Accepted to RN bridge!

I was bored this morning and decided to read back through this thread, which was a small snapshot journal of that 2 year chapter of my life.

I'm currently coming up on 2 years part time in the ED, I also switched fire departments into a new role which changed my outlook there.

I'm currently begrudgingly working through my RN to BSN program which is mind-numbingly stupid. A series of 6-8 week classes, which thus far really only have 1 objective - show me you can write academically and APA cite everything (FiremanMike, 2024). I'm currently challenging myself to see how little effort I can put into each week's assignments and still earn 100%.

My BSN program found out I was interested in NP and actually put me into their dual enrollment program so I'm taking some of the MSN gen-ed classes now at the BSN rate. I was originally planning getting my ACNP and leaving the FD the second I hit 25 years, but moving departments changed my outlook and I don't know where it's going to take me.

I hate the nursing education system. While there are exceptions, it's mostly filled with self-serving academic nurses who mentally masturbate using the same non-applicable ********. These nurses act like they are academically superior, but the reality is that so much of this is absolute fluff.

With all this said, I'm glad I did it. I am a better medic because I'm a nurse, and I'm a better nurse because I'm a medic. I also have a job skill that gives me the freedom to leave the FD without altering my lifestyle. I'm also glad I chose the ED, as the environment is very similar to the ambulance but with cooler toys and the personalities are similar.

References​

FiremanMike. (2024, February 2011). Nursing school is complete ******** but I'm glad I did it. EMTLife. https://emtlife.com/threads/accepted-to-rn-bridge.48294/page-9

(sorry, I had to, it made me chuckle)
 
FiremanMike said:
I was bored this morning and decided to read back through this thread, which was a small snapshot journal of that 2 year chapter of my life.

I'm currently coming up on 2 years part time in the ED, I also switched fire departments into a new role which changed my outlook there.

I'm currently begrudgingly working through my RN to BSN program which is mind-numbingly stupid. A series of 6-8 week classes, which thus far really only have 1 objective - show me you can write academically and APA cite everything (FiremanMike, 2024). I'm currently challenging myself to see how little effort I can put into each week's assignments and still earn 100%.

My BSN program found out I was interested in NP and actually put me into their dual enrollment program so I'm taking some of the MSN gen-ed classes now at the BSN rate. I was originally planning getting my ACNP and leaving the FD the second I hit 25 years, but moving departments changed my outlook and I don't know where it's going to take me.

I hate the nursing education system. While there are exceptions, it's mostly filled with self-serving academic nurses who mentally masturbate using the same non-applicable ********. These nurses act like they are academically superior, but the reality is that so much of this is absolute fluff.

With all this said, I'm glad I did it. I am a better medic because I'm a nurse, and I'm a better nurse because I'm a medic. I also have a job skill that gives me the freedom to leave the FD without altering my lifestyle. I'm also glad I chose the ED, as the environment is very similar to the ambulance but with cooler toys and the personalities are similar.

References​

FiremanMike. (2024, February 2011). Nursing school is complete ******** but I'm glad I did it. EMTLife. https://emtlife.com/threads/accepted-to-rn-bridge.48294/page-9

(sorry, I had to, it made me chuckle)
Click to expand...
You put your finger on an important point that RN's moving into advanced practice have to de-habituate themselves from and that is the idea that you can spout any BS idea you want in a paper as long as you document that someone else has published it before. This has the potential to lead to a mentality whereby if something is published, there's really no need to challenge it's validity. What BSN's are not taught to do is question every single thing they read. If they were, the whole nursing theory infrastructure would collapse as it is mostly the fever dream of the nursing education 'elite'.
Ever since hospital based nursing programs went the way of manual BP cuffs, the push for ever higher degrees began in earnest. Couple that with the 'mid-level' explosion and BSN programs become way points to advance practice for folks with the academic chops to go into engineering or law. The competition drives admission standards and all of a sudden, no one goes into nursing to take care if the sick and injured at the basic unit level. The nursing educational machine is making bedside RN's go the way of the manual BP cuff. That's the trend I see, anyway.
 
Nobody like nursing academia except nursing academia.
 
One of my secret fantasies (well no longer secret now) was to create a nursing program that absolutely focuses on and steers the student the way they want to go. Example…you want to be Critical Care or ER, then everything is geared towards that goal from the ground up. You wanna do Med Surg, keep it how it is now. ;)

But something along the lines where I could create specialty training as opposed to teaching everyone to be med surg and telling them lies of you should do this for two years while you get yourself and discover what you like, etc.

