There are many reasons to consider getting into a career as a registered nurse today. High demand, competitive salaries, flexible schedules, high job security, and lots of opportunities for career growth and progression are just some of the main reasons why people decide to become a nurse. And of course, it is a top choice of career for people who enjoy helping others and want to get into a role where they are able to make a difference in the world and have an impact on individuals who come to them needing help and support.
Whether you’re thinking of getting into nursing as a career in the future or are already working as a registered nurse, there are lots of reasons to consider getting a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree. Not only is it advised by bodies such as the National Academy of Medicine, but getting a BSN is often much more beneficial for nurses themselves. With each passing year, nursing only becomes a more complex role, and the BSN is a degree program designed to prepare nurses for the growing complexities. Along with this, there is currently a huge push to get more nurses BSN-educated due to research finding that it leads to better patient outcomes. In some parts of the country, such as New York State, it has now become a legal requirement for all nurses to get a BSN within ten years of getting their license and other states are expected to follow suit.
Some of the main reasons to consider getting a BSN to start your nursing career, or improving your current career in nursing with a BSN include:
Better Earning Potential
Due to the higher demand for BSN educated nurses, you may not be surprised to hear that statistics show having achieved a BSN can set you up to earn a higher income throughout your career. In 2020, a survey carried out by the National Nursing Workforce found that nurses with a BSN regularly earn more each year compared to registered nurses with an associate’s degree in nursing. Of course, there are various factors that can influence the salary that you can earn as a nurse including your location, experience, skills, and specialty area, but in general, BSN-educated nurses come out on top in terms of salaries overall.
Higher Employment Rates
Another reason to consider getting a BSN to start or improve your career in nursing is that this degree qualification may make it easier and faster for you to find employment.
Another survey from 2020 that was conducted by the AACN found that more than ninety percent of graduates from BSN programs secure employment within six months of graduating and passing the NCLEX. The survey also found that more than eighty percent of employers are now actively looking to hire more nurses with a BSN, with over forty percent of healthcare employers including hospitals and clinics now only hiring nurses with a BSN.
This may be down to the study that was carried out in 2019 by New York University, which found that the BSN program produces nurses that are significantly more prepared in twelve out of sixteen safety and quality areas compared to associate’s degree graduates including project implementation, evidence-based practice, and data analysis.
More Specialist Nursing Opportunities
In 1980, only just over twenty percent of nurses were qualified with a BSN, compared to in 2018, where almost 60% of nurses have this qualification. Nurses with a BSN have been steadily growing and overtaking nurses with an associate’s degree since 2012. Since then, healthcare has seen some noticeable improvements, and it’s become clear to see that the more BSN-educated nurses there are in a healthcare environment, the lower the risk of hospital readmissions, complications, infections, and even deaths.
Along with this, studies have found that with more BSN educated nurses on the workforce, patient stays in hospital overall are more likely to be shorter.
As a result of the increase in BSN-educated nurses, there has been more patient care delivered in outpatient environments by nurses, which has in turn made healthcare more efficient and enabled more patients to remain independent. With a BSN, nurses have more opportunities available to them in terms of the specialist areas that they can choose to work in since many specialties now require this degree qualification as a minimum.
BSN-educated nurses also tend to have more opportunities to work in a wide range of healthcare settings including hospitals, clinics, outpatient clinics, case management roles, leadership and supervisory roles, within the community, home health services, and much more.
Faster Career Change
Maybe you are interested in getting into a career in nursing but are going to be changing from an already established career that you have earned a degree for. If this sounds like your situation then the good news is that you can still get a BSN in around the same time that it would take for you to get an associate’s degree in nursing, and reap all the benefits of getting this better qualification.
Typically, a BSN will take four years to complete but if you have already earned a degree in a non-nursing subject, you can opt for an accelerated BSN program instead. The ABSN programs are intensive nursing degree programs designed for students who have already gained a different degree. You will not usually be able to work full-time while taking this program due to the workload, but it does allow you to get your BSN and qualify to start working as a registered nurse once you have passed the NCLEX in just two years rather than four.
Prepare for Advanced Nursing Careers
These days there are more opportunities than ever before for nurses who want to progress. With fewer medical students deciding to choose primary care in medical school, there’s a shortage of primary care physicians that advanced practice registered nurses are being recruited to fill. Nurse practitioners, for example, are in higher demand than ever before. These highly trained, skilled nurses are afforded full practice authority in more than twenty US states and are able to examine, treat, diagnose, and even prescribe medication to patients without supervision.
