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Question:
I am enrolled in the nursing program at my local community college to become an RN. All of the nursing course descriptions have the line and role of associate degree nurse at the end of their description.
When I graduate and become an RN, are they going to kick me out of rooms or tell me I can’t do certain things because I only have an associate degree? I thought an RN was an RN unless you were certified for specialties like cardiac, etc.
Answer:
Yes, an RN is an RN is an RN. And the role of an associate degree nurse is probably a blow to the ANA, which likes to try to keep ADNs in our place.
A duly licensed Registered Nurse, is a professional nurse authorized by whatever state license held, to perform all duties under said statue. In short, a RN, is
a RN and while certain specialties or positions may require further training/education as long as you have your license you are a professional nurse
legally able to practice your profession.
As for the statement at the end of your college’s nursing course descriptions, one cannot imagine why they feel the need to different between associate degree holders versus baccalaureate. Does your school offer a BSN program? I’d be curious to see if their course descriptions say the role of the baccalaureate degree nurse.
I’d ask the head of the nursing department why the school feels the need to include this statement. But then again I was the type to shoot from the hip and worry about consequences later, so if you are not into rocking the boat, don’t bother.
No, they won’t kick you out of certain rooms, and you can be certified in ACLS as a ADN. But you might well find that doors will not be open to you if you don’t get your BSN--- the Sunday paper here last week had jobs in public health, school nursing, transport nursing, oncology, home health, all of which said BSN required or very strongly desired.
It’s common for people just starting or contemplating a nursing career to envision themselves at the hospital bedside forever, and then the an RN is an RN and we all get paid the same mantra is seductive (although it is true that in the better hospitals BSNs get a pay differential and more preference for hiring/promotions over time). But a LOT of people think about where they might be later and unless your crystal ball is sure that you’ll do bedside care until you’re old enough to be able to retire, you might want to take the extra trouble now to keep your options open later.
I never met anyone who regretted getting more education and better credentials but I have met a LOT of people who will sour-grapes you to death who didn’t.
(For those of you who may not remember your Aesop’s Fables, The Fox and the Grapes is this one to which this refers. The Fox was unable to reach the grapes hanging on the vine high above his head, so he said he didn’t really want them anyway, because they were bound to be sour. Hence the phrase, sour grapes, referring to the attitude of a person who devalues that which s/he cannot have.)
I got my ADN, then 11 years later went for my bachelors (in something else).
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