Please clarify degree types!

ayndim · Jul 8, 2004

Hello, I'm new here and planning to return to school this fall with the intention of becoming an RN. I am getting confused with all the different titles and degree types & I'm hoping someone would please clarify for me the difference between a Bachelor of Nursing and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing & what diffrence it makes when you are looking for work or wanting to apply to a Masters program.
Also, is an Associates Degree the same thing as a Diploma in Nursing?
Thank you very much!
trees

A Bachelor of Nursing and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing are the same. I may be wrong but I don't know of any universities that grant Bachelor of Arts in Nursing. An Associates degree and diploma aren't the same thing as far as I know. I don't know alot about diploma in Nursing but I believe they are usually run by hospitals. Don't have any in my area.

Don't know that what kind of school/degree you have matters much in the beginning. If you want to go on to grad school you will need some type of Bachelor degree. Also, I think some mgmt positions require a BSN. Some places pay a measly amount more for the BSN, one hospital in my area give a wooping 13 cents more an hour. But the program for BSN is $7,000 more than ADN. And if you have your ADN that same hospital will pay for your BSN, which is a one year bridge, taught right at the hospital. Going right for the BSN may be the shorter route but some of us have to pay out of pocket for school and are doing an ADN first then letting our employers pay for the ADN to BSN. Just depends on your individual situation. The cc's are alot easier for scheduling when you are a non-traditional student.

LisaG21 · Jul 8, 2004

what is a certified in board or something...is that a masters degree?

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Jul 8, 2004

what is a certified in board or something...is that a masters degree?

MSN ----- APRN,BC = Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, Board Certified

BSN ----- RN,BC = Registered Nurse, Board Certified

RN,CNA,BC = Registered Nurse, Certified in Nursing Administration, Board Cert.

RN,CNAA,BC = Registered Nurse, Certified in Nursing Administration, Advanced, Board Certified

ASN/Diploma -----RN,C = Registered Nurse, Certified

These are ANCC (American Nurses Credentialing Center) specialty certifications

Various specialty certification exams are available, depending on level of education.

Katnip, RN · Jul 8, 2004

A Diploma in Nursing is offered, not through a college or university, but through a hospital based program. Usually they last about 3 years. It's a little harder to find such programs these days than it used to be. When you graduate, you receive a diploma, not a degree, but still qualify to take you NCLEX.

CNA can also mean Certified Nursing Assistant. Program lengths vary from a couple of weeks to a month or so. These are not nurses, and do not require a license, but do have a certification and are registered with the BON.

Having an RN or LPN behind your name means you took and passed the NCLEX exam required by each state Board of Nursing, or BON. That gives you a license to practice nursing in that state.

More and more states are becoming compact states which means you can practice in any of those states under one license rather than apply for a new one each time you move. You don't have to retake the test, just pay apply for a new one.

Certification means you take more exams to get certified in your specialty(ies) of choice. CCRN is for critical care nurses, CEN is for emergency nursing. I just about every specialty has the opportunity to become certified now, including MEd/surg, which is as it should be.

sweetcheekers · Jul 8, 2004

I just received my LPN diploma from our local community college nursing program.:balloons: (It is a two year program to attain RN). When I am finished this spring I will receive my ADN (Associates Degree in Nursing) which will qualify me to take the RN boards. Our school also offers a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) through an articulation agreement with University of Iowa college of Nursing where you attend the local community college one day a week for one year (classes are taught by U of I instructors and that is where your BSN comes from). So, you can get a diploma from a college rather than just hospital programs, at least here. It is not the same as a degree. Here the degree takes two years and that is when you get your RN status.(After you pass the state boards, of course :)

trees · Jul 8, 2004

Before I came on this site I hadn't thought there were more than one type of nursing degree, (besides advanced types likes masters etc.) until someone on this board said that a particular distance learning university would only give you a bachelors in nursing while if you went to a traditional school you would get a bachelors of science in nursing. That's where I got confused!

Thanks for all the other info too. There are so many acronyms it's hard for us newbies to know what's going on!

As far as Associates degrees go, I'd never heard of that before so I assumed it was the same as the nursing diploma here in Canada. Diplomas here are earned at college but they're being discouraged as far as I know because employers are requiring degrees more and more very quickly.

Dixiedi · Jul 8, 2004

A Bachelor of Nursing and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing are the same. I may be wrong but I don't know of any universities that grant Bachelor of Arts in Nursing. An Associates degree and diploma aren't the same thing as far as I know. I don't know alot about diploma in Nursing but I believe they are usually run by hospitals. Don't have any in my area.
....
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From what I've been hearing from new and recent "diploma" students most of the hospitals in my general area are now associated with a local college and a graduate that would have once been a diploma RN now has an AD or BSN. The really great thing about this is they still have all the benefits of the diploma clinicals which has historically been more extensive, and therefore, IMHO, better.