Why is BSN required for CRNA?

I'm working on my RN and plan to go to CRNA school. I've noticed that a few CRNA schools will allow you to have a bachelors in other science areas, as long as you are an RN. But the best school seem to require a BSN. Why is that? Why is an easy, relatively useless, easy to obtain degree required over something like a bachelors in chemistry?

2 minutes ago, MunoRN said:

I don't disagree with the OP's point that obtaining a bachelor's degree in chemistry in addition to what I presume would be an ADN, rather than an RN-to-BSN is going to be more useful in becoming a CRNA.

And yes, RN-to-BSN programs are pretty universally described as being both easy and of little practical use in nursing practice, they tend to be mainly composed of redundant busy work, with the primary purpose being to justify the credit hours required to charge for the tuition. I'm a liaison between my facility and the local nursing programs, which includes an RN-to-BSN programs, and the faculty of the RN-to-BSN program generally agrees that they program is "easy and useless", although they probably wouldn't use that phrasing.

I would suggest "expensive and time consuming" over "easy and useless"?

Specializes in Critical Care.
8 minutes ago, juniper222 said:

I would suggest "expensive and time consuming" over "easy and useless"?

That's a fair point, just because a program isn't academically rigorous doesn't mean it's "easy" when you consider how much of your time it consumes.

If the doctors call you by your first name the reverse should be OK. I will call the ones I respect Dr. (if we are on a first name basis) when in front of their superiors to make them look good. Was on a first name basis with many Dr. at my school and if the dean came by it was "Dr". As a general rule one should be called by their highest accolade unless they go to first name. But how many Dr. call you RN Smith anyway??

Specializes in SRNA, ICU and Emergency Mursing.

Funny... you don’t have a nursing license and have not finished a nursing program, and have already called the BSN education useless. That just seems like a very naive and immature perspective from someone who wants to pursue an APN role.

Furthermore, you have some strange idea that advanced practice nursing has nothing to do with a foundational nursing education. I’m afraid you are very lost.

Moreover, advanced practice nurses, in many studies, have better patient outcomes than MDs. This leads one to believe that those chem degrees really didn’t help the docs get any kind of edge over the APNs who earned their degrees in nursing before specializing.

Finally, as someone in CRNA school, I can tell you that the pathophysiology in my BSN program was a much more relevant class than organic chemistry.

But by all means, stick with the ADN if you truly believe the BSN is worthless. We will see how far you get into the interview process of CRNA schools—especially considering they’ve almost all moved to DNP now. It’s definitely not going to be the most expedient route, that’s for sure. Best of luck

Specializes in Critical Care.
3 hours ago, LouDogg said:

Funny... you don’t have a nursing license and have not finished a nursing program, and have already called the BSN education useless. That just seems like a very naive and immature perspective from someone who wants to pursue an APN role.

Furthermore, you have some strange idea that advanced practice nursing has nothing to do with a foundational nursing education. I’m afraid you are very lost.

Moreover, advanced practice nurses, in many studies, have better patient outcomes than MDs. This leads one to believe that those chem degrees really didn’t help the docs get any kind of edge over the APNs who earned their degrees in nursing before specializing.

Finally, as someone in CRNA school, I can tell you that the pathophysiology in my BSN program was a much more relevant class than organic chemistry.

But by all means, stick with the ADN if you truly believe the BSN is worthless. We will see how far you get into the interview process of CRNA schools—especially considering they’ve almost all moved to DNP now. It’s definitely not going to be the most expedient route, that’s for sure. Best of luck

The OP was questioning the usefulness of an RN-to-BSN program, not of a "foundational nursing education". I work closely with an RN-to-BSN program and one thing their faculty struggles with is that these programs and not particularly useful, this is a fairly widely held view for good reason.

Pathophysiology is not specific to a BSN program, both ADN and BSN programs must include sufficient pathophysiology in order to be accredited.

Specializes in SRNA, ICU and Emergency Mursing.

My response was to the inference that a chemistry degree is useful for a CRNA education, yet a BSN is somehow an easy to obtain and useless degree to earn before beginning a CRNA program.

I think the education one receives in a quality BSN program is more extensive and in depth than an ADN program. And I hardly feel a BSN is useless when preparing for an advanced practice nursing degree. The people who created those CRNA program requirements were not randomly choosing criteria.

Specializes in Critical Care.
8 minutes ago, LouDogg said:

My response was to the inference that a chemistry degree is useful for a CRNA education, yet a BSN is somehow an easy to obtain and useless degree to earn before beginning a CRNA program.

I think the education one receives in a quality BSN program is more extensive and in depth than an ADN program. And I hardly feel a BSN is useless when preparing for an advanced practice nursing degree. The people who created those CRNA program requirements were not randomly choosing criteria.

What specific aspects of an RN-to-BSN program do you feel help more with pursuing a CRNA than a chemistry degree would?

On 12/17/2019 at 7:14 PM, MM1989 said:

But the best school seem to require a BSN. Why is that? Why is an easy, relatively useless, easy to obtain degree required over something like a bachelors in chemistry?

32 minutes ago, MunoRN said:

The OP was questioning the usefulness of an RN-to-BSN program, not of a "foundational nursing education".

That is not at all what the OP said at first. I believe his/her position was clarified later but it has still lead to a great deal of confusion.

Specializes in SRNA, ICU and Emergency Mursing.
On 12/31/2019 at 1:27 PM, MunoRN said:

What specific aspects of an RN-to-BSN program do you feel help more with pursuing a CRNA than a chemistry degree would?

I am not talking specifically about RN-BSN. I never attended an ADN program; I went straight to BSN.

In my opinion, the knowledge more helpful in a BSN program include--but are not limited to--courses in bachelor level research, public health, nursing leadership, Bachelor level epidemiology, Bachelor level pathophysiology, legal issues of nursing, longer periods in clinical rotations, more focused clinicals and didactics, being surrounded by educators that are/were practicing nurses, and an overall education that is-- simply put--pertinent to nursing and nursing theory.

A Chem degree will focus on upper level chemistry and higher math--neither of which are relevant to a CRNA program, and all lacking the aforementioned nursing career preparatory courses and mentorship. This is why nursing programs, in general, do not require high levels of chemistry prerequisites--they are not pertinent.

Obviously there is an element of chemistry in physiology, but not to the extent you would be studying in pursuit of a Chem degree. However, all of the BSN education will, in part, be applicable to a CRNA program/career.

To go back to the question that is the title of this thread:

I believe that the MDs, DNPs and other CRNAs that create the prerequisites for these programs feel the same way as I do, and that is why they prefer a BSN over a random Bachelor degree in chemistry or something else.

If a BSN is so easy for you to obtain than why aren’t you doing it already?

2 hours ago, Horseshoe said:

What difference does it make WHY? If you don't want to do it, go to one of those schools you mentioned that will accept a BS in another field. If those schools aren't good enough, then get your BSN and put in the required time in critical care to get accepted to CRNA school. Don't spin your wheels making the argument that you know better. It's irrelevant to your goals.

The BSN to work in an ICU is a good point. That honestly didn’t cross my mind. The ICUs where I’m from seem to just want RN’s with a pulse, BSN or not. Pretty in demand.

Correct, I don’t have a license yet. Not for another few months. Stated that from the start. But how does that mean that I can’t have my path planned from A to Z? I know exactly what I want and how to get there, so it’s irrelevant that I’m not licensed yet.

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