings of accomplishment but the costs are out of sight.

When I do the math, I loose money with little gain. It looks like my attitude has been tainted by nursing practice!

I don't think it is worth it to continue studying nursing. I'd be better off studying cosmotology. My hairdresser makes more money than a nurse. $50 for a haircut. $130 for highlights...the materials cost $5.00 the time- not long.

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hmm, BSN doesnt really add any more pay than a RN.(from what ive heard). never heard of this requirement.

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Who cares what you know?
Probably your patients.

I'm sure you didn't mean that statement the way it came across, but you should re-read it.

If people didn't care what nurses knew, then I doubt nursing schools would exist in the first place; instead, nurses would probably be trained in some kind of apprenticeship that varied from person to person, hospital to hospital, specialty to specialty. But someone cared enough to say that nurses need a basic framework of knowledge to begin practice and a license under which to practice. Hence, nursing school.

Most 4-year-universities are expensive. That's a problem. However, unlike medical school, which requires 4 years of undergrad work, plus 4 years of medical school, then residency, etc. A BSN would only require 4 years. Not entirely the same thing.

Which is not to say that cost isn't a valid point, though, because it is. But if ADN programs are eliminated, then all those scholarships and financial aid and such that were available to ADN students will then be available to BSN students, particularly if - as I suspect - BSN programs simply absorb ADN programs as satellite locations. Perhaps there will even be a reduced tuition offered for being wiling to attend one of those satellite locations.

Who knows? But problems like that can be worked out ... if everyone would get behind the idea of a standardized education entry point for nursing.

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BSN and ADN, both ARE RN's!!!!!!!!!!!!

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for those of you who don't think it makes a difference whether you're a bsn or adn, please read the article below. you can find this article under "health care blog." if you pull it up, you'll be able to click on the word "abstract" to read the studies they're referencing.

quality quickie: better educated nurses make the hospital safer?

linda aitken has been the leading academic looking at nursing professionals in the us for several years. (ed o'neill has been her opposite number on the physician side). aitken's latest research is going to put the cat amongst the pigeons and maybe have a major impact. both the abstract and some more detailed press reports (like this one that interviews aitken) suggest that hospitals that have a greater proportion of better educated nurses have better mortality rates. and the differences are significant both statisitically and in real life; up to 5% improvement in 30 day mortality for a 10% increase in the number of nurses with bachelor degrees. all other features of the hospitals were corrected for, so the only difference was whether the nurse had a 2 year degree or a 4+ year degree. while representatives of 2 year nursing courses criticized the methodology, aitken is no dummy and jama is no throwaway mag, so it carries the burden of proof.

so if a shift from a ratio of 50-50 to 55-45 in nursing mix (based on education) leads to a 5% decrease in mortality, how long before the lawyers/quality advocates start coming after hospitals that employ a large proportion of nurses holding only associates degrees? you know that if a drug came out that improved mortality in the inpatient setting by 5% over a competitor, it would be adopted like a shot. the proof is in the uptake of tpa over streptokinase 10 years ago when tpa decreased mortality only 0.2% better (see this post). and if such a move is made, who will end up paying for it given that we have a nursing shortage already?

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Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.

This Aiken study was done in 2003. There were many discussions here about it at the time. Some very good points regarding the veracity of the study were made during these discussions. If you do a search for the threads here, you may find some interesting viewpoints regarding this.

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I don't know that it will be a requirment to have a BSN but it sure seems to be leaning in that direction. My supervisors at work recently got their BSN and lord and be hold since then all they have hired were BSN when before they did not consider the degree as much as they did the experience. I asked one of them about it, the one that wouldn't hold it against me, and she told me that times were just changing.

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I know that in my hospital system, BSNs and MSNs are highly regarded. They are hired into higher acuity areas such as ICU, ER, and OR before ADNs with more experience. Their thinking is that with higher education comes more critical thinking, and with extensive fellowships and mentoring, the hands-on skills will come. I've heard it said more than once that you can teach anyone a 'skill' but a deeper understanding of pathophysiology only comes with more education. To support this belief, the hospital is very generous in tuition reimbursement and offers regular free, inhouse classes for advanced certifications such as the CCRN and CEN. We publicly celebrate nurses achievements and recognize that higher education should be a goal for all. A previous poster had said, "Well, we're all RNs, right"? Well yes, on a very basic level.

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Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

the 2003 aiken study has shown to be flawed with many variables.

(btw..it is aiken...not aitken)

see:

broome, s. phd jama 2004

comeau, c. rn, msn, jama 2004

boggs, g., phd. jama 2004

burger, g. jama 2004

atkins et al. jama 2004

cororan et al. jama 2004

in 2002, aiken did another study (jama 2002) on patient mortality and staffing.

her conclusion then:

"our results document sizable and significant effects of registered nurse staffing on preventable deaths. the association of nurse staffing levels with the rescue of patients with life-threatening conditions suggests that nurses contribute importantly to surveillance, early detection, and timely interventions that save lives. the benefits of improved registered nurse staffing also extend to the larger numbers of hospitalized patients who are not at high risk for mortality but nevertheless are vulnerable to a wide range of unfavorable outcomes. improving nurse staffing levels may reduce alarming turnover rates in hospitals by reducing burnout and job dissatisfaction, major precursors of job resignation. when taken together, the impacts of staffing on patient and nurse outcomes suggest that by investing in registered nurse staffing, hospitals may avert both preventable mortality and low nurse retention in hospital practice.

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