Nursing makes me nuts!!!!

[ksc0723]

I have a question for all of you out there.

Why don't all nursing programs adn/bsn/NP/CNS/CRNA etc have the same requirements for admission? For example, medical school has the same requirements for everyone and a universal, one stop shop admission process for every single program. Literally the same process for every single program that exists from application and prereq requirements, to essay and MCAT, secondary essays, interviews and so on. No surprises. PA program application is just about the same.

Yet every program from associate's to doctorate level for nursing is completely different in every way possible from school to school and program to program.

I have an AAS in nursing and wanted to shoot myself when I was applying for schools in different states and even different schools in the same city with all the different requirements. To me this makes it seem like nursing education from an admission standpoint on all levels is very disorganized. Why is it set up this way and not more streamlined like medical school and PA school admissions?? Since competition is steep and only getting worse, one would think you would apply to more than one program in an application cycle at all nursing degree levels from programs in different cities and different states. Yet, one program or two or five could require 8 different things to qualify for admission whether it be extra classes, experience, entrance testing letters or rec etc.

[tswim]

Part of the reason for such variation in admission requirements is what was stated in one of the first posts- RN programs can be associate, bachelors, masters, and diploma- these can last from 12 mos to 4 years, even those towards the same degree. And, as someone else stated, an MD is an MD- it's 4 years everywhere.

Also, there are about 130 US Medical Schools, and over 1000 RN programs. In Texas alone, there are over 100 RN programs...

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Part of the reason for such variation in admission requirements is what was stated in one of the first posts- RN programs can be associate, bachelors, masters, and diploma- these can last from 12 mos to 4 years, even those towards the same degree.

I don't think anyone doesn't expect differences between diploma, ASN, BSN, MSN, etc. ... but it would be nice if there were at least some similarities within each degree or level! I had a spreadsheet of 27 different programs when I was looking for an RN-BSN program in 2008, and I had to make that spreadsheet in part to keep track of all the different requirements for each.

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

personally i think its because of how many people want to be nurses and how many nurses they would be turning out if it were as simple as 1+1=2

if everybody could take x number of classes and x number of people were selected each semester, the market would be flooded with even more nurses than there already are! people aren't clamoring to become doctors because it takes 10 years but hmmmm i can be a nurse and possibly make $30+/hr after only two years????

honestly i think these hurdles are in place for a reason....anybody ever research how difficult it is to get into police academies or firefighting academies....how hard it is to become a carpenter...plumber etc etc. academically these aren't the most difficult jobs but they pay well and don't take years of schooling or talent so there's always all these tests and requirements in order to whittle down the pool of prospective job seekers. these screwed up policies are in place to create some balance.

[an2on, BSN, RN]

I don't agree. I looked at a few medical schools and they all had different requirements. Some required certain course over others.

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

State nurse practice acts vary in what each level of nursing is allowed to do (an LPN in one state may have a larger scope of practice than a LPN in another), and I think that feeds into a lot of the variation you see. Also, a school can be CCNE or NLNAC accredited (or both), and NLNAC requires different things than a CCNE accreditation. It's not necessarily like comparing apples and oranges, but it's more like oranges, grapefruit and lemons.