What I've Decided About my Education

EGspirit · Dec 14, 2017

I don't think a BSN does anything to improve the skills of a nurse getting it. We learn our profession by helping patients in a clinical setting for the most part. We are unlike other college students pursuing a degree. Usually students must take prerequisite classes & some more "core" classes to earn a bachelors and then they take the higher level classes that deal with their actual major. If we choose we can get an Associates Degree in a year or so (that about how long it took me) and take all the classes needed to get a job as a nurse. I think the BSN is designed to make us "better rounded" degreed professionals. I also think it is basically a waste of time from any practical perspective. I had a friend getting his BSN at the same time I was and he stated "why don't they just have us write a check & get the piece of paper"? I agree!!! I didn't get the thing to make myself a better anything. I did it because my employer would pay for most of it and I would get a raise and open doors of opportunity for myself. Purely self-serving reasons which have worked out well for me. If you don't think its worth your time don't do it but I'd do it again as its really just minimal busy work on-line from my experience.

Yes, clearly, as you stated it, then there is no barrier or reason not to, unless you just don't want it for some reason, like you were abused by a BSN student when you were young. I don't know...that just popped into my head. But seriously, if I go to work some place that pays for it, I will get it the easiest way I can to fill a square. Because I'm not anti-BSN; I'm just not convinced its a good return on investment for people like me who want to do direct patient care and maybe teach CNA classes or BLS/ACLS in the future. And why do I have a feeling, the BLS/ACLS instructing would outpace the money I would ever earn from having a BSN? Just a question really. Thanks for your post, my friend. :)

42pines · Dec 14, 2017

roflmao:
So...you're selling WGU? I should have caught that.
Do you get paid per posting or what?

Your response is rude. Clearly you know it all--even that a NY law which directly affects NY BON "will not be enforced." So why the original post anyway?

This person's quote:

"OP has a history of simply stirring the pot for the sake of it. OP you already posted a thread regarding this issue not too long ago. We know your thoughts. We've shared ours. ADN vs BSN has been discussed ad nauseam here. Are we really starting this again?"

Seems quite appropros here.

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Dec 14, 2017

I admit, I would like to have a BSN so that I could say I have a BSN, but I'm not sure that's a good idea. All I want--everything I want--is to be able to get and work shifts, be a BLS and ACLS instructor, and teach CNAs (or their equivalents) and maybe precept new nurses.
In my state, Louisiana, none of those goals has anything whatsoever to do with having a BSN. BLS and ACLS is through the American Heart Association--has nothing to do with having a BSN--or even being a nurse. Training CNAs is all about the RN license. Has nothing to do with BSN, in fact, LPNs, here, can train CNAs.
So, why would I spend 15K to do an RN to BSN? Ego? But I already have a bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts which I've used the sh.. out of as a writer. For that matter I have two other associate degrees, besides my ADN. So, I'm not uneducated.
And I'm 53. If I'm ever to be a supervisor, it will be because they like me, not because of my youthful ambitions. A BSN won't matter.
So, all that money, all the time I could have been doing shifts (or sleeping in-between them), all the time I could have been making some extra cash teaching BLS or ACLS, or going through my Train the Trainer class to be a CNA instructor, all of that will be spent on a degree that actually does not help me get to my terminal targets in nursing.
And not to mention: When I started in nursing it was all the rage--BSN for entry into nursing! Soon ADNs will be relegated to getting coffee for doctors and BSNs! You better get your BSN while you can! And who was talking this talk? The burgeoning bulge of nursing colleges. In truth--everything is exactly the same 15 years later as it was then--at least for me it is. It is, and has always been, about the license--not the degree.
Anyway, I welcome any thoughts on this for or against. :)

What is the point of your post? If you don't want a BSN, then don't get one. Here in California, you don't have to have a BSN to teach AHA courses.

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · Dec 15, 2017

"I see actual nursing, bedside nursing, as the highest calling a human being can serve as a profession. Anything else is lesser."

Oh my.

EGspirit · Dec 15, 2017

"I see actual nursing, bedside nursing, as the highest calling a human being can serve as a profession. Anything else is lesser."
Oh my.

"Oh my" nothing. To care for others directly is the highest calling you're going to find in any profession. It may not be the highest thing you can do. You might be able to reach all levels of academic and technical proficiency. You may work very hard to achieve all manner of promotions and regulatory positions, and that is great for you. But it is not great to anyone else. And it is my religious opinion (I freely admit that it is a religious opinion.) that the kindness and compassion we show to others is the only thing that can ever really matter in this world. Bedside nursing is the only profession that does this, or that does it most directly. Clearly, there are forms of institutional care and social work that are probably equal to it, but I'm not familiar enough with those to say. But within nursing, bedside care, staff nursing, is the greatest of the work. ...in my opinion.

Orion81RN · Dec 16, 2017

Do you get paid per posting or what?

I could ask the same of you.