I Want To Go To School To Become A Registered Nurse.do I Major In Nursing Or Nursing/rn-bsn?please Help! :)?

2 Responses to I Want To Go To School To Become A Registered Nurse.do I Major In Nursing Or Nursing/rn-bsn?please Help! :)?

1. lathom01 says:

   July 31, 2009 at 11:29 pm

   True, LPN and RN are two separate degrees. You can chose to jump right into the RN course, but you (and generally a few others) will be doing so without the benefit of any prior nursing knowledge, and you will find it harder to keep up and make decent grades. To take the Associates Degree RN class, you will go to school full-time for 2 years, and upon passing the state boards test, you will receive your RN license then. You can chose to continue for your bachelor’s degree if you want but, unless you plan on teaching or going even further (like nurse anesthetist) having a BSN wont mean squat. If you want to work in a hospital environment, any department you please, being an associates degree RN is all you need. BUT….if 2 years is too long to wait before you can start earning money, consider the LPN course. It is 1-year of full time school, after which time you take the state board exam and get your LPN license. In the school setting, the major difference between RN and LPN is that the RN focuses more on legalities, paperwork, and leadership. The LPN focuses more on the basics of patient care. In the HOSPITAL setting, the RN gets a lot more respect and a lot more fields offered to her. When I was an LPN, I was allowed to work the Emergency Rooms, and eventually ended up specializing in the Intensive Care Units, where I functioned almost indistinguishably alongside the RNs. Nowadays, LPNs seem to be relegated to just basic patient care on the medical/surgical floors. So the answer is, you can either jump right into the ADN RN class, or into the Vocational LPN Nursing class. A lot of people I know prefer to take the LPN class so that they can start earning a paycheck sooner, and (at their leisure) they begin working on the prerequisites for the RN class. You dont have to start as an LPN to become an RN, but you’ll find that it helps to have that much more knowledge and experience behind you when you DO start the RN class. I know it’s confusing but I hope I helped.
2. Diane A says:

   August 1, 2009 at 12:04 am

   If a school has a nursing program (not just the pre-reqs) it should result in a degree. If it is a bachelors, the degree will be a BSRN; if it is a community college, it will be an associates degree (ADN). THEN after graduation you are eligible to take the NCLEX exam to become a REGISTERED nurse & get state licensed (either the BSRN or the ADN allow you to do this).
   A LPN is a totally different program from the RN one. Usually it is a 1 year vocational program. You can not get a RN from a vocational LPN program.