It’s like the BS argument of “be an EMT for x years before medic school” mantra. It’s all BS. Focused specialty education is where it is at.

But yes you are right. BSN is nothing but paper writing. It makes no flipping sense. I detest nursing school programs, majority of the educators have not been bedside in 30 years, it lacks relevance to today’s nursing. Hell, today’s nursing is not even like nursing just a short ten years ago. For a profession that often proclaims evidence based practice, it has done very little in regards to its own educational format with that in mind.
 
While I hate nursing theory and academic fluff, and I do not think some nurses need to have x years of MS.

AK I understand the sentiment but you are missing the forest for the trees if you think the nursing programs should be geared at graduating specialists. If you want to find a specialized technician style education that pigeon holes you, then EMS is everything you ever wanted. Or RT.

Nurses are educated generalists who then specialize, mostly with post-degree courses and OTJ training. That is what makes nursing a life long and flexible career. It is what lets nurses move from one specialty to another including MS to say ED. Or ICU to L&D.

Some graduates are cut out to go into specialty, but they are helped, not hurt, by being generalists. I absolutely think that an extra elective specialty class is a good idea... I had one (ED nursing over the summer) and I went straight into an ICU residency.
 
Summit said:
I absolutely think that an extra elective specialty class is a good idea...
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This is where I think that nursing education should go in the (relatively) short term. All RN's should go through the generalist pipeline. They get a good, broad education and then they get an idea of where they want to go for their specialty. Then have a post-graduation or post-licensure elective class in a variety of specialty areas. This gets the new-grad about knee-deep into a specialty and off-loads the initial academics for said specialty to an actual academic institution. The new grad then is able to go forth with their license and post-grad education in a specialty and begins doing the unit orientation in that (or a related) specialty. This should make the learning curve much less steep...
 
Akulahawk said:
This is where I think that nursing education should go in the (relatively) short term. All RN's should go through the generalist pipeline. They get a good, broad education and then they get an idea of where they want to go for their specialty. Then have a post-graduation or post-licensure elective class in a variety of specialty areas. This gets the new-grad about knee-deep into a specialty and off-loads the initial academics for said specialty to an actual academic institution. The new grad then is able to go forth with their license and post-grad education in a specialty and begins doing the unit orientation in that (or a related) specialty. This should make the learning curve much less steep...
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I’d be in favor of more variety in nursing clinical. I know the 4 year programs do different rotations, but my 2 year program had nursing home rotation in the beginning, then med surg 1, psych, ob, L&D, then med surg 2, which was really just med surg 1 but this time you get TWO patients.. it was dumb..
 
Med surg 2 should mean you have a lot more nursing and patho under your belt. We were supposed to have 2 patients at the end of MS1. 3-4 patients at the end of MS2 depending on acuity, plus one shift in ED or ICU, whichever you didn't do in MS1, which was mostly to be skills and obs. Each rotation in a class in my BSN program was 96 hours of clinical + 8 for the obs shift + 4 of sim.

Practicum was 180 hours clinical min, with an option to extend to 208, and these could be specialty. I did a summer externship as well, this being another class, with 400 hours of clinical, I graduated with over 600 hours of ICU clinical on top of 600+ hours from all my other clinicals (ED nursing, MS1+2, Peds, L&D, Fundamentals, Psych, Community Health, and Leadership). I was very prepared to do the ICU Residency as a new grad and was the first in the residency to come off precepting. This was a traditional (not accelerated) BSN program.
 
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Summit said:
Med surg 2 should mean you have a lot more nursing and patho under your belt. We were supposed to have 2 patients at the end of MS1. 3-4 patients at the end of MS2 depending on acuity, plus one shift in ED or ICU, whichever you didn't do in MS1, which was mostly to be skills and obs. Each rotation in a class in my BSN program was 96 hours of clinical + 8 for the obs shift + 4 of sim.

Practicum was 180 hours clinical min, with an option to extend to 208, and these could be specialty. I did a summer externship as well, this being another class, with 400 hours of clinical, I graduated with over 600 hours of ICU clinical on top of 600+ hours from all my other clinicals (ED nursing, MS1+2, Peds, L&D, Fundamentals, Psych, Community Health, and Leadership). I was very prepared to do the ICU Residency as a new grad and was the first in the residency to come off precepting. This was a traditional (not accelerated) BSN program.
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And these programs demonstrate where BSN > ADN, at least when comparing new grads. The sad thing is, the nursing educator cult insists that BSN is better at all costs so we’re left with these RN to BSN programs that are complete trash even when taking them at respected universities.
 
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