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Masters of Nursing OR Bachelors of Nursing ???

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Author Masters of Nursing OR Bachelors of Nursing ???

Bobby

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  • Joined: Jul 2010
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Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:07 pm

HI All,
First of all a big thanx to everyone here. I learnt a lot by reading the posts.
Secondly :)
Which is better or whats the difference between Masters of Nursing AND just a Bachelors degree (or lets say a Graduate Entry from latrobe).?
Thnx in advance :)

KitKat26

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  • Joined: Nov 2010
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Dec 01, 2010, 09:10 pm

Hi Bobby,

Have you had any luck in deciding? I'm in the same boat. I've been offered a place in both the Melb Uni Masters program and the Bachelor of Nursing graduate entry degree. I've previously studied at Latrobe but I don't know where I'm just favouring them because it's a familiar place

Andy

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Dec 19, 2010, 08:11 pm

Hello Bobby,

Firstly, you only need a BN to register as a nurse. Personally, I think nurses need to find their feet in the workforce before engaging in academic study again so, would recommend that you do your Bachelors degree then work for a couple of years, hopefully finding your area of interest. Once you have some experience then consider doing a masters degree. Most masters degrees these days seem to be with the view to becoming a nurse practitioner. My understanding is you need to have at least 5 years experience in an area of specialty before registration as an NP, though this is changing. The normal progression has been RN to CNS to CNC to NP. So the role of NP doesn't become devalued, I feel strongly that all candidates for NP have substantial experience in their field (5yrs+) AS WELL AS an MN before NP status is conferred.

Andy

Upcoming RN

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Dec 19, 2010, 09:03 pm

Some nursing or health sciences schools, such as Sydney Nursing School and Melbourne School of Health Sciences only offer Master of Nursing degree programs and do not offer a Bachelor of Nursing. It sounds like you are interested in undergraduate study. Sydney Nursing School offers the following degree programs to undergraduate students:

Bachelor of Arts/Master of Nursing

Bachelor of Health Sciences/Master of Nursing

Bachelor of Science/Master of Nursing

These programs differ from a Bachelor of Nursing as nursing is not studied in the first year and because they are dual qualifications which allow students to specialise or major in an area other than nursing. The programs are similar to a Bachelor of Nursing because they also include clinical simulation, clinical placements and the study of pathophysiology and pharmacology and clinical elective units. Sydney Nursing School also offers a graduate-entry Master of Nursing to graduates of other disciplines. This degree is identical to the nursing component of the undergraduate programs.

Melbourne School of Health Sciences offers a Master of Nursing Science. From what I have read, this degree seems to have a more scientific focus than many other Australian nursing degrees. This is just my opinion and it is by no means definitive. This degree includes roughly two days per week on campus and two - three days per week in hospitals, clinics or community health centres.

So you can do either a Bachelor of Nursing or a combined undergraduate degree and Master of Nursing at the University of Sydney. The latter option takes at least four years, while a Bachelor of Nursing can generally be completed in three years (or two years if you are an enrolled nurse).

Fran

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  • Joined: Dec 2010
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Dec 21, 2010, 01:59 am

Hi Bobby,

I think the important question you need to ask yourself is what you want the Masters for? If you want to practice as a RN and then expand your practice to incorpoate a Masters then a degree first is a good idea, then you can get out there and expore the workforce first and decide where you want to go from there. However if you want to head quite quickly into reserch and development then the Masters first may be the better track. I have my Masters of Nursing Studies which I completed after five years as an RN but that is what worked for me as there were so many study options available. In the last few years post graduate studies for nursing has really taken off and you can get post graduate qualifications in just about every field from the usual specialities like Emergency to management, research, leadership, infection control etc the list goes on. Check out the uni's online for example JCU has a wide variety of topics at the Masters level which may interest you more. Either way whatever you choose welcome to nursing its a great profession.
Fran

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