I have a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism degree, then decided later in life to go back to school to become a Registered Nurse. I took all of my pre-reqs and completed an 18-month Associate of Science in Nursing program at Harcum College, finished with a 3.3 GPA, and passed my NCLEX-RN with 75 questions on my first try.
I was fortunate enough to be working as a Patient Care Associate (PCA) at a magnet hospital and I was able to get a position as an RN immediately. Since I have started working though, the hospital has been breathing down my neck about when I will be going back to school to get my BSN. I was even told in my interview that I was "lucky" because I was the "only nurse who was being interviewed who did not have a bachelor's degree." This was very offensive to me, and I quickly reminded her that I DO have a bachelor's degree, and that it should count for something. Either way, I got the job and it all worked out.
Now that I am actively seeking a program to go back to school for my BSN, I often find that I will need to go back to school for ANOTHER two years (at least!). I feel that, since I have a bachelor's degree and also have an associate's degree, the pressure to obtain a BSN is kind of silly. Some schools even require that I complete MORE pre-reqs before I am even eligible to apply to their program.
I also wish there were more programs for RNs with bachelor's in another field who would like to bridge into an MSN program. I have found a few programs like this at Thomas Jefferson University (which recently closed this program), and Marquette University (in Wisconsin, and I live in NJ!). I also run into issues with the fact that I do not do well in online classes, and would prefer to remain in the classroom setting.
Is anyone else encountering issues like this? I truly believe that a bachelor's in another field, if juxtaposed with an associate's in nursing and a valid nursing license, should qualify for magnet hospitals.
Any thoughts, feedback, or advice would be greatly appreciated!
Krista
**I placed this topic in the "healthcare politics" section because I really do believe that that's exactly what this is... POLITICS. It doesn't matter that I am a hard worker or that I am an exceptional nurse, all that matters to the "magnet hospitals" is that I have my BSN. I just don't think it's fair.
thts's amazing. i think i hv seen u on one of harcum's you tube vdo. I am waiting to hear from harcum. for fall 2015. also, Nce to hear a success story. Thankx 4 sharing.
If an employer tells you they prefer to hire BSNs over ADNs, they will prefer to maintain the BSNs and in the event of future layoffs, ADNs will be treminated over BSNs. It is up to the individual nurse to understand employment trends and aquire any education that is necessary to remain competitive in the job market.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
A very bright young nurse I have the pleasure of working with almost makes me feel sorry for the BSN RNs. She is a graduate of a public ADN program that cost around $10K.
Before graduation she was hired into our hospital's 8 month critical care nurse residency program, For a year she concentrated on gaining knowledge and skill required to be a competent SICU RN. After a year of nursing she qualified for a program that our health system has that pays for ADN RNs to get a BSN or BSN RNs to get an MSN. She enrolled in the University of Arizona's RN to MSN program and completed her MSN in two years at no cost to her.
After 5 years she is a 23 year old RN with an MSN, CCRN & 3 years of very solid SICU experience and doesn't owe a thing in student loans. After two years of SICU experience she served as a preceptor for a friend of hers who had just graduated from a state university BSN program. Now I hear she is considering applying to a management position, or possibly a position in the education department. I don't know how much the BSN grad owns in student loans, but I do hear her complaining about $400/month student loan payments.
I am aware that in many places an ADN takes 3+ years to complete. But in Wisconsin its can be, and very often is, completed in two years. I know of ADN grads who have completed their BSN in only a year.
Its apparent to me that with the sole exception of obtaining that first acute care job the ADN has huge advantages over the traditional BSN.
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
All of that "studies and research information" doesn't mean anything, so you can keep it.
So we throw all EBP data out too?
I have a BS in Biology. All I needed for my ADN and my BSN were nursing classes. It took me one calender year to finish BSN and had to take only one missed pre-req between the two. Having a bachelor in another field should lower the classes needed for the RN-BSN. I enjoyed my RN-BSN program after having a bad attitude about having to do it. There are plenty of state schools that offer online or hybrid classes that ate much more affordable.
I have a BS in Biology. All I needed for my ADN and my BSN were nursing classes. It took me one calender year to finish BSN and had to take only one missed pre-req between the two. Having a bachelor in another field should lower the classes needed for the RN-BSN. I enjoyed my RN-BSN program after having a bad attitude about having to do it. There are plenty of state schools that offer online or hybrid classes that ate much more affordable.
There are several reputable BS-in-anything-to-BSN or -MSN programs about, so you are correct. However, that's because those BS degrees had science content in them, so would apply to a nursing/health-related degree. You can't get into those with a BA in English Lit without taking a lot of science prereqs, so basically your EngLit degree is only covering your distribution requirements.
In short, everything that differentiates a BSN from an ADN (critical thinking, written communication, ethics, cultural competency, research) can be acquired via a long list of other undergraduate majors. Bachelor's level nursing education has a monopoly on absolutely none of the skills it purports to impart on its graduates
I really do agree. My bachelor's in Psych was way more rigorous than my BSN program as far as thinking goes. Nursing school was a bunch of memorizing with some critical thinking thrown in. There was a lot less rote memorization in my psych major, but the level of critical thinking was so far above what I encountered in nursing school that I had trouble taking my nursing school classmates seriously when they talked about how "hard" it was to critically think and analyze research. We didn't even have to do that much - a few articles/papers a semester. That was nothing. My last class of my psych program didn't even had a textbook. Our "textbook" was the 3-4 research journal articles we had to read, understand, and be prepared to discuss before EVERY SINGLE CLASS. I read and analyzed at least three to four times more articles in that one class alone than I ever touched in my entire BSN program. I agree with the poster that said nursing is in its infancy compared to other fields. Anyone who ever steps foot into a 400 level psych, bio, or chem course and tries to compare it to a 400 level nursing course would find that obvious. Nursing school is hard because of the sheer amount of material covered. It is not hard because of the difficulty of the material.
That being said, if the piece of paper that the hospitals want is a BSN that's their choice. It doesn't matter if the nurse is better or worse for having it. It's just what the hospitals want. If hospitals also required employees to dye their hair blonde, they'd have to dye their hair blonde. I'm sure there would be people who didn't like blonde hair who wouldn't like that, either, but it wouldn't change anything.
sunnygirl1515
17 Posts
thts's amazing. i think i hv seen u on one of harcum's you tube vdo. I am waiting to hear from harcum. for fall 2015. also, Nce to hear a success story. Thankx 4 sharing.