So I pretty much always have nursing students with me. I have senior BSN students who are doing a critical care class (six 12 hours shifts), ADN students from 2 different programs doing their preceptorships (eight 12 hour shifts), ABSN students doing clinical (six 12 hour shifts), and direct entry MSN students who shadow me for a shift. In addition I come into contact with a variety of other students who are being taught by my RN co-workers. My hospital also has a "student nurse technician" program where they hire nursing students to do CNA type work. So I regularly talk to 5-10 nursing students a week and nearly always have a student with me each shift.
What I am so shocked about is the level of education of these students who are in nursing school. I can't even remember the last time I had a ADN student who didn't already have a bachelors degree with me. Of course the MSN and ABSN students already have bachelors degrees, but what is surprising to me is that so many are already professionals in others areas. I had a student who already has a bachelors and masters in architecture and worked for a well known local firm, I have had lawyers, police officers, scads of teachers, and a few engineers among others. Even a guy who is an MD in Russia.
Why do all of these people want to be nurses? Have any of you experienced this?
Back when I was in nursing school there were plenty of 2nd career types in my class but they tended to be factory workers, truck drivers, farmers, military vets who were moving up to become RNs. A few had bachelors degrees but not like now.
I actually find it frightening and a little sad. Frightening cause I suspect this is a symptom of a very bad economy and terrible job market. Sad cause I know so many of the will struggle to find work after making huge sacrifices to get through nursing school.
Some of them are SHOCKED when I tell them it's a tough job market out there for RNs and they will have to work hard and keep on their toes to find any job. Some simply refuse to believe me (nearly all the direct entry MSN students, ironic since they will struggle in our local market more than the others). Others already have this figured out and are already bitter about it.
While its being mentioned, can someone explain to me how a generic BSN (say Liberal arts) can end up with a MSN in nursing within two years? Or is that not how it works?
I can tell you how I plan on doing it. I have a BA in Communications and will be starting an ADN program in the fall. Once I have my RN license, I plan on entering an MSN program at the University of South Florida. They have an option for people that have Bachelor's degrees in other disciplines than nursing - you take 15 hours of transitional bridge courses (the kinds of information you would have learned in a BSN program) and then you can enter the MSN program.
Now, the MSN portion might take longer than 2 years depending on your focus. I want to go into Nursing Education which is a 37 credit hour program. Other programs (like Family Nurse Practitioner or Nurse Anesthesia) are significantly longer.
Given nursing's high burn out rate, I imagine there must be some nurses transitioning into second careers outside of nursing. And I'm sure their new coworkers think, "Why would you want to do this (insert new job here), don't you know this field is horrible!?"
^^ ok that makes sense. I didn't realize you had to get your ADN first. I was misreading thought that those with bachelors could do a direct entry into a nursing MSN with a non nursing degree lol I was thinking huh??
not really that shocking considering how bad the economy is. Rightly or wrongly people see nursing as perhaps the closest to guaranteed job as one can get. I mean look at how competitive it is to get into nursing school rite now be it 2yr or 4yr. I don't think that competitiveness just popped up overnight or everyone just magically wanted to be nurses. They know the economy sucks, they believe that nursing = job, so that is why there is an influx. Id wager that if the economy was not that bad then you would see less people going into nursing.
One also has to take into account that not everyone discovered his/her want to go into nursing right out of highschool. For me it took being an EMT to decide that nursing is the path I want to go. Some may have had nursing in the back of their mind for X number of years but for some reason decided to do something else- and that is ok. The length of the journey is not the deciding factor, it is getting there that counts.
Now let me make one thing clear just because one goes into nursing because"I need a job, nursing looks good" as opposed to "I have always wanted to be a nurse since I was 10 years old"- that does not mean he/she will be a poor nurse. If you have passion for the work and do the job well, then the origin for going into nursing does not matter. I am sure there are CPAs and finical analyst out there who would rather be doing something else than be stuck in the office all day- but they are still nonetheless good CPAs and finical analysts.
To briefly deviate from nursing, at my University you see the same trend in the popularity of business majors. There is no way that overnight everyone wanted to be accountants, finance and supply chain management majors- that does not just "happen". Like nursing they see the field of business as guaranteed work, hence the popularity of the major(s). They go to the career fair, they look online and they find out that, that what the companies are hiring are IT and business, finance, accounting etc...-hence the influx into the major(s)
Nobody wants to be unemployed or underemployed because it bloody sucks. Many see nursing as the ticket to avoid unemployment/underemployment.
While its being mentioned, can someone explain to me how a generic BSN (say Liberal arts) can end up with a MSN in nursing within two years? Or is that not how it works? I guess I don't understand how one can hold a stinking masters in nursing but did the first fours in something entirely different. When I think of someone with a MSN I think of my friends who were actually in school, in nursing programs, for 6 ish years and are highly experienced. But then I have seen talk on AN of what I mentioned before that you can get a masters in nursing in 2 years but have never set foot in a hospital. But I could be misunderstanding what this actually is.
A lady in my micro class was accepted into a direct entry MSN although it's longer than 2 years. Prior to starting they do have some pre-reqs they need to have completed if their previous bachelors doesn't cover it (~7 classes). Her first year (fall, spring, and 2 summer sessions) is essentially an ABSN. The second part depends on the specialty she selects which can require anywhere from 39-50 credits.
In this area those that chose to do a traditional BSN spend two years in the nursing classes. The first two years is general ed/pre-reqs.
