Are you an RN looking to advance your nursing career? Upgrading your nursing degree by earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) can provide immense rewards. A BSN builds on the skills and knowledge from an RN program to prepare nurses for greater leadership roles, higher salaries, and more career opportunities. This article explores six key benefits nurses can gain by completing flexible online RN to BSN completion programs. Read on to learn how furthering your education can elevate your nursing career to the next level.
Contents
1. Better Compensation
One of the most immediate advantages of earning a BSN is increased earning potential. On average, BSN nurses make around $8,000 more per year than RNs with an Associate’s Degree in Nursing (ADN). Over a 40-year career, that additional income from a BSN can mean over $300,000 in extra pay. The specialized clinical knowledge and enhanced leadership capabilities that come with a bachelor’s degree make BSN nurses extremely valuable. Taking the next step in your schooling leads to bigger paychecks.
2. More Advancement Opportunities
Along with higher salaries, getting your BSN also opens more doors for career advancement. Many supervisory and administrative nursing roles list a BSN as a minimum requirement, including Nurse Manager, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Healthcare Administrator, and Nurse Researcher positions.
3. Enhanced Patient Care Capabilities
A BSN curriculum goes beyond clinical nursing skills to provide enhanced knowledge in areas that translate to better patient care delivery. Studying nursing theory, research, technology applications, population health, and quality improvement gives BSN nurses a deeper understanding of best practices for providing high-quality, holistic care. Applying this expanded knowledge in the field can lead to better health outcomes, reduced risks, and increased patient satisfaction.
4. Greater Employability
Many healthcare settings are now giving preference to hiring BSN nurses or even requiring a bachelor’s degree. A 2022 report showed that 72% of US hospitals are now aiming for 80-100% BSN staff nurses. Major medical centers like the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Johns Hopkins all mandate new RN hires to have a BSN. Earning those three additional letters after your name through flexible online RN to BSN completion puts you in a much more competitive position when applying for nursing jobs.
5. Valuable Interprofessional Skills
BSN programs place greater emphasis on developing skills for interprofessional collaboration. Coursework in leadership, communication, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and team building all help prepare nurses to work effectively across disciplines. As nurses take on more care coordination responsibilities and healthcare teams become increasingly integrated, these cross-functional capabilities are vital.
6. Personal Satisfaction
Lastly, don’t underestimate the immense personal fulfillment that can come from pushing yourself to complete an advanced degree. Meeting this challenge and serving as a role model for continual learning demonstrates your dedication to excellence in nursing practice. Whether to keep pace with a dynamic, technology-driven healthcare landscape or to silo yourself as an expert in a specialty field, lifelong learning is crucial for modern nursing professionals.
From increased salaries and career opportunities to enhanced patient care abilities and valuable new skill sets, RN to BSN completion programs deliver major upside. All signs point to a bachelor’s degree becoming the future industry standard for registered nurses.
