you can always do the Associate degree RN. From my school's explanation what you miss out on is alot of community health education and management classes. Looking at the school where I got my bachelor's, for me to bridge from RN to BSN will take 2 semesters and include 1 "community health" clinical rotation.
If you go to the right school, you will be more marketable than some 4 year degrees.
My school in particular has almost as many clinical hours as a 4 year degree, so when we hit the work force, we are more prepared in the "hands on" aspect, than the local 4 year Uni. This is a comment made by nurses i've come into contact with at the hospitals.
i was chatting with an alternative entry to Nurse Practictioner student on facebook today and he told me that he hasn't performed ANY procedures since february (in his clinical time). He's at the state U and will be graduating with a much higher degree than what I have, but he's scared to go out and work... kinda weird.
Some people may argue, but I really feel that with nursing, school is your foundation of "how not to kill people." And actually working in the hospital day in and day out is where you learn "how to heal people."
If you are decided not to bridge from medic, I'd suggest an associates.
However, I will disagree with those who say that a 1 year bridge is not enough to teach you.
From speaking with instructors who teach the Medic - RN classes, they LOVE teaching Medics and feel that they are the ones who catch on the fastest (over the LVN students who are bridged in the same program).
I will disagree with Sasha in saying ... maybe some of the RN/EMT-P people who felt like they were playing catch up don't realize that EVERY new nurse is playing catch up.
The reason is this: You can take any new Medical/Surgical text book and read it cover to cover. (basically what you do in nursing school) That isn't going to prepare you to care for people on a med/surg floor and feel competent and up to speed. The reason is that you are learning to manage time between 8 semi-sick patients AND trying to know everything about 8 different diseases all at once.
You ONLY get that experience by taking care of the same diseases over and over again for a few years. Only then are you "up to speed/ caught up," and possibly not even then. Many experienced nurses say it takes from 5-10 years to have "seen everything." And we are just talking 1 specialty here.
Now then the piece of information that you are missing my friend (to the op)
there are NO JOBS FOR GRADUATE NURSES right now.
The nursing shortage is for EXPERIENCED NURSES. It takes on average $60,000 to train a graduate nurse over the course of a year or two. Hospitals just aren't shelling out the bucks to "give you a chance to prove yourself."
Now then, you may have an edge somewhere by saying i've been a paramedic for xx amount of years and now i'm a GN. Or you could get lucky and just be in the right area that actually is[i/] hiring GNs, but those places are few and far between.
Just take a look on allnurses.com and do a search for "graduate nurse," and "job." You will find thousands of GNs who are FREAKING OUT and their unified cry is, " I was told that when I got out of school, that I would have NO PROBLEM finding a job."
Heck I even see experienced nurses out there who can't find work either because their experience costs too much.
as always, good luck on your endeavors.
Overall, I'm happy where I am, and how I got there.