I am one of those you speak of. I made better money at previous job in finance. I graduated ADN at age 52. Made much more money at other job. Why this? Uh, I am more mature and compassionate. I can take on ANY of my coworkers at skills, being efficient, and in critical thinking. The older ones in my class were treated like dirt in school. The instructors like the little blonde pony-tailed girls who spoke of dreams in the ER. I got a job in one week after NCLEX.....because I have LIFE EXPERIENCE BEHIND ME...that, and the schooling makes me employable. Seems like the more educattion, no matter what field, would be very benefical in ANY CAREER. Kudos to US WHO DID THIS FOR A SECOND CAREER...WE ROCK!
^^ ok that makes sense. I didn't realize you had to get your ADN first. I was misreading thought that those with bachelors could do a direct entry into a nursing MSN with a non nursing degree lol I was thinking huh??
Most DE-MSN programs for APN are a combined ABSN (18 months) and then an accelerated graduate program (18 months).
In three years you could go from a non-nursing BA/BS to a MSN NP. Some programs do it in even less time but anything less than 3 years is pushing it.
My reasons for jumping into nursing even though I already have job experience and education in another field are simple: I want to be a CRNA, and here's why -
I graduated from high school, got a technical degree, and immediately went into the field of my choice. It was supposed to be a lucrative field, but it really hasn't been so. Turns out the march of progress and technology is kind of wiping us out. And the pay is low, very low. So much so, that I could not afford health insurance for my wife and me. And since all I had was a technical degree in a very limited field, I could not really use my experience or education in another job (because the technical degree was in that field, not toward any sort of Bachelors). So when an extra tooth grew out of my palate and my wisdom teeth got impacted, no money + wife unemployed + no health insurance meant I went for many agonizing months in pain like you can barely imagine. It was awful. It was soul-crushing. I sucked a lot of mashed potatoes.
Then finally we scraped up enough money to get me to the oral surgeon and have the problem taken care of. The second I woke up from that surgery, I knew. I wanted to put people out of their pain. It was my epiphany. I looked into being an anesthesiologist, but I just don't have the time or money for the 4 years of pre-med, the 4 years med school, then who knows how long in residency. So just by chance, I decided to look up online if there were such a thing as nurses who do the same thing as anesthesiologist. And sure enough, there are CRNA's! And even more exciting, my local university offers both the BSN and the CRNA degrees, with the first part at night. So I can continue with my day job, study at night, and graduate without a huge debt load. That was it. I went down there the same day, signed up for the nursing classes, and got started. It wasn't marketing or job security or anything like that which sold me on a career in nursing. It was the idea of being able realistically to get to a place where I could do for other people what that lady who put me under did for me.
For people who are already nurses, perhaps you have forgotten just how awesome it is to be able to make people feel better. The work I do now is positive and helps the community. But it's sort of indirect. I want to help people directly. I want to make their pain stop.
In reading the posts about the NP bubble bursting - I agree it's already happening. I've seen more than a few listings on Craigs no less of NP students desperate for a hook up for school. I also wrote a comment somewhere on this board about a system to the south of me wanting extensively experienced and independent RNs in the network private practice - not NPs anymore. Remember, no corporation wants to pay a higher salary. If they can they will have the MD, and then supp. with a lower salary if possible. This is what is going on IMHO in that network for one. Sure, an NP would be able to do a little more, but big systems only look at the bottom line. Gosh people, be careful about any additional edu.!
I read blogs. Many specialty groups are not taking in new MDs - this now for two years. You see, for MDs too. There is no MD shortage, really, it's all about money. The same that's happened to nursing is now moving into medicine. They are opening the door to make it easy to get your MD.... flood the market, and there you are. They are just a few years behind us tho.
Now for any of you thinking that Loyola Medical School is not full of it in doing this... give me your wallet.
I am not sure I follow you on how having an experienced RN over and NP saves the practice money. You mention that NPs can "do a little more" and that seems like a huge understatement to me; NPs can not only diagnose and treat but they can bill for their services. The NP more than offsets their overhead in salary with their billing, how does an RN do that?
Right now NPs are a huge money maker for private practice.
Just wanted to offer an alternate view to this job crises I've read about in this thread, I'm in Austin, TX getting an alternate entry MSN and have been speaking to the students who are just finishing their foundation year and are now considered "graduate nurses" but that havent taken the NCLEX yet. 2/3s of the class are already working as GN-RNs at local hospitals under the supervision of RNs with the understanding that they will have passed their NCLEX sometime in the next 6 weeks. I don't know how typical this is across the country, but where I'm living at least, I feel pretty hopeful about my chances at getting a job shortly after finishing my foundation courses next June.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
^^ ok that makes sense. I didn't realize you had to get your ADN first. I was misreading thought that those with bachelors could do a direct entry into a nursing MSN with a non nursing degree lol I was thinking huh??
*** You don't need to get an ADN first. A person with a bachelors degree in, lets say, English, can go to a direct entry MSN program and graduate after about two years with a masters of science in nursing and be eligible to sit the RN NCLEX. They are regular RNs. In addition there are direct entry APN program w2here that same person with a de3gree in English could go to school for about 3 years and graduate and be eligible to sit the RN NCLEX and NP boards.
In addition if one does have a ADN you can get an MSN without ever getting a bachelors degree in anything.
highwaygirl
71 Posts
I can tell you how I plan on doing it. I have a BA in Communications and will be starting an ADN program in the fall. Once I have my RN license, I plan on entering an MSN program at the University of South Florida. They have an option for people that have Bachelor's degrees in other disciplines than nursing - you take 15 hours of transitional bridge courses (the kinds of information you would have learned in a BSN program) and then you can enter the MSN program.
Now, the MSN portion might take longer than 2 years depending on your focus. I want to go into Nursing Education which is a 37 credit hour program. Other programs (like Family Nurse Practitioner or Nurse Anesthesia) are significantly longer.