ASN vs BSN?

Whats the difference between an Associate of Science in Nursing and a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing??

ASN (also called an ADN)

- Typically takes 2-3 years to complete
- Often offered at community colleges, technical schools, etc
- Requires fewer general education classes
- May accept students with lower GPA's/fewer pre-req courses (depends on the program)

BSN

- Typically takes 4 years to complete
- Offered at colleges, universities, community colleges, etc
- Usually requires 30-60 credit hours of general education classes (math, science, english, history, humanities, etc) in addition to nursing core classes
- Often includes more courses in critical thinking, leadership and nursing management
- May include more opportunities for clincials
- May include the option of a capstone (where you can choose an area of interest and spend time there before graduating, for example: ER or Labor and Delivery)

Both degrees:
- Prepare students to take the NCLEX-RN test (aka boards). Both ASN and BSN students take the same test.
- Allows a student to become a Registered Nurse (RN) upon passing the NCLEX.
- Allows nurses to work in a variety of environments including doctor's offices, skilled nursing facilities, home care, clinics and hospitals


Some distinctions:
- Some hospitals may favor BSN educated nurses over ASN, especially for new grad hires
- Some hospitals may need x number of BSN educated nurses if they have magnet status or are trying to achieve magnet status

Med surg 1 - Ortho

Well my clincials for Med surg 1 are over! We were on the ortho unit at the hospital for four weeks and my general feeling about ortho is that it's not for me.

I guess if you really like learning about ortho procedures and assisting patients with PT it might be fun. Just not my favorite. Most of the patients are simply post-op and therefore not especially "sick", so there's not a whole lot of things to do.

Procedures accomplished:

- Med adminstration
- Charting
- Head to Toe assessments
- Pain assessments
- Safety checks
- Bed baths
- Linen changes
- Physical therapy assistance

Procedures witnessed:
- Fellow student put in a foley catheter
- Assessment on a patient that appeared to have possibly had a stroke.

Care Plans:

They're still annoying but they seemed easier this time. I knew what was expected of me and it seemed easier to express my thoughts. It also helped that my instructor didn't want pages and pages of care plans. Short and sweet is much easier.

OR observation:

I got to do a day of OR observation this 8 weeks which was fun. I've observed in an OR before but I got to see a craniotomy this time which was really neat. I like being in the OR but I don't think that I'd want to be a nurse in the OR, honestly they don't get to do very much. Being a scrub nurse might be fun, but both times I've observed in the OR there have been surgical techs instead of scrub nurses. Being a circulating nurse is just kinda boring to me. I was amazed at how fast the nurse put the patient's foley in. It was amazing!