NJSNA's Explanation: Why pursue BSN? Fellow nurses, what is your reaction?

[firefox828]

I have just read an article from Advance re BSN-in-10 (being pushed in NY & NJ), where 8 nurses voice out their opinions (and everyone agrees to it). When this law takes effect newly licensed RN will have 10 years following initial licensure to attain their BSN; but currently licensed RNs will be exempted.

God knows when/or if it will ever be approved, but out of curiosity, I searched online and found this NJSNA site... http://www.njsna.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=380

These 2 answers bother me . I don't agree that having a BSN degree would make a nurse more competent in handling patients and better in problem solving, decision making and communication skill.

An excerpt...

• So then, what is the added value of a BSN?

The BSN provides the practice skills that allow an

RN

to rescue a complex patient whose condition begins to deteriorate in subtle and complicated ways.

• Why isn't experience more important than the BSN?

Each

RN

's experience is different and inconsistent throughout their years of practice. BSN curriculums have provided a reliable way for the

RN

to obtain the problem solving, decision making and communication skills crucial to patient care outcomes.

What is your opinion, fellow nurses?

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

We have a forum just for these types of discussions, which is where I'm going to move this post.

Check out this discussion, as well as the other posts. There are lots of opinions about this topic. https://allnurses.com/forums/f283/true-bsn-will-mandatory-soon-87404.html

[wonderbee, BSN, RN]

The BSN is paid the same as the ADN with the same career path up to a point. The difference lies in advance practice and upper management. There's no getting there without the MSN. We need to be pursuing that MSN so that nurses can be funded as direct care givers through medicare and insurance.

It's going to be hard to achieve given the current shortage of practicing nurses that are needed at the bedside. At the bedside, it doesn't matter and it may even be that diploma and ADN nurses fare better due to increased clinical experience.