Criterion 4.1

Current trends in healthcare are leading to more complex, advanced patient care and needs. Hospitals and patient services are now in need of highly skilled, trained, and educated professionals to deliver this care. The impact of these trends extend into the profession of nursing, where employers are taking a closer look at the outcomes of patient care delivered by ADN graduates vs. BSN prepared nurses. Although

An ongoing debate for the requirements to become a Registered Nurse (RN) has been unsettled. Several different educational pathways lead to an RN licensure; however, the minimum educational requirements must be standardized at the baccalaureate level for several reasons. Spetz and Bates (2013) published that a growing number of hospitals prefer hiring nurses with a Bachelor Science in Nursing (BSN) as this increases the status of the nursing profession (p. 1). Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), as well as a certificate on-the-job training Diploma are two other educational pathways to become an RN, which can be disadvantageous to the nursing profession in several ways (Tollick 2013; Spetz and Bates 2013). If entry-level nurses

ADN gives you the fundamentals of nursing practices. They basic theory, skills, competencies knowledge of scope of practice and legalities for licensure and the essential general education core that is necessary as a foundation [English, psychology, biology chemistry,

In addition, a DNP degree will help me better serve my community by advocating for quality and safety healthcare system. Once attained, I would seek employment at either a school or university with the mission of educating nursing students to practice the highest quality of patient care. One of the major issues facing the nursing profession today is the lack of advance nursing practices. The medical field is in crisis. Doctors are stretched to the limits, and patients are demanding more advanced care. To alleviate some of the concerns facing medicine in the 21st century, advance nursing practices is a vital area in the contribution of understanding and working within the bounds of a team structure, and the promotion of communication between the interdisciplinary health team. The mission of the advance nursing practice is to help individual patients, and their families, determine and achieve optimum physical, mental and social potential, and to do so within the challenging context of the environment in which they live and work Nurses are among the largest professional care group within the healthcare service industry. We are responsible for providing quality care and assisting patients towards independent and healthy living. Considering the changing working environment, health care practitioners like nurses are

Human resources are a major category that falls under this area. The faculties which make up part of the human resources and, a vital part of the infrastructure are a key to the curriculum development and for successful implementation(Iwasiw, et al., 2009). It is essential that this process be managed by faculty, because they share a major responsibility in teaching students and their learning so greatly depend on the quality of the curriculum (Wolf, Hughes & Baron-Nixon, 2007). All the different members that make up the faculty should be considered, whether they are clinicians, preceptors, guest speakers or support staffs, because of their involvement, perspectives and contributions that they may have regarding curriculum development. These staffs are essential, because they aid in the smooth day to day function of the school and the program. Students are vital because without them there would be no need for a nursing school and thus no curriculum. The physical resources must also be considered, because the space for classroom, technological aids, and library resources must be sufficient so that the needs of the students are matched with the curriculum (Iwasiw, et al., 2009). Prior to the revision, or development of any curriculum, the curriculum developers must carefully consider several factors in

The Kaplan website offers a wealth of information and helpful tools for nursing students. The videos in the "How to Study" section offer practical advice for beginning nursing students and those who might be struggling with topics such as, Taking Notes, Studying, Reading Textbooks, Time Management, and Preparing for the Exam. The "Remediation by Topic" section offers students summaries of topics like Confidentiality, Critical Thinking Skills, and HIPAA. "The Focused Review Test" section offers an option to create a test to use as a study aid. This paper will give a summary of the topics, Critical Thinking Skills, the NCLEX-RN, and Therapeutic Communication. This paper will also discuss which methods are the

With an ever-increasing body of knowledge in the field of nursing, more education is being required to enter the field of nursing. Many healthcare institutions are raising the educational requirements in order to become employed or maintain employment in their facilities. Healthcare organizations are transitioning to hiring registered nurses (RN) who have a higher level of education, such as, a graduate from a Baccalaureate Degree Nursing (BSN) program. The goal of these institutions is to have nurses with a broader array of skills that can meet the growing demands of our patient population. BSN prepared nurses are recognized for their well-rounded skills in critical thinking, management, case management and health promotion versus Associate Degree nurses (ADN)/Diploma nurses that focus on direct patient care.

