My nursing career began with my Associates Nursing Degree (AND). A popular plan for students to just getting into a four-year program, the reasoning of hospitals pushing for nurses to obtain their bachelor’s degree. One myth is you can’t find a job with an AND. The truth is that it depends on where you want to work as a nurse. Hospitals and home health agencies will hire nurses with the two-year degree. During orientation into my nursing school, we had a panel of former graduates do questions and answers with, the incoming class. They mentioned that it looks good when applying for positions to already be enrolled in a bachelor’s of science in nursing (BSN) program. So that’s exactly what I did. My last semester, was stressful, finishing up classes, exams, preparing for the NCLEX, and applying to schools. There are some significant advantages to work as nursing when obtaining a BSN.
#1 Being able to pay off bills.
Four semesters I spent by just making payments on my bills. I had reduced my bills, getting a Trac phone, paying off other loans before being accepted into the initial program. The intensity of classwork in preparation for licensure is stressful. The ability to achieve a BSN, work and pay bills is a huge stress reliever. My BSN, I was able to get any bills that had fallen behind current, and another plus, you are still in school, so your student loan is in deferment. The extension of deferment allows you to decide whether you want to start the payments for student loans or wait, and catch up on other bills first. If you go right for the four-year degree unless you go right for your Masters you only get the six month grace period.
#2 Build on a solid foundation
The majority of RN-to-BSN programs focus on management, leadership, communication, theories, and ethics of nursing. I learn best when I’m hands on. My classes started approximately the same time as my position as a medical-surgical nurse, keep in mind I held a license for five months and I graduated eight months prior. Learning about different theories in class and working in a hospital as a nurse solidified what I had read in the text. Working full time in my position made things connect, lectures and reading held relevance to my regular routine on a shift.
#3 Big Picture
Issues are brought up in classes. The class consists of only licensed nurses and critical thinking regarding large common scenarios are brought up. Liver failure. I’ve seen a good portion of my patient population have liver and kidney failure. Patients after two to three shifts become faces and names with lives and families, no longer Mr. X in a case study. In the United States, Tylenol overdose makes up about half of the liver failures(Larson AM et al.). Then you start to realize how much Tylenol is in everything, and how often we administer these medications, it makes you question why? Diabetes is another disease process brought into the light. The amount of education and the diabetic population, are not fully informed on the disease process, consequences, and the severity. The severity did not add up until I saw how many toes, feet, and leg were lost to diabetes or the foot ulcers that people nonchalantly carry with them daily. The relevance of the course and reading really opened my eyes. The lectures in the associate’s program went over similar reviews of these topics and many others, it’s not until you work and see the patient population outside of a few clinical hours or just the textbook.
#4 Flexibility
Most RN to BSN programs is made for a working nurse. They expect that you are working full time and may even have families. The curriculums are built to work around obligations. It becomes possible to work, have a family, and continue your education. Research the programs, and it becomes evident that a schedule will exist for your level of obligation. Programs exist as traditional classrooms, where you the student will meet at a specific time and place. Hybrid classes, a combination of online and classroom. Online courses, my favorite are entirely online, deadlines for units and papers are posted, but the student could go through at their pace as long as the due dates were observed. The excuse of not having the time no longer exist.
Larson AM, Polson J, Fontana RJ, Davern TJ, Lalani E, Lee WM et al. Acute Liver Failure Study Group (ALFSG), Acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure: results of a United States multicenter, prospective study. Hepatology, 2005 Dec; 42(6):1364-72