RN with a BA or a BS and a Master's wants a BSN?

[NewMexicoJohn]

I am sure there are other RNs out there who may already have a BA or a BS degree in another field, and some of us even have Master's degrees in other related healthcare fields. Some employers will not recognize any other BA or BS degrees even though the same upper level nursing courses may have been completed. There are many programs on line to take students from RN to BSN but none exist that will take a student from RN-BA/BS to BSN. The problem is that every university wants you to spend a least 30-38 hours at their facility taking (and paying for) their credits before they will issue a degree (one can understand why). Therefore, it's advisable not to spend the time, money, and effort to get the BSN if you already have an RN and a BA or BS in another field. For those of you who are already Master's prepared, it's again probably not feasible to spend the time and $ to get another advanced degree unless you want to teach. Many university hospitals, the VA, and others recognize Master's degrees in other fields, particularly if they are health care related. Other hospitals are changing their policies to reflect an RN who is Bachelor prepared (assuming the same upper level nursing courses have been taken). That means, you can have a BA in psychology, take an accredited Associates program in Nursing, and then just take the upper level nursing courses (there are only usuallly 3 classes), and they will honor the BA or BS degree along with your RN and your associates as a BSN. Times are changing and the nursing field is slow to catch up with the rest of Academia but it's happening slowly.

Consider why you want the BSN. If it is a hopsital requirement, if you delve further, they usually are looking for Bachelor prepared professionals, not always strictly a BSN. I do know that RNs with Master's degrees in other fields cannot teach at accredited schools of nursing at this time HOWEVER, there is discussion of that changing, particularly if the degree is in a related health care field such as Radiology, Pharmacy, Nutrition, Physical Therapy, etc. There are a lot of "cross-disciplinary" RNs out there now who have degrees from other health care fields along with their RN degrees. Hang in there. Times are changing. On line programs are being created every month to tailor a solution for everyone. The most important thing is to make sure you have the same upper and lower division NURSING classes as a BSN prepared nurse. If you have that, you'll be well positioned.