I am nurse with 22 years experience. I have an ADN and a CCRN. I have worked in critical care for 20 years. I have been \"In charge\" on a Critical care unit for the last 7 years. Now my job is being replaced with BSN nurses. My hospital states you must have a BSN to be in this \"new role\" as team leader. They state they will look outside the facility if necessary. I was good enough to do the job for 7 years and now not \"good enough\". Although the other RN\'s liked me, respected me, and yes, the ones even with MSN came to me for guidance, questions, support. The hospital states \"this will not remove the nurse from the bedside, it is not management, it is leadership\", so why is a BSN required if not management? I just feel that I have been a great employee, \"filled\" this role for 7 years without complaint (from staff, management,or myself) and now being replaced. I want to understand, but feel offended.
Jill
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
||
search realityrn
sign up for weekly cartoons, tips, and blog posts
Register to win a pair of RX Medical Silver Fox Crocs
|
|
|
 |
December 11th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
I think its a part of lots of hospitals wanting to go to Magnet status. They have to have to show a certain percentage of BSN nurses in their hospital to be considered.
December 28th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
The only advice I could offer you in this is to go obtain your BSN as well. I know that’s a tough decision to make after 22 years and frankly it would be for me too. I just remember a teacher of mine when I was in undergrad telling me the same story, almost verbatim. How she was bumped aside after 10 years of experience, with the best credentials for the nurse managers position. Only to be passed over by a 20 something with a B-S-N.
Now, I understand the importance in today’s world for having a BSN, God knows it’s helped me. BUT, there’s no lessening the burden someone must make, the sacrifice they endure to serve an organization for as long as you have and not consider their experience invaluable just because of letters behind their name.
I’ve actually seen 20 somethings going for MSNs suggesting ways they might become the CNO of an organization as soon as they finish the MSN program. That’s just not rational logic in my opinion. Experience for a nurse might as well be next of kin to Godliness! I know I have appreciated it, continue to appreciate it and always will appreciate it.
So don’t wallow in despair, Jill. If they want a BSN, I suggest you do what my teacher did, who was probably about the same age you are now, get that BSN and don’t ever let someone do this to you again! She now has a MSN and thanks to her, I’m still a nurse and pursuing my MSN, with much more realistic expectations than some of my contemporaries, I can assure of that. Her experience counted most for me.
Shake it off, this too shall pass!
January 12th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
That’s very sad, and I’ve been in a similar situation – more than once. When I got passed over in favor of someone who worked very hard, but didn’t have the skills or the knowledge base for the job, I was devastated. It’s the only time in my life I had to leave work during a shift, I was so upset. BUT, by the next day, I had gotten myself provisionally accepted to grad school (I lost the position to someone w/ a HS diploma and that’s all!). I ended up with an MBA, and my hospital paid for a lot of it!
Then I lost a job for which I was highly qualified AND legally qualified for because I wasn’t an RN, and the CNO decided she only wanted people w/ licenses doing the job. By the beginning of the next semester, I was back in college getting the prerequisites I still needed for nursing school. Lest you think this was an impetuous decision, I had been considering it for several years anyway, and needed an evening program, and one had just opened locally, making it possible. I was the oldest student in the program, and I worked full-time all the way thru full time nursing school. Believe me, I didn’t think I was going to survive it! I was the first GN the hospital hired in 20 years!
I still don’t have a BSN, because I’ll be darned if I’ll get another Bachelor’s degree in order to get another Master’s, which is what I want (in Nursing Informatics or Ed). If I have to take the time to do that, I’ll be too old to get a job, because nobody hires nurses in their late 70s! What I am looking for is a bridge program which will meet my needs. In the meantime, I accidentally got accepted in a Master’s program for a degree in Adult Ed. Unfortunately, if it isn’t a degree in NURSING Adult Ed, it will be professionally useless.
You are NEVER too old to go back to school and learn. It is tough to get started, but once you get into the swing of it, it becomes almost a habit to be a student. If you decide not to do that, however, you can look at it this way – it’s a lot better for your patients – they have the advantage of someone with a great deal of experience, instead of somebody w/ a lot of education but little experience! Good luck in whatever you decide.
Savvy
January 15th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
The whole thing about “must have” a BSN is silly. With the shortage severe right now, just imagine how it will be in 20 years. I recieved my ADN because I just didnt want to take all those largely useless classes for BSN and I think universities are a scam anyway, for the enormous amounts of money paid. I have found a school that offers BSN and has waived math and science requirements. In my opinion, theory is important but common sense and working at the bedside is just as or more important.