Just got my BSN, but I don't feel any smarter

BluegrassRN · Oct 28, 2010

Nope.

What it made me realize is that ADN nurses really get the shaft. I mean, honestly, we covered a lot of that in my ADN program. Public health? Yup. Management? Yup. Theory? Yup. Ethics? Yup.

I basically took a bunch of repetitive classes, with something occasionally new thrown in. I'm almost done with my BSN, and I don't feel that it's been much more than jumping through hoops. How many classes on theory can one take?

In light of my BSN experience, I'm thinking they should just get rid of ADN programs, and have all those community college programs become 4 year programs. Really. If you look at it, ADNs don't go two years, they go at least three (to get their prereqs). Why not just have them take a few more classes, and call it a BSN? Expand some of the classes, add the few that truly are missing, and there you have your four year degree.

SummitRN, BSN, RN · Oct 28, 2010

As with all education, you get out of it what you put into it...

... that said I'm told the RN->BSN experience is very different than the BSN initial licensure experience... but how can one really compare that? Nobody does both!

dazyRN · Oct 28, 2010

I got my BSN in May 2010. They really pushed jobs such as management, supervisor, or case-manager after getting the BSN. They said I would be so much more qualified for those positions and that if I just had the ADN I would not be able to get a position like those. Here I am 5 months later still in the same position I was when I had the ADN degree. I still work as a staff nurse. I am in the master's program now and hoping to get a leadership position but I think I am going to have to wait until I get my master's degree before I will qualify for the positions I really want.

KM9165 · Oct 28, 2010

I got my BSN in May 2010. I already earned a BA (in the 1980s) and then went back for an ADN in 2002.

The hospital where I worked always seemed to look down on the ADNs - it's affiliated with a 4 year university. The hospital now has acquired Magnet status and no longer hires ADNs - including the one's whose education they paid for! In the nurse residency program, the BSNs and the ADNs were separated within the same room, while receiving the same instruction

When I first started as an ADN, I felt like I was treated as 2nd class. I was offended for 2 reasons: first, this was my second college degree. Second, it seems as if every ADN I started with was much better prepared to work at the bedside. The BSN trained nurses would literally stand around and "theorize" instead of providing care! The ADN program I went to was very very difficult, and I felt like I was well-prepared at the start.

That said, I wanted to complete my BSN so that I can work towards an MSN. My RN to BSN education was about 90% worthless to me. Theories have their place, but do not make people better nurses. Yesterday I would have said, "at least I learned APA format" except last night a friend who completed the BSN program with me told me she got a horrible grade on a MSN program paper because here APA style was wrong. She got straight As in the BSN classes.

GQGomer · Oct 28, 2010

Based on the comments re BSN mainly being a lot of additional theoretical coursework, it seems that it's to be expected considering the people who make up the curriculum are most likely in the world of academia (vs the real world of nursing). Professors, in general, are focused on research mainly because they're required to do it (esp if they want tenure...ie a secure job lol) since it's one of the main ways a university drums up outside sources of money. (They usually go begging private industry to fund whatever portion the tax payer doesn't fund...and it's generally in conjunction with some sort of research project). Anyway, it seems the BSN programs would be useful for those planning to pursue a career in research or academia. It might behoove some of those who sit on curriculum committees to put less emphasis on research and more emphasis on physiology and application thereof. That would probably better serve most nurses in actual nursing practice. I imagine most going for BSNs are planning to practice in the real world; whether patient care or management. Research ability and ability to write a good research paper really doesn't serve that population too well. For the majority, it's most likely tantamount to superfilous busy work. To reiterate, the extra emphasis in a BSN program would be better spent on the actual physiology and application thereof (with maybe one or 2 management classes thrown in, but most of that is easily learned on the job). However, when you have people living in the cloistered world of academia, they tend see things from only their perspectives and, in the process, they sometimes lose sight of the "real world." Clinical practice, management, and research are 3 separate enitites. Research should be reserved primarily for those pursuing careers in research (and hence, for those on the PhD track; not those on the DNP track...and it really has no place at the bachelor degree level at all).

