Will RN's need to hold Master's Degree?

[yuca799]

Hello,

An "acquaintance" of mine mentioned that RN's will HAVE to hold Master's degrees in order to practice in a couple of years. Is this true? I live in Florida and I've been having trouble looking this up on the web. I'm a graduate nurse and I haven't heard of this before. I will get my master's eventually, but for now I need to pass my NCLEX, get a job, pay off my many bills since I took a year off and went to school fulltime, and then later on work on my masters. Any advice as to where I can look this up in black and white so I can sleep at night? Many thanks,

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

If your goal is to work in a hospital or skilled nursing facility at the bedside doing direct patient care, then you will not need a master's degree anytime soon. You will probably not even need a master's degree anytime during your career, unless your goal is to teach, work in research, become a manager, or land jobs away from the bedside.

[yuca799]

Thank you TheCommuter, that's what I thought also, but this "person" keeps insisting that all RN's will "HAVE" to have a Masters. Thanks again!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

40 years ago, many nurse educators and leaders were predicting that the BSN (bachelor of science in nursing) degree would be the entry-point into the nursing profession. Predictions were made that diploma nurses, ADNs, and LPNs would be phased out eventually.

40 years later, and the predictions have miserably failed to ring true.

[caliotter3]

For decades now the profession has not been able to make the BSN the entry level for professional nursing, so you don't have to worry about needing an MSN in the lifetime of your working career.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I totally agree with all the above posters. No way will you need a masters degree to practice nursing.

That said, having a masters degree does give you more options.

Sign me, traumarus, NA (nursing asst BEFORE they were certified-lol), LPN, ADN, BSN, MSN, post-MSN.