As popular as the ADN is today, there is a huge momentum to encourage nurses to receive their BSN instead of an ADN. Nurses that are already entering the workforce at the BSN level are not only more skilled at following and understanding evidenced based practice, but they are also more prepared to go on to school to complete their masters or doctorate degrees. In the changing face of healthcare, more nurses with advanced degrees will be needed to provide primary care as in the role of nurse practitioners. APRNs are going to be in higher demand in community care, public health nursing, evidence based practice, research, and leadership. Shortages of nurses in these positions create a “barrier to advancing the profession and improving the delivery of care to patients” (IOM, 2010, p. 170). Shortages of APRNs and the increasing need for nurse practitioners to provide primary care is why the IOM is recommending to increase the amount of BSN educated nurses entering the workforce to 80% and to double the number of doctorate nurses by 2020 (IOM, 2010, p. 173) The goal to increase the nursing workforce to 80% BSN educated nurses and double the amount of nurses with doctorate degrees is a formidable goal, but increasingly necessary. Patients are becoming more complex inside and outside of the hospital setting with chronic multiple comorbidities. BSN educated nurses are not only better prepared to care for these

Nursing education in the United States offers many levels of competency falling under the licensed title of registered nurse (RN). These levels offered in a continuum, begin with nursing as a vocation in the form of licensed practical/vocational nurse (LPN/LVN) followed by an associate degree (ADN), baccalaureate of science degree (BSN), masters of science degree (MSN) and doctorate. All have curriculums that build upon the previous designation in hopes of creating a highly

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the differences in the scope of practice between Associates Degree in Nursing (ADN) and Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) nurses. There are numerous variances and similarities identified. These variances will be explored to show distinction between the two educational preparedness expectations by the Board of Nurse Examiners (BON).

The associate degree of nursing was founded in “the year of 1952 at the Fairleigh Dickinson University” ( http://viuw.fdu.edu/default.aspx?id=166). The purpose of starting the program was to solve the nursing shortage after the World War II. The ADN is a three year degree for those who want to be in the health care field. Nurses play an important role in a health care system. Once a student has completed their ADN, then they take the NCLEX to become a registered nurse. This test will certify that the person is safe to practice as an entry level nurse. The pace at which a person earns the degree is one reason why students go for ADN instead of any other degree. While a person is in the AND, he or she will learn important skill that would be extremely useful in health care. Associate degree of nursing is more

The Carnegie Foundation reports that nurses today “are undereducated for the demands of practice” (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, & Day, 2009, ¶ 17). Education of the ADN centers around the hands-on skills needed to care for a patient at bedside and less on the scientific theories that allow the holistic treatment of a patient. A report by the Milbank Memorial Fund in 2001 reports that nurses educated at the ADN level have a higher incidence of mistakes made while performing their duties (Rosseter, 2011, ¶ 24). Registered nurses who graduate with the two year degree lack research skills, leadership and managerial skills as well as informatics needed to deliver quality medical care within today’s health care system (Orsolini-Hain & Waters, 2009, p. 269).

Bondmass, Moonie, and Kowalski studied the relationship of scores of the Nursing Entrance Test (NETTM) and Educational Resources, Inc (ERI) examination scores with NCLEX-RN success in a baccalaureate curriculum. Results indicated that nursing students who passed the NCLEX-RN® scored significantly higher on both of the other standardized examinations.2 Laucher, Newman, and Britt determined that the Health Education Systems, Inc. (HESI) Exit Examination was significantly predictive of success on the NCLEX-RN.6 Nibert, Young, and Adamson reported the results of the fourth annual validity study using the HESI as a predictor of NCLEX-RN success and found it to be highly predictive (98.3%) for registered nurse (RN) students, as was the case in the prior three

The Nurse of the Future Nursing Core Competencies (NOF Core Competencies) were selected to show the correlation of competency based education and practice partnership. This is being done nationwide so new student nurses would be more prepared with critical thinking and competent learned skills during clinicals. It encourages many nurses to continue their education with some becoming Doctors of Nursing, Nurse Practitioners’, Educators, Managers, and many more specialties.

With a consistent change in modernizing medicine, along with the continuing advancement in technology, continuing education in nursing is essential for a variety of reasons. The nurse’s main concern is providing safe, efficient, and effective patient care with positive patient outcomes. This paper will examine the differences in competencies between nurses prepared at an associate-degree level versus a baccalaureate-degree level, in order to provide an evidenced-based understanding of the variation in the educational preparation of nurses.