If you are ambitious when it comes to your future nursing career and are considering moving up the ranks in nursing in the future, then you’ll need to have a BSN as a solid foundation on which to build your career. A BSN is usually the minimum requirement for getting into more progressive career paths as a nurse and not having this qualification could ultimately end up holding you back.
Be Ready for Graduate School
Lifelong learning is a part of the job when it comes to nursing, and some nurses decide to facilitate this by attending graduate school to earn an advanced degree such as a master’s degree in nursing to prepare them for more advanced nursing roles. Whether you are interested in returning to college in the future to study to pursue a career as a nurse practitioner, nurse leader, or nurse educator, many postgraduate nursing degree programs such as master’s and doctorate programs will require a BSN as a minimum entry requirement.
If you’re interested in pursuing further nursing education in the future, then you will usually need to obtain a BSN before you can get any further. Along with this, many courses and certificates are designed to prepare you for specialty areas in nursing such as psychiatric mental health nursing, neonatal nursing, nurse midwifery, oncology nursing, pediatric nursing or acute care and trauma nursing to name a few will require you to possess at least a BSN before you can be considered for enrolment.
Have More of an Impact
Most nurses get into this career because they truly care about others and want to make a genuine difference in the world. Getting a BSN can be one of the best ways to invest in yourself if you care about your patients and want to play an influential part in improving patient outcomes in the healthcare settings where you work.
While there is certainly a lot that you can learn from getting an associate’s degree in nursing and gaining experience working as a registered nurse, the BSN provides a more in-depth level of education that will better prepare you for making a positive impact in nursing. With a BSN, nurses are fully prepared to work in roles with higher levels of responsibilities including coordination of comprehensive health plans for patients, decision making regarding home healthcare plans, managing new technologies in healthcare, and much more. BSN-educated nurses tend to have a higher level of autonomy, which is becoming more and more important in the industry due to the growing demands that are being put on healthcare as a whole.
It’s Likely to Become Mandatory
In most countries around the world today, a bachelor’s degree is the minimum requirement to get into a career in nursing and the US is likely to follow suit. Already, we are seeing changes in New York State with the new BSN-in-10 law that requires all registered nurses to get a BSN within ten years of getting their license. Eventually, it’s widely considered by the experts that the associate’s degree might be completely done away with, and all nurses will need to obtain a BSN to work in this career. While this situation might be some time off, the best thing that you can do if you are currently a registered nurse or are considering a career in nursing is to get ahead of the curve and get your BSN now, before it gets too late and you have to do it under pressure or are no longer allowed to work until you have it. The good news is that with more and more online BSN programs available that are designed with nurses in mind, you can find a program to suit you that you can study from home on your own time while fitting it around your career as a nurse.
What Does The Research Say?
So far, the research that has been conducted on getting a BSN for registered nurses is largely in favor of getting the degree. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that patient outcomes are likely to be improved with more BSN nurses responsible for patient care in the healthcare setting, which has led to more employers actively searching for BSN-educated nurses to recruit.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing reported that there are multiple studies to suggest that BSN graduates are much better prepared to deal with most safety and quality related aspects of patient care. Along with this, research has found that having just ten percent more BSN-educated nurses in the healthcare setting can bring patient mortality rates down by over ten percent. Hospitals with a higher number of BSN-educated nurses employed tend to have lower rates of long patient stays, fewer decubitus ulcers, lower rates of congestive heart failure in patients, and a lower risk of patients developing deep vein thrombosis after procedures.
How to Get Your BSN
Whether you’re already working as a registered nurse and want to improve your education or are figuring out the best degree to start with when getting into your new career in nursing, there are several options to choose from when it comes to getting your BSN. Online BSN programs are popular with nurses who need to continue working while studying, while accelerated BSN degree programs can be an ideal choice for career changers who already have a degree and want to save time and money. You can also find a wide range of traditional BSN programs available to study at nursing schools throughout the country; these typically take around four years to complete and include a combination of both classroom and hands-on learning through work placements.
Whether you’re a nurse looking to improve your education or want to get started with a new career in nursing, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that the BSN is the best degree program to invest in.
