Rn-to-BSN - It's the Way to Go
Featured Author:
Kim@Emergiblog
Kim is a registered nurse in the San Francisco Bay area. She graduated in 1978 with my ADN and have been a nurse for 29 years. Her experience is predominately Emergency and Critical Care, but she also worked in Psychiatry and did pediatric telephone triage. She runs Emergiblog: The Life and Times of an ER Nurse and can also be reached via her member profile.
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Kim@Emergiblog
I’m almost done with my “Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Practice” class and it has been very enlightening. I can tell you with absolute certainty that I would not have appreciated this material in nursing school.
Why?
Because I did not have the experience needed to relate to the concepts and approaches to nursing.
I can tell you with absolute certainty that after thirty years at the bedside, it has changed my practice.
How?
I look at my patients differently. I find myself more culturally sensitive. I recognize assumptions that affect the way I provide care. I can look at a patient and understand that one theory does not “fit all” and choose the approach that is best for the situation.
I view the environment of my workplace differently. I’m more aware of the ethical dilemmas I see almost every day.
But most importantly, I see my profession differently and it affects my behavior and my interactions with other members of the health care team.
I’m an ADN graduate and have functioned at a very high level with that eduational background for three decades. I am proud of my ADN and would argue that the ADN program produces excellent nurses until I’m blue in the face. Call me a “technical” nurse because I don’t have a BSN and you might find yourself needing an ice pack.
But….
Eventually, this profession is going to need to go to a BSN requirement.
Hear me out…..don’t start typing yet!
Notice I did not say a BSN as an entry level. I don’t believe a BSN is required to begin to practice nursing.
In fact, as an entry level, I don’t think a BSN is any better than an ADN!
So what am I saying?
I’m saying that all entry level programs whether ADN or BSN have one thing in common: they all must teach with an eye on passing the NCLEX. That makes the programs very inflexible as to what can be taught, and neither program can provide what you really need to appreciate nursing education at the baccalaureate level.
Experience.
It is my opinion that when you put an ADN graduate in a BSN program, they will get more out of it than a student in a generic entry-level BSN program.
After you have worked as an RN, that foundation of experience allows you to take subjects like nursing theory and really absorb them, make them a part of your practice. It also allows you to contribute your experiences to the classroom – in my case an online classroom – enriching your classmates and learning from them in turn.
I really do believe it is worth it to go back to school for a BSN, if not financially, at least professionally. Once you are a working RN, an online BSN program allows so much flexibility it makes it fun to go to class. If you need a physical classroom, there are a ton of programs that you can work your schedule around.
I should have done this ten years ago.
Maybe it’s just me, but there is a value to this BSN I’m in the process of obtaining. Some of this value is tangible, some is not.
It’s making me a better nurse.
