does it really matter where you got your degree from?

[Nolander]

Basically, how serious do employers take it when reviewing where a nurse got there education. For example, assume my situation where I would get an ADN from a community college then a BSN from a somewhat well known university, how would employers see that as compared to someone who had a straight BSN from a large, well known public university?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Correct, but in modern hospitals RNs do not have the time, typically to do tech work.......

I live in a major metro area (Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas). As a cost-saving measure, many of the major hospitals around here do not use techs on the night shift on many units. Therefore, the nurses spend all shift doing 'CNA tasks' in addition to licensed nursing stuff.

I interviewed for a night shift med/surg oncology position at a regional hospital last year. The interviewer told me that I would have 7 to 8 patients each night with no CNA or tech. I declined the offer.

I had an inpatient stay on a women's med/surg unit at a major hospital in Dallas back in late 2008 after undergoing a minor surgical procedure. All of the nurses did basic care and 'tech duties' on me because they had no tech or CNA to do it. My night shift nurse divulged that the unit does not have techs at night, and that they must do total care on their patients.

[mindlor]

i think we all can agree that 7 or 8 patients even with a tech is dangerous and a threat to one's license. I too would have flatly turned down that job offer

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

a few points:

people with better education (or at least thirst for knowledge) are more likely to get work because they tend to avoid errors like "can not" for "cannot," there/their mix-ups and "alot" for "a lot." crank about it all you want, still true.

cna work is helpful for learning the manipulative skills but will not be taken into account as prior experience for an rn position, as even a new rn will get pretty proficient on that stuff pretty fast-- at least as fast as a new cna, and maybe faster.

[mindlor]

a few points:

people with better education (or at least thirst for knowledge) are more likely to get work because they tend to avoid errors like there/their mix-ups and "alot" for "a lot." crank about it all you want, still true.

cna work is helpful for learning the manipulative skills but will not be taken into account as prior experience for an rn position, as even a new rn will get pretty proficient on that stuff pretty fast-- at least as fast as a new cna, and maybe faster.

as always, you are spot on.

[Benedina]

The difference that CNA experience makes in hiring, however, is similar to what difference your choice of school makes. Big difference, no difference, it depends.

At my hospital, where jobs are exceedingly hard to come by, new hire RNs tend to come in two flavors: one, graduates of distinguished schools (UWashington, UAB, John Hopkins, etc.) with several years experience, and, two, RNs prepared at one of the local schools but already working on a hospital floor as a CNA or tech. For this second group, the CNA work counts as a long-term job interview.

Since I attend one of the local schools, I count myself lucky to be working as a CNA on the floor of my choice.

Dianne

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Does a quarterback on an NFL team need running back experience? NO

Does it help? Maybe

A better analogy would be...does having experience as an Assistant Coach help one who is now the Head Coach? Or experience as Assistant Manager helping someone who becomes a Manager. Surely it does. CNA = certified nursing assistant. The jobs have a great deal of overlap...I don't see how it can be said that one has little to do with the other.

[yuzzamatuzz]

At my hospital, where jobs are exceedingly hard to come by, new hire RNs tend to come in two flavors: one, graduates of distinguished schools (UWashington, UAB, John Hopkins, etc.) with several years experience, and, two, RNs prepared at one of the local schools but already working on a hospital floor as a CNA or tech. For this second group, the CNA work counts as a long-term job interview.

I agree entirely. All the nurses I work with currently went to a.) a well known private university or b.) a local school and worked at my hospital as a CNA. I moved from out of state to NYC and I think the school I went to absolutely helped me get job interviews. I think it helped because my school has a very good reputation and my clinicals were at well-known major teaching hospitals. This helped when moving out of state because recruiters and nurse managers knew my school and the hospitals where I did my clinicals even though I wasn't from the area. I also worked as a CNA during school and that definitely came up at all of my interviews. Working as a CNA taught me skills and time management and and was invaluable to my career as a nurse.

Working as a nurse, there are good and bad nurses who went to community colleges and there are good and bad nurses who went to well-known private universities. If you really care about nursing and put the time into studying and into clinicals, then you will be a good nurse regardless of where you went to school. In the long run, I don't think it matters where your degree came from.

[rustynail]

nlnac or ccne is the key, anything else is a mistake

This goes double for Nursing positions with the military. CCNE or NLNAC only!

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

a few points:

people with better education (or at least thirst for knowledge) are more likely to get work because they tend to avoid errors like "can not" for "cannot," there/their mix-ups and "alot" for "a lot." crank about it all you want, still true.

unless things have changed, "can not" and "cannot" are both acceptable ways to write.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

Hmm...a nurse trained at John Hopkins or a nurse for University of Phoenix? I'm going with John Hopkins nurse!

In this competitive age, yes, it is becoming more important. There are so many diploma mill nursing schools that are complete jokes. Better to come from a respected state university or ADN program than to come from a poorly run, for-profit school.

Harsh, but true.

And yeah, BSN is becoming more preferred, but an ADN should land you a decent gig.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

My ADN comes from a school that was not NLNAC accredited and the grads (myself included) had no more trouble than anyone else getting jobs. Can't do military or VA though. This school has a pretty good rep in the area too with a good pass rate.

My BSN is coming from a place that is CCNE though, so it will matter even less.

My gut says that actually colleges/universities "look" better than trade schools, but I don't really know that for a fact.

That is scary. No offense, but your school is not accredited? And people are hiring you? That scares the crap out of me.

[Despareux]

That is scary. No offense, but your school is not accredited? And people are hiring you? That scares the crap out of me.

Why does it scare you? As long as the school is regionally accredited and is eligible to sit for NCLEX, what difference does it make?