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 28, 2010

well, i am almost finished with my bsn through a rn-bsn program too. also, like some of you, i started out as a second career person who already had other degrees. anyway, although my bsn did not teach me anything new about nursing, it has provided me with more opportunities to get the heck out of the rural town where i currently live! :yeah:

in other words, i feel the same as the rest of you. i learned a lot of what i was exposed to in the bsn program from my adn program and working as a nurse. in fact, i think people who originally receive a bsn are very mislead about the preparation of a rn with an adn! they have no idea that rns with adns are exposed to the same information they were exposed but not in as much depth. yes, we were exposed to care plans, theories on genetics, theories on leadership,.. pathophysicology of the human response, pharmacology... and so on. we just did not have to take an entire class on those specific subjects... why not? the nclex is not that in-depth! however, i love my rn-bsn program a great deal!!!

i have much more respect for the nursing profession because of my rn-bsn program and professors. my adn professors were very unprofessional. they were disrespectful to students who performed well and bullies to those who performed poorly (struggled). you were left alone if you were average and tried not to stick out in any way, shape, or form (right, they were not preparing very good future leaders). :uhoh3:

in contrast, my rn-bsn program does not like poor performance and pushes average students to be more! for instance, ambitious hard-working students are rewarded greatly! i have had more opportunities thrown at me then i have time or money to accept!!!! thus, i agree, that my bsn will not make a big change in how i perform by the bedside, but my bsn has made a difference in my future!

right now i am trying to apply to join the army and that organization only accepts bsns on active duty (which was my only original motivation to obtain a bsn). secondly, if i do not get into the army, i am qualified to work elsewhere (places that want work experience + a bsn). not to mention the opportunities i am given through the honor societies (yes multiple....) i was invited to join through my rn-bsn program that will allow me to move out of this backwards rural town to work elsewhere… :up:

as someone else pointed out, the degree does not make the nurse. we have to use our degrees to create something for ourselves. such is the case for all professions. gl! :nurse:

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · Oct 28, 2010

I just want to say that I wanna be like you when I grow up. I'm currently a LPN, will hopefull finish ADN by next year and start BSN after that. Congrats on you BSN.

AOx1 · Oct 28, 2010

Wow, I guess I didn't realize I was "cloistered" and only knew the world of academia. In fact, I take great pains to make sure that while I am teaching full time I am also working a shift each weekend, over my holiday "breaks" and full-time in the summer on the floor so my students will have the best of both worlds. I am also in a full time doctoral program and have served on our curriculum committee for many years, ensuring that the curriculum DOES represent what a nurse will need for practice.

I have RN behind my name the same as any other nurse, and take the role seriously; I am indeed in the "real world" of nursing. The reason you won't find many in teaching is due to several factors: lack of respect and the belief from many that we are not "real" nurses, low pay compared to level of education, and the difficulty of maintaining current practice while working full time and pursuing higher education and conducting research. I still do it because I love nursing and I love my students, NOT because I am divorced from reality in my ivory tower. I do enjoy laughing when people who have never taught advise that teaching is an "easy" job, as I have seen happen recently on this site.

OP- you will likely find in time that your education allows you many more opportunities. During the recession, many facilities (at least in some parts of the country) are hiring BSN-educated nurses preferentially if not exclusively.

txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN · Oct 28, 2010

i was a lvn for 10 years before i got my asn started working on my bsn right away ...will graduate in december.....do i feel smarter...nope just like you i am more aware of research issues, community health and theory...however, i am waiting for the big moment where this bsn will make a difference in my current job....i know it sets me up for more leadership positions and is the stepping stone to a master level education...however, i still do my job based on my adn education...maybe i just don't get it yet....there has to be more to it...

rntim49 · Oct 28, 2010

yup, my BSN has made a huge difference in my life.

I am now $28000.00 deeper in debt :mad: How many of you realize the online school recruiters are like car salesmen?. Paid on commission by the number of students they recruit. Remember the so-called nursing shortage a few years back. Fabricated by the educational institutions to bring in more revenue while the rest of the economy was in shambles. How often do you see a nursing college asking for a bailout? Never!! This was one of the best marketing ideas since the pet rock. Many colleges even have a waiting list. I will bet the automotive industries would love to have a waiting list for their product. The original poster stated she did not feel smarter at all? Maybe she is more prepared for a leadership/management position at best. That degree will never hurt and it is one thing that can never be taken away from you. This educational segregation that devides us will only further contribute to the prejudice that one nurse is better than the next due to letters behind the RN on their badge.( this is where the term dog eat dog came from) This reminds me of the nursing students that feel LTC or home health is a sub par form of nursing and would only consider a hospital. What a joke!!

SnowStar4 · Oct 28, 2010

A degree cannot make you more intelligent. It makes you more knowledgeable.

I hear this a lot though...that the BSN is just hoops to jump through. I also know a lot of hospitals in our area that say ADN trained nurses have much more clinical time and are better prepared skill-wise. It's a trade off.