Russian nurses evaluation

yoshootme · Oct 4, 2017

Let me ask so I understand this better: My guess is you got your license many years ago in the US. Now you see the need to get your BSN? (why?). But you may need to start your schooling ALL over because you are not getting college credits from your time spent learning in Russia? And there are different evaluation companies? And if there is, some may give you more credits than others. Perhaps allowing you to get this new degree without starting ALL college over? I hope it works out for you and you can get some level higher than high school! Why has there been this push for RN to BSN anyway? Isn't there a nursing shortage? It would seem to me that the push to allow everyone and their mother to become qualified in our healthcare system (dental hygienists are going to be allowed to do everything dental soon! lol---or the push for PA's etc) makes this push for RN to BSN counterintuitive????

yoshootme · Oct 4, 2017

Doing a little research on this topic and I see that this new push may really effect school nurses. It is costly and takes a lot of time to get this new degree and may make the shortage worse. Who is making this push? Do most nurses agree with this? Or is it from the 'all knowing, higher ups' in government?

Candy97 · Oct 10, 2017

I got my RN license years ago and now I need to get BSN because all nurses need to get BSN degree before 2020. I don't know if there is a law about It but I do know that it's really hard to find a job if you only have associate degree. I agree with you that this push is not helping in nursing shortage and I don't know who started all this. I finished 3 years of nursing school in Russia and heard from couple of my friends that WES evaluators can be equivalent to high school diploma which I think it's ridiculous especially in my case with my background working in intensive care unit.

yoshootme · Oct 10, 2017

What are the other evaluation companies? Can you research to see which ones may give you more credit than a high school equivalency?

dishes, BSN, RN · Oct 10, 2017

Have you looked at the education requirements on your state board of nursing? If a law was passed requiring nurses to have a BSN in order to be licensed, it would have been passed at the state level and the BON would make this information publicly available on their website. Also, the BON would notify all of the nurss decades in advance. The law if passed, would not be retroactive and it would not be applied to nurses who were licensed prior to law being enacted. If a law was passed, the previously licensed nurses could continue to be renewed as RNs even if they did not have BSNs. If passed the law would only apply to newly licensed nurses.

I am a Canadian nurse and our provincial regulatory bodies (the equivalent of state BONs), along with nursing professional associations, nursing professors, and researchers lobbied our provincial government to pass laws to change RN entry to practice from a 2-3 year community college diploma education to 4yr BSN university degree. The laws requiring a BSN to become newly licensed have been in effect for many years in Canada. BSN as entry to practice has not caused us to have a shortage of nurses, we currently have a surplus of nurses competing for jobs in many cities across the country.

Having a BSN makes a RN more competitive in a surplus job market, nursing job markets go through surplus and shortage cycles and it is better for a RN to obtain a BSN so that they will have more job opportunities whether the market is shortage or surplus.

dishes, BSN, RN · Oct 10, 2017

I got my RN license years ago and now I need to get BSN because all nurses need to get BSN degree before 2020. I don't know if there is a law about It but I do know that it's really hard to find a job if you only have associate degree. I agree with you that this push is not helping in nursing shortage and I don't know who started all this. I finished 3 years of nursing school in Russia and heard from couple of my friends that WES evaluators can be equivalent to high school diploma which I think it's ridiculous especially in my case with my background working in intensive care unit.

Which evaluator company did you use to have your education assessed when you applied to become licensed as a RN in the US?

Candy97 · Oct 11, 2017

I live in NJ and the law have not past yet as far as I know but it's very hard to find a job and no hospitals or any surgical centers hiring nurses without BSN degree Or at very least the nurse has to be enroll on the program.

Candy97 · Oct 11, 2017

The original company was CGFNS. The person who was helping me with my original lisencing suggested not to use this company because they are many problem associated with it.

elkpark · Oct 11, 2017

Let me ask so I understand this better: My guess is you got your license many years ago in the US. Now you see the need to get your BSN? (why?). But you may need to start your schooling ALL over because you are not getting college credits from your time spent learning in Russia? And there are different evaluation companies? And if there is, some may give you more credits than others. Perhaps allowing you to get this new degree without starting ALL college over? I hope it works out for you and you can get some level higher than high school! Why has there been this push for RN to BSN anyway? Isn't there a nursing shortage? It would seem to me that the push to allow everyone and their mother to become qualified in our healthcare system (dental hygienists are going to be allowed to do everything dental soon! lol---or the push for PA's etc) makes this push for RN to BSN counterintuitive????

Doing a little research on this topic and I see that this new push may really effect school nurses. It is costly and takes a lot of time to get this new degree and may make the shortage worse. Who is making this push? Do most nurses agree with this? Or is it from the 'all knowing, higher ups' in government?

Welcome to allnurses! :)

There is no nursing shortage (there are some parts of the US with a shortage, and many areas in which the nursing job market is completely saturated. There is no overall shortage). The US government (BLS) is predicting a significant surplus of RNs by, I think, 2025. However, many employers, esp. in the more populated urban areas, are starting to require BSNs. There is no US state that requires a BSN for nursing licensure, but employers in much of the country can afford to be as picky as they choose.

Do you have any background in nursing? This has been a controversial topic within nursing for a long time. There are countless existing threads here about the ADN vs. BSN question.