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Nurses Activism

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I watched many nurses give testimoney before the Pa House Subcomitte on Health on the Pennsylvania Cable Network channel tonight. There were a lot of different subjects discussed and most of the people testifying had a lot of letters behind their names. The letters are fine but I wished they would include a few people who had recently had blood on their shoes and vomit on their uniforms. Anyway, I had no problem with what any of them were saying not even the stuff about one level of entry. No problem until a representative of the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing gave testimony. I am ADN nurse and when she got done talking about us and our programs I felt like an ape in a uniform. Tell me did anyone else see it. How did her talk strike you? What did you make about those remarks about ADN programs being responsible for the drop in registration in BSN programs. Or laying the fault for the average age of a nurse being about 45 at the door of the ADN program. I do not think there is a shred of evidence for any such thing. Do you know what this woman wants? She wants all nursing students to be 18 to 22 years old and from comfortably middle class predominately white families. Why do I say that? Well she out and out made the remark about 18 to 22 year olds and if they all must go to 4 year programs(which will likely turn into 5 years) they are going to need families with money. She actually spoke as if a nurse being age 33 on graduation was a tragedy. :( ( That is how old I was when I graduated. ) I will tell you her name because I think that anyone who gives testimony on public television can be mentioned in public. It was Lynette Jack. When this woman was done testifying I felt physically sick, denigrated, disparaged and defamed. Talk about lateral violence.

If I remember correctly they said you will get 6 years after the law is passed to upgrade to BSN. I think the plan is to make two levels of nurses. A technical nurse with an ADN that has gone to school for two years and a four year professional nurse with a BSN. It will be very easy(they say)to upgrade to BSN. I am not sure how they plan on working the whole thing out. I guess the LPN schools and ADN programs will intergrate. All in all it is a very ambitious plan because it will take years to pass and years to impliment. I am sure I will be on Social Security when it comes to pass. My biggest fear is that that many experienced people who do not care to go back to school could be left standing out in the cold with obsolete licenses that have been legislated out of existance. They are talking about a grandfather clause but I got such contemtuous vibes from the academians that I fear the worst. The reason I almost went into shock when I heard them talking about this stuff is that I had no idea what they were planing. Thank goodness for public hearings. I wish I could see a copy of the complete bill to see how what is written compares to what was said.

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I hate to hear things like this. Unfortunately, I did not see this and I wish I had. Oramar, please lose that image in your head as an ape in a uniform and picture this woman as an ape with a microphone! She is waaaay off base.

I feel that IF things change and other programs are phased out or changed to direct-entry BSN, why let it affect our ADN, diploma, etc. nurses who are already working? Offer incentive to go back, but allow them to stay as is, if they so choose? I have learned so much from my fellow nurses who are more experienced than I am (I graduated in May), regardless of their degree or license.

Also, WHY WHY WHY make "older" people feel they are not wanted or needed in the nursing profession??? Many have been stay at home parents, or had their circumstances change, or made a career change and would make wonderful nurses. This is outrageous to me also...and I am an RN.

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:( I would like to say something on the subject of 2 vs 3 vs 4 year programs. I am proud to say I am a DIPLOMA nurse. I have been a nurse for over 10 years, and I still feel I got a tremendous education. By the time I left "NURSING SCHOOL" I was working as a student 40 hours a week bedside. I felt much more comfortable than my counterparts from a four year degree program. I think it really doesn't matter where you graduated from we all have to take the same test to be competent in nursing. I don't want to go into administration, therefore I don"t feel I need to get my BSN. I do however have one pet peeve~I work with two other nurses in my department, I have been here longer, I have more experience I feel I am an excellent nurse, as does my supervisor, but they get paid more for the initials after thier name!:(
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Oramar, copy these posts, especially your first one here, put them all in a nice sized envelope & send them to Ms Lynette Jack's supervisor (the head of her dept) at that University. Send another packet of these copies to the Subcommittee chairman that had to listen to her BS. You can contact your representative on the subcommittee & set him straight - just for good measure.

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Oramar, I did not see this speech. If I had, I'd probably have gone ballistic on the age matter. I am 45 years old and just starting my final two years of a BSN program. It took years to get this far because we moved so often that I had to retake credits that wouldn't transfer.

Anyway, I tried to apply to the ADN program at the college where we now live. Even with 4.0 gpa and higher level science courses than they required, they wouldn't take my Literature credits, and the advisor told me there was no way I could take those classes in time to qualify for the following year. It turned out she outright lied to me-I could have easily fit it into my part-time schedule. Later I found out that a woman who is older than me did make it into the program, but the same advisor was strongly discouraging her-said there were other ADN programs in the area, even BSN programs that would be happy to take her. She never came out and said it was an age thing, but there isn't another woman under 25 in that program this year. I wish I'd had documented proof of this. We old folks deserve some consideration. We might even have something to offer.

