As someone who is about to complete medical school, and who went through nursing school for a BSN, the knowledge gap between the two is exponential. In light of recent arguments made by militant nurses who argue that the required nursing courses to complete an associates degree or BSN is just as good as medical school. First you take an A&P, 101 course on microbiology, a introductory 12 week course in "orgo/gen chem, Biochem" all combined superficially in 12 weeks, 12 week course in Pathophysiology 101.
Looking back those courses, they were very superficial at the amount of knowledge required to pass. Those science courses were no where near the complexity that medical schools dig into, where things get broken down into the mechanism of protein structures that allow them to function a certain way. With out understanding the complexities of the inner workings of what actually occur at the cellular level, you can't begin to understand what went wrong when the ALGORITHM they are trained to follow doesn't go according to plan. Then comes the nursing courses, and the "clinicals" that they do. The actual nursing courses were good enough to understand and complete NURSING tasks. They were not good enough to treat and effectively manage complex disease, but when I was a nursing student at that time I thought I knew just as much as a doctor, and I was dead wrong. The clinicals were a joke, you passed out meds,maybe gave a few injections, changed wet diapers on incontinent patients, and followed the orders given by the doctor.
I am all about advanced education, but there is NO DIFFERENCE in the fundamental knowledge between a RN VS BSN other than some "nursing research courses and fluff to get fancy titles like clinical nurse specialist, or infection control specialist" but the core principles are EXACTLY THE SAME. So when they claim they have a BSN not an associates in nursing, there is NO difference, and I dare you to find me a BSN who would say there is.
Something else that ticks me off I hear from nurses trying to be MD's is " I have 15+ years in the ICU, ER, or MED/SURG floor," that counts as more education like a residency. Good for you! But, when I worked as a nurses assistant for 5+ years I didn't claim to know or be equivalent to a RN just because I saw what they did, and helped them carry out orders. How would NURSES like it if LPN's claimed to be EQUIVALENT to RN's/BSN's? Probably wouldn't go well. I am not knocking down the profession of nursing, what I am annoyed with is NURSES/NP's claiming to be equivalent to MD's. You are not, you were trained in the NURSING SCOPE of practice.
I love nurses, yes I would trust a seasoned ICU nurse's opinion vs a Freshly minted MD out of med school in July as an Intern, but I guarantee that by the end of 3-4 months of intern year, his knowledge base will increase exponentially to surpass that of any ICU nurse due to his knowledge base gained from 8 years of education that doesn't stop during residency, and now applying it daily as a intern. So nurses I beg you to please just work within your scope as a nurse, and stop trying to claim equivalency through studies "propaganda" funded by the militant nurses association.
Surely you understand there is a HUGE difference between the debates RN vs. MD and NP vs. PA, though, right? NP vs. PA could actually be a lengthy and valid topic to bring up because they are both similar in scope and practice. RN and MD are completely different.
Yes, I do. I also stated NO opinion on debate of RN vs. MD vs. NP vs. PA. That was not what I was debating.
If you read my post, you will see I was responding to FlyingScot's question of,
"Please link the posts that outright state anywhere that any nurse on this forum has said that a BSN is equivalent to medical school."
This topic was the closest to what the OP asserted. It is quite possible that the OP was referring to this post and someone might remember it.
Yes, I do. I also stated NO opinion on debate of RN vs. MD vs. NP vs. PA. That was not what I was debating.
If you read my post, you will see I was responding to FlyingScot's question of,
"Please link the posts that outright state anywhere that any nurse on this forum has said that a BSN is equivalent to medical school."
This topic was the closest to what the OP asserted. It is quite possible that the OP was referring to this post and someone might remember it.
I understand clearly what you were saying and know you were not contributing an opinion. I was saying that NP vs. PA is not at all a valid comparison to what is being discussed in this thread. Never mind - wasn't important.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
>several replies early in the thread saying don't feed the troll
>this is post 43
I don't think the troll is being fed very well because virtually nobody, with the exception of a couple of respondents, has bestowed any genuine credibility upon his clownish arguments and idiotic assertions.
There are professional rabble-rousers, and there are rookies. I think 'rookie' is too polite of a label to attach to the rabble-rouser who started this discussion because he failed to incite the flame war he was initially seeking. However, it's been amusing!
I don't think the troll is being fed very well because virtually nobody, with the exception of a couple of respondents, has bestowed any genuine credibility upon his clownish arguments and idiotic assertions.
Agreed! Feeding a troll requires argument. The OP made a personal attack directed toward the masses, but I think ultimately the expectation was that we would grab our pitchforks and proclaim the superiority of nurses, which hasn't happened.
In these instances, the good, old fashioned ridiculous hijacking works quite nicely.
banterings
278 Posts
Yes, I do. I also stated NO opinion on debate of RN vs. MD vs. NP vs. PA. That was not what I was debating.
If you read my post, you will see I was responding to FlyingScot's question of,
"Please link the posts that outright state anywhere that any nurse on this forum has said that a BSN is equivalent to medical school."
This topic was the closest to what the OP asserted. It is quite possible that the OP was referring to this post and someone might remember it.