Low Down on Nursing Education

[ADNRN]

In a former life, I was an education counselor, so from that perspective, let me set a few things straight about education and the RN.

1. Nurses, don't require a degree. For most of the time, nurses were taught in diploma schools and some still are. Most of what a nurse learns is learned on the job. All education is great, but if a nurse is really going to be "well rounded" by education, they should have a bachelor's degree in one of the liberal art subjects and then nursing school.

2. The people who are most concerned about nurses having BSNs as entry level education are the educators. No big surprise there. Most hospitals couldn't care less, because they need people liscensed by the state as registered nurses.

3. Management requires a BSN only because there are a limited number of management slots, and education is a way of legitimately weeding applicants out. My boss was an ADN and manager of a cardiac unit for about 20 years before getting her BSN. In reality, a nurse would be better served with a A.A. in business management than a BSN if they are going to be managers.

4. MDs respect nurses. They don't really care how much education a nurse has because whatever education they have is not an MD and that's all they recognize. Why? Because they're MDs; it's a different profession. RNs are just as good as MDs, because in modern health care, both are essential for patient care and treatment. Competeing with MDs for professional status based on educational qualifications is a fool's game. The MD is considered the top of the educational food chain. But why would a nurse need or want a doctorate of medicine? They are equal with doctors in the profession of helping sick people even if they only went to a diploma school.

5. Continuing education is more important than formal academic degrees. What difference does it make if someone got their MSN 20 years ago? What have they done lately? Subscribe to three nursing mags and do their CEUs and you will be on top of the game. Combine that with national certification and you really have something that shows current competency.

6. It's true: if you want to be a psychotherapist, you need a MSW or some equivalent. Why? Because there is a glut of people getting BSc degrees in psychology and sociology. Why? because they're easy degrees. If the world needed therapists as much as they needed nurses, you'd have therapy schools with AASc programs just like nursing schools. In fact, look at the military: When the Air Force needs nurses they will commission nurses with ADNs. When they don't, they require a BSN. We aren't competing with other professions; we are nurses.

7. What I am saying will always be the case, and why? Because there will always be a nursing shortage, and not because of demographics, but because nursing takes a certain kind of person, and it's hard work. There is a shortage of bedside nurses; there always will be. There is no shortage of nurse managers or executives or NPs or CRNAs, and that's good news. Because if you really want to be a nurse, you can be and you don't have to continously seek after more and more degrees. You will always have a job, and you can be a professional person with initials after your name, and all that with only a diploma.

[LauraLou]

Schools that teach only the technical stuff are called "trade schools."

I have a Masters degree in Library Science from the University of North Texas. In the Masters program, we learned to catalogue books using Dewey and Library of Congress. We learned how to use print and electronic references for research. We learned how library collections are developed and maintained. I came out of that program able to function as a professional librarian.

Not once did we discuss how library patrons are a part of the universal process of expanding consciousness or where they fell on the knowledge/ignorance continuum. Despite the lack of bizarre and irrelevant theories, I don't think anyone would accuse master's prepared librarians of being "trade school" graduates.

I am a firm believer in the importance of continuing and advanced education. I just think that education should be practical and applicable to the practice of nursing. Nurses gain respect by their skills, their knowledge and their experience. I do not believe doctors or other professionals will have more respect for nurses who are less able to function in the clinical setting.

[Q.]

I have a Masters degree in Library Science from the University of North Texas. In the Masters program, we learned to catalogue books using Dewey and Library of Congress. We learned how to use print and electronic references for research. We learned how library collections are developed and maintained. I came out of that program able to function as a professional librarian.

Not once did we discuss how library patrons are a part of the universal process of expanding consciousness or where they fell on the knowledge/ignorance continuum. Despite the lack of bizarre and irrelevant theories, I don't think anyone would accuse master's prepared librarians of being "trade school" graduates.

And what's interesting is that our very own MLIS library manager here at our hospital has admitted that she lacks the "bizarre and irrelevant theories" that would better assist her in assisting library patrons who have a low health literacy level, for example, or having a grasp on what they are really looking for. As a result, she's looking to hire an RN, skilled in medical-speak as well as patient education to assist patients in locating the information they need/want and is appropriate for them.

I would also hope that you would agree that as a nurse, being familiar with the life changes, developmental implications or where patients fall on any theoretical continuum has a much greater impact on the nurse-patient relationship and care delivery than it does on finding the right book or doing a lit search.

[zenman]

Not once did we discuss how library patrons are a part of the universal process of expanding consciousness or where they fell on the knowledge/ignorance continuum. Despite the lack of bizarre and irrelevant theories, I don't think anyone would accuse master's prepared librarians of being "trade school" graduates.

Well I was talking about healthcare, not librarians, but I do appreciate you bringing in another viewpoint. I think Q provided a different answer. What I was trying to explain was that knowledge of "consciousness" is very important and seems to be on the research hot list. Someone who had not taken any courses in this area might just throw out a comment like a previous poster did and not realize something as important as the comment I made, which was along the lines of "if we can't measure consciousness, perhaps all double-blind studies are null and void." Now what kind of impact does this have? Is this part of the reason we have some studies that show that a certain drug is ok, then a later study shows that it is killing people?

My "trade school" comment was to those who think that technical and clincal skills are the primary emphasis in nursing. TV repair or auto mechanics have a lot of hands-on training and very little, if any of the liberal arts courses.

By the way, get your library to order "Consciousness & Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine."

I am a firm believer in the importance of continuing and advanced education. I just think that education should be practical and applicable to the practice of nursing. Nurses gain respect by their skills, their knowledge and their experience. I do not believe doctors or other professionals will have more respect for nurses who are less able to function in the clinical setting.

I agree but you gotta have the brains behind the technical skills. Rocket scientists know how to build them but also know a lot of theory. I see nurses in ICU for example who might say, "we need to turn that drip up" and another who jumps in with the reasons about what might happen if it is done.