"Don't waste your time getting your BSN..."

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People are always trying to tell me that I am going to waste my time by not stopping after getting my ASN. They say that getting your BSN just gets you management positions and that it does not pay more. I am going for my masters so I can be a CNM, so I have to have my BSN anyway but, how could it be true that a person with a BSN gets the same as a person with a ASN? (Aside from the fact that working in different dept can make a difference)

Specializes in pacu, icu, med aesthetics, massause.
People are always trying to tell me that I am going to waste my time by not stopping after getting my ASN. They say that getting your BSN just gets you management positions and that it does not pay more. I am going for my masters so I can be a CNM, so I have to have my BSN anyway but, how could it be true that a person with a BSN gets the same as a person with a ASN? (Aside from the fact that working in different dept can make a difference)

I disagree, even though I was not going to get paid more for having a BSN I continued and got it , yea depending on what state you live in you may get paid more for it, I never and do not want to be in management, but on my 'burn out' hiatist I did start my own massage company using knowledge from my BSN, now I am working at a hospital in a state that doesn't pay for having a BSN and I negotiated a 2% increase in hourly. I was chosen over other applicants when I was a traveling nurse and now in the future if I should choose to go back to school and get MSN it will be that much closer ---so look @ the long run -- you will be put on the top of a pile of applicants and you never know what or where you may want your nursing career to take you. GOOOO 4 IT!!!! Not only will you have that extra creditialing, you can pride yourself on futhuring your education. BSN is not just for management !!!

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I agree that a BSN should be an entry level degree for the professional nurse. I also beleive that wages would be higher and the profession would be taken more seriously. Nursing is not taken seriously enough and that is a big problem. If time and finances permit I feel that all RN's should be required to have an entry levle BSN degree. Sorry. Oh I am a mother of three graduating 12/17/05 with my BSN and I started out as a LPN but wanted more out of nursing than just bedside nursing my LTG is CCRN-APN.

You say you want more out of nursing than "Bed side nursing"! I've done management, nursing ed , CQI and work as preceptor, charge nurse etc. Many of us want more from nursing than all of this . The true test to being a nurse IS bed side nursing. To sum it up, I want more from nursing than just management. I want to change peoples lives not hospital BS.:icon_roll

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I think its nice getting your adn first and working right away and then getting your bsn online.

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Specializes in ER NICU Tele PACU PSy ICU PICU.

I got my LVN at 18... 5 out of 25 made it through the class This was back when i got sent home for a scuff on my white shoes and a skirt that was 1/4" too high. 2 of us were 18. 4 of us now have our BSNs. 3 are &/or have been instructors.

25 yrs (one day and semester at a time)...ADN to BSN to MA. I have taught 16 year olds in the new research programs to introduce nursing in high schools. 1 out of 25 could "do it". I have taught folks from that age up to 55 in BSN programs. 15-18 out of 25 make it through those. Each student...each class had a different set of skills and views. Each individual wanted and used a different part of her brain. Each one was needed, each one was used and needed by the individual patients and their individual needs. Each step I took, led me to the next level. I was supposed to enter a BSN to MSN bridge and didn't... and paid for it later (still paying and paying and paying...) But I "wasn't there yet" so... oh-well.

I NEVER wanted to be an intructor or in management but there came a time when touching 40-100 lives a day compared to 2-7 to 12 per day became more important. I adore bediside nursing and being an instructor affords me that 10 times over! Management does the same some-what, I have found, as a resource person to new nurses and folks on the floor....It is a pain to be mid-managment or an intructor and "take the heat" from all sides but.... Someone with a MORAL COMPASS NEEDS TO DO IT!

I am grateful to be in a profession that needs us all ,whatever our views and education.

We used to get paid differentials for each level, each ACLS ..each Cert.

That went away in the 90's for most of us. I have been through total burn out 4 times and made it through a better nurse each time. On-line degrees weren't around for me. I reserched BSN "cluster programs" (weekends) and drove 250-500 miles to get it all done. Total actual education semester time for LVN to BSN was 3 years...it took me 12 years while I worked full time thru it all. I just kept going! My fondest memories are from the 6 LVN years.

The LVN,ADN, BSN debate has raged for 25 years. I walked thru it all. LVNs,ADNs weren/aren't supposed to be in ER,ICus and surgery...but they ARE & pretty awesome.In a perfect world we could all afford the BSN time and money wise.(My strange head always interjected "and then we would all be little copies of each other") In a perfect world ....hospitals would be run by nurses ...Ahhh...in a perfect world....

I have seen the ego trips of so many. From those who can calculate mcgs/kg in their heads (ADN), folks with photographic memories who can recite the creb cyle (BSN) and the contraindications pharmacy charts(MSN), to an entire floor sitting in the break-room with 1 nurse working 6 cases because the MD only "trusted her"(Diploma). I have been told my standards were too high by a Safe Harbor committee (LVN

What I know in my knower: Each nurse IS special no matter what. We all have something to contribute. The mcg/kg nurse may not be the one who can mix and set up the drip TO THE CORRECT LINE in under 3 minutes (true story)! The drip nurse may not be the one who needs the "overly concerned family" patient...etc

What they taught me in BSN school: The definition of a professional nurse is someone with high integrity who knows her assets and limitations as well as those of her team and completes excellent patient care using that knowledge. What a concept!!!