Thanks for letting me vent.:)

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Ormar:

Thanks for keeping me up to date re PCN hearings. I contacted them: they do not have transcrpits ; video tapes are available at $46.00 (ouch!). Contact them at:http://www.pcntv.com/.

I've discovered my 15yo TV won't set me tune into Channel 76(Comcast channel coveering PCN in my area. Check BR TV only to find local area programing on channel 76 at 8AM today. Had taped PCN supposedly on channel 10 (per cable listing) ony to find 2 hrs of township postings. LOL.

Have concerns re University professors downing ADN programs...only program many persons able to afford to gain entry to nursing profession. HOWEVER, also see that no other PROFESSION has this as an entry level and occasional have seen nurses educated at this level looking at nursing from one perspective only instead of seeing the broad array of nursing career choices, various levels of practice, practice settings and responsibility on a global perspective etc.

Looking at the posts on this nursing you get a sense of so many avenues that nursing is practiced in: it's just not hospitals and nursing homes!

I do feel that we would strengthen our profession to deal with today's very complex care by having only two practice routes for

initial licensure. All nurses would start in ADN program with licensure as LPN; you would continue on for RN at the BSN level if desired. We would have well rounded staff with increased status for LPNs...many nurses already take two years to get their LPN with required prerequisites in some areas.

Grandfathering would occur for those nurses already licensed as RN's with ADN (maybe add one additional course available via day/evening/internet on current nursing issues/ update on legal problems/nursing theory/management). Currently licensed LPN's would be grandfathered with additional course on nursing theory/IV administration. This will eliminate jumble of courses so many take to acheive the BSN, streamline admission standards, increase professionalism and salaries.

Just some ideas from a former LPN who became an RN "so I could get paid for what all I was doing as an LPN, stop having to halt work to call for an RN everytime I needed IV started/ IVPush drug given/blood administered". I learned so much more about the practice of nursing especially legal/professional ramifications of my actions in my BSN program. I am continually learning new things almost every day...even after ~ 25 years of combined practice.

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

When I was a student (@ Our Lady of Lourdes in Camden, NJ, NRSKarenRN), they were saying the exact same things! We were going to have to be "Technical Nurse Crappies", as one of my classmates called it, and the ONLY entry-into-practice as a professional was BSN!

My point is: THE EXACT SAME WORDS!!! That was in 1966 or 67! And these academicians simply don't have a clue now and they didn't have one then either. :eek:

Hopefully, I really will be out to pasture by then--I would like a degree, but not in nursing!

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Hi Folks. My impression from listening to the program was that the BSN requirement for RN is a plan for the future of nursing which will not affect diploma and assoc. RNs working now. I didn't feel that the speakers were degrading non BSNs but that they were trying to come up with a way to encourage us to further our education for the sake of the profession. Honestly it sounds good but the reality of it is that nursing is an undesirable career choice for young people and the idea of making it harder to be an RN is almost like using reverse psychology to make people think there is something worth sacrificing and going tremendously in debt for. The nursing profession is a painted turd and no matter how you paint it it's still a turd. Do you think hospitals are going to say:"Gee these nurses worked so hard and have 50K+ in student loan debt. We are going to have to pay them at least what engineers and other "professionals" make!" I highly doubt it. The future BSNs of America will be standing there clutching their degrees like many of us saying "I'VE BEEN HAD"!

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I would like to add a couple of comments about doing the "BSN" thing. I too am an AD nurse with 26 yrs experience. I have strongly considered working toward a BSN, but why do we have to "challenge" what we know or take the classes again. Why do they make it so difficult to achieve the BSN. Looking at other fields and comparing nursing it seems to me that we are made to do so much more in education than other fields...does anyone see it like that. Then on top of it, you are not reimbursed for it. Florence Nightingale died long ago. Yes, there are nurses out there that feel the "call" to nursing, but in today's world we have to be realistic. My opinion...Karen:confused:

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Hi Karen. I am a diploma graduate with a BSN, and you're correct, it was a pain to challenge information I already knew. But, in reading some of the posts on this bb, other posters are writing that there are ways to get your BSN or go from ADN to MSN without all the headaches that many of us endured some years ago. Keep looking around, maybe you'll find one of those programs around your area or on line. I don't know the criteria for any specific BSN or MSN programs. Does anyone know the criteria for Excelsior (formerly Regents College)?

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