What is the difference b/t an AA and BA degree in nursing?

[sparklyheart]

Re: What is the difference b/t an AA and BA degree in nursin

In my experience in the nursing field (8 years), the difference between associate- and bachelor-prepared nurses is the theory and science background. Associate programs are heavy on clinical practice whereas Bachelor programs are heavy on the science and theory behind the clinical practice. The key phrase here in Texas is Bachelor-prepared nurses. Research has shown hospitals with more bachelor-prepared nurses provide better care, hence the push towards these types of nurses. It's sad because 3 years ago, my hospital was paying for employees to go to school for their associates… they finished and now the same hospital will not hire them to work as a nurse.

As far as clinical practice and ability, I have seen excellent care provided by all types of nurses, regardless of their background. I have also seen crappy care provided by all types of nurses! The associate-prepared nurses who have gone back for their bachelor's degree all report that the theory is so enlightening to them because while they had learned the basic concepts through clinical practice, they never knew it had a name or how to put it all together until they were back in school.

DF, since your daughter already has a Bachelor's, as others have said, it would be more beneficial for her to do an accelerated/bridge program to get her bachelor's in nursing. There are certainly jobs out there for associate-prepared nurses but in the long run it will save you and your wife money to have her only go back to school once instead of going back 5 years after she gets a job because they then require a bachelor's degree. However, I know the desire to have a job sometimes beats out the more logical answer.. Continuing to wait for a spot is not easy. It may be easier to wait it out while working as a nurse (and let the hospital foot the tuition bill)! Pay rates here are no different, it's just a matter of job availability.

It always makes me laugh when people say there are so many jobs in healthcare. As you and your daughter have seen, it's not always that easy. My hospital is certainly lacking staff in several areas but with all of the healthcare changes and spending cuts, they are very hesitant to add positions at a time when they are expected to cut millions of dollars in spending every year.

 

[TC1987]

Re: What is the difference b/t an AA and BA degree in nursin

I have one friend who's husband used to rub it in my face that I only had my AA in nursing while his wife went back to NYU and did their accelerated BS to RN program.

Well, yes, she has her BSN, but she also owes $80k in loans.

From my experience, having a Bachelors in Liberal Arts, an Associates in Nursing and now three classes away from my BSN, my AA was the hardest program I have ever taken. I took every test thinking I would fail.
Clinicals were grueling and I even used to come home crying, the program was so competitive. I look back now and don't ever want to repeat that again.
We started off with 120 students and when we graduated we only had 48.
But, every one of us passed our boards on our first try.

The classes I have been taking for my BA have had very little impact with my nursing practice- Nursing Leadership, Statistics, Nursing informatics, Health Promotion, Statistics, etc. some of them I haven't even had to open a book for.

I could have gotten my Bachelors years ago if I knew it was going to be so easy. I was afraid it was going to be like getting my AA.

DF, your daughter will do what's right for her.

^There is another recent real-life testimony about today's associate degree and diploma programs. Like I said, they have CHANGED dramatically in order to be competitive with the content of the BSRN and the content of the current NCLEX-RN exam. I don't think that diploma program I took shorted us at all on theory. It shorted us on TIME, in a majorly painful way. We had to cram all of it into 24 months. My major complaint with that program that I left was not that it was lightweight. It was that it was all chopped-up and randomized into what they called "the normals" and then "the abnormals" and then "we tie it altogether in Nursing 5 and 6." Yeah, uh huh, and by that time so many stressed-out students have been failed out or driven out that the cohort size was reduced from the 65 that started to 35 who graduated, and at least 5 of the graduates were transfers-in, so in reality only 30 of 65 were able to make it through. It was tough, far tougher than a well-structured college program, because it was so fragmented and you had to keep switching topics instead of staying on one from start to finish. Those NCLEX-style questions on exams from the get-go are unfair, imo. Too much, too soon. I don't expect a RN school to be easy. But on the other hand, nobody demands that beginning accounting students be able to answer CPA exam questions, do they? TEACH thoroughly first, and then ask students to apply it later is what most vocational and college degree programs do. But nursing is nonsensical in its teaching tactics, and it skips directly to demanding that you run before you've been taught to walk. I'm an A/B student in engineering and computers and business classes, had top grades in all prereqs, and by the end of that year I was scraping the bottom of my stamina for studying and only pulling a 70%-80% on exams. I was furious. I don't like having the deck stacked against me. And that school and hospital had other probs that I won't go into much, except to say they fired the RN school director, computer sim exercises were not available due to hospital didn't pay Elsevior on time but the deadline for students was not moved out accordingly, another time the entire bank of computers was removed from nursing school lab and replaced with new ones but the sim exercises were not reloaded for another 2 weeks but again the deadline for students to complete it was not moved out. We were constantly treated disrespectfully as well as set up to fail, was how it looked to me.

eta: And there were at least two exams that fully 75% - 85% of the class FAILED, to. We know that because a departing instructor gave us the data. Again, the school did not retest us, or throw out the grade, or give us a fair chance. So, I took my money and walked.

And yes, the major expense of doing an accelerated BSN 2nd degree program Vs. diploma or associate degree or even a traditional 4-year BSN was the reason cited for career changers electing a diploma or associate degree program instead of an accelerated 2nd degree. Personally, I don't think I could have hacked an accelerated 2nd degree program for the same reasons that I had problems with that diploma school: Accelerated programs have you scrambling all over the road covering multiple unrelated units (topics) all at once, and it's darned tough to have NO healthcare background and NO pregnancy and childrearing background, and be trying to absorb all of that theory to be able to answer NCLEX style apply-it questions and maintain an 80% to pass. When a school writes a description that says "throughout the lifespan," it apparently gives them license to scramble up topics and clinical experiences any way they like. That works for some students and doesn't necessarily work for others for whom the content is completely unfamiliar.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Re: What is the difference b/t an AA and BA degree in nursin

We'll seen if she can get her AA degree first.