What I learned with age:My limitations will continue until I have learned all that I need and then, and only then, the "Cognitive leap" will happen. I leap a little sooner than others in some areas and a little, to a lot later in other areas.

What makes a nurse: a nurses heart and dedication "to meet the challenge", Few can truly understand unless you are one.

My advice on education and continuing an education:

  1. Stay non-biased in all you see & hear(and include this in your reactions to your fellow nurses). Value each person individually. We all pull ego trips...we are human.
  2. Get on a commitee,You have something to contribute.Find what interests you
  3. Journal and do not "measure/judge" yourself except against yourself
  4. Consider the concept that there is no right or wrong...only lessons..and some of those lessons will level your ego and be incredibley painful but you will learn from them and you CAN go on.
  5. Do not buy into the fear & panic of loosing your job because of the letters behind your name. (unless you are not doing what you know you should be etc...) Fear is a horrid way to live a life.
  6. If you "aren't there yet" you are exactly where you are supposed to be for now. Bloom to your fullest. Be open to the next turn in the road
  7. Follow what interests you while maintaining your moral compass.....Walk in the direction of YOUR dream...how and when you get there will be the most amazing journey !

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mount st marys ?

Don't let anyone tell you that any education is a waste of time.

Right now, I'm going for my BSN because it would take me just as long or longer to get an ADN, by the time you account for pre-requisites and the waiting list. I've been told by many people that my education is a waste of money, not exactly time. I'll be going to a small women's Catholic college this fall out in West L.A. It's quite expensive, but it is the best possible school for me.

I think it's wonderful that you want to be a CNM. I've considered that, too. Where do you want to go for grad school?

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Let me first start out by saying I am an ASN RN plannining on going onto at least my BSN. My feeling is that if we want to be taken seriously as a profession, a BSN should be the entry level. All other professionals recieve 4 year degrees. By only requiring 2 years or worse dimploma nurses- we are lumped into all the other technical fields- mechanics, electricians, hairdressers. Not to knock anyone at all...but, we are medical professionals who take people's lives into our hands everyday and I would personally feel better if all nurses had 4 years of college. You need four years to be a teacher, an accountant, or a biologist...why not nurse? I know this is a huge debate with many contributing factors- the nursing shortage, the lack of nursing intructors, ect...but I wanted to open it up to debate! I think this requirement would earn us more respect and maybe more wage. I know my program lacked some basic science, health promotion and maintainance, assessment and pharmacology classes that would have better prepared me as a nurse. My whole class felt lacking in Pharmacology and demanded the class be added only to be told there was no room in our 2 year program. This is just one school, but; I'm sure there are others out there with the same problem. What ever you decide...education is never a waste of time and money!

Worse yet diploma nurses, Are you kidding me?

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Worse yet diploma nurses, Are you kidding me?

I don't think the poster is implying that diploma nurses are poorly trained or that the nurses are "worse"... she's talking about the public perception of what it takes to be a nurse and the implied responsibilities therein.

The thought is that teachers, accountants, etc require bachelor's degrees but nursing doesn't so a person is apt to conclude that nurses don't need to know as much or have as much responsibility as teachers, accountants, etc.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

Speaking as a dilpoma nurse who now has a BSN, I would say that most of my BSN classes were easy, irrelevant and basically useless compared to the excellent education I received from my diploma program. It did not make be a better nurse, a more critical thinker or more respected among my peers or the public. It just cost a lot of money. I had to get it for the job I wanted but it did not make me better at my job

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Specializes in Nurse Anesthesia, ICU, ED.
Speaking as a dilpoma nurse who now has a BSN, I would say that most of my BSN classes were easy, irrelevant and basically useless compared to the excellent education I received from my diploma program. It did not make be a better nurse, a more critical thinker or more respected among my peers or the public. It just cost a lot of money. I had to get it for the job I wanted but it did not make me better at my job

But, how many years of experience did you bring with you to school? To me as a second degree/career nurse, none of the classes offered in any program, whether diploma, associate's, or bachelor's would have been easy or irrevelant. Also, would you say that getting the BSN was worth it as you needed it to transition to this new job?

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Thank you soooo much Instuctormack. You are a true blessing to the nursing profession.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I wanted to work in school nursing which required a BSN plus an additional 9 credits to get my school nurse certification. Again, I truly believe that none of these other classes prepared me more for this job or made me a better nurse. They just cost me money. I love what I do and I love that I am able to make a difference in kid's lives, but the education did not help-it was just a means to the end I wanted. I still remain highly insulted by the "worse yet, a diploma nurse" comment.

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Just a question to consider... would you mind if school teachers didn't need a college degree? Personally, I wouldn't mind if the teacher were good. I'd still want teacher training to be mandatory. But really, why would a teacher NEED a college degree to teach elementary school or basic subjects to older students?

I think we're in a time of great educational flux and there's no telling how it will all pan out in the long run.

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