An Open Letter to the ANCC

Nurses Activism

Published

Specializes in Dialysis, Hospice, Critical care.

For an organization dedicated to advancing the nursing profession there are several glaring omissions in the requirements for MAGNET certification. Chiefly the lack of a requirement for pay differentials between ADN's and BSN's. Imagine my dismay when I found, nearing the completion of my BSN program that my employer offers no pay differential for BSN's. And this is a problem nationwide. Where is the incentive to secure one's BSN if there is no economic benefit in doing so? There has been talk...for years...of requiring a BSN for entry level RN positions. This goal has yet to be achieved for several reasons, multiple education tracks leading to RN and secondly, the failure of organizations dedicated to advancing the profession to insist that employers differentiate between ADN/DIploma prepared nurses and BSN prepared nurses. Secondly pay differentials for obtaining certification vary widely from one healthcare system to another. Securing one's CCRN at our facility nets one an extra 50 cents an hour. In others, it can be as much as $3.00 an hour, and in some instances none at all. Absent requirements for meaningful pay differentials for obtaining specialty certification and a BSN, RN's at all educational levels will simply be regarded by administration as interchangeable pieces in the machine that the healthcare industry has morphed into over the last 30 years...ever since Wall Street found there was money to be made from the suffering of people in need of medical care.

Until the ANCC, and other organizations walk the walk regarding advancing the profession of nursing, nothing will change. Pay will, in no way be commensurate with responsibility. education or experience. Working conditions will continue to favor numbers over acuity and safe care will be the standard instead of safe and quality care. Wake up people...if you're staff at a MAGNET certified hospital start using shared governance to hold administration's feet to the fire. If not MAGNET certified...organize.

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re;

where is the incentive to secure one's bsn if there is no economic benefit in doing so?

my incentive to secure a post-diploma bscn was not based on a desire to earn more money day to day but to ensure that over the long term, i am employable whether it's an employer's market or an employee's market. this is the third time in my nursing career i have seen a surplus of nurses and each time employers have required or preferred to hire nurses with bscns over nurses with lesser education.

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Over 30 years ago, I wondered the same things - why bother with a BSN if there was no salary difference? And who would spend many thousands of dollars on a collegiate education in order to work all the nights, weekends and holidays that the bedside nurses have to work?

Why am I not amazed that things have not changed??? Where is the uproar that should have been at least 25 years ago? Why do I not see more nurses out there in the protests on the streets?

As a group we have been far to easy to back off of our own needs, and too easily intimidated to stand up for our own rights.

How many of us have negotiated our own salaries or benefits or even our schedules??

My 26 y.o. son, a school district employee, makes more right now than I ever have. I believe he deserves it, but where does that leave us?? After 30+ years I barely make a buck an hour for those 30 years!!!

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Maybe it is because I am Canadian, but I don't understand why it would be the responsibility of a credntialing organization or any other professional nursing association to negotiate better salaries for nurses....that is the responsibility of a nursing union. Canadian nurses have had unions for decades and because of this we have very good salaries and benefits. Our salaries are higher than other non-unionized healthcare professionals such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists and social workers. Our salaries are also higher than other unionized professionals such as teachers and librarians.

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Specializes in Pedi.
For an organization dedicated to advancing the nursing profession there are several glaring omissions in the requirements for MAGNET certification. Chiefly the lack of a requirement for pay differentials between ADN's and BSN's. Imagine my dismay when I found, nearing the completion of my BSN program that my employer offers no pay differential for BSN's. And this is a problem nationwide. Where is the incentive to secure one's BSN if there is no economic benefit in doing so? There has been talk...for years...of requiring a BSN for entry level RN positions. This goal has yet to be achieved for several reasons, multiple education tracks leading to RN and secondly, the failure of organizations dedicated to advancing the profession to insist that employers differentiate between ADN/DIploma prepared nurses and BSN prepared nurses. Secondly pay differentials for obtaining certification vary widely from one healthcare system to another. Securing one's CCRN at our facility nets one an extra 50 cents an hour. In others, it can be as much as $3.00 an hour, and in some instances none at all. Absent requirements for meaningful pay differentials for obtaining specialty certification and a BSN, RN's at all educational levels will simply be regarded by administration as interchangeable pieces in the machine that the healthcare industry has morphed into over the last 30 years...ever since Wall Street found there was money to be made from the suffering of people in need of medical care.

Until the ANCC, and other organizations walk the walk regarding advancing the profession of nursing, nothing will change. Pay will, in no way be commensurate with responsibility. education or experience. Working conditions will continue to favor numbers over acuity and safe care will be the standard instead of safe and quality care. Wake up people...if you're staff at a MAGNET certified hospital start using shared governance to hold administration's feet to the fire. If not MAGNET certified...organize.

ANCC isn't about negotiating nurses' salaries. They exist to sell magnet to hospitals and to sell certifications to nurses. Magnet is a joke and the biggest scam in nursing today. ANCC is in charge of magnet and nursing certifications. In order for a hospital to achieve magnet, a certain percentage of their nurses have to be certified. Many of these certifications have to be purchased through the ANCC. As long as I am working for my current employer, I will NOT pursue any certification because I do not want to in any way help them retain their magnet status which they are completely undeserving of in the first place.

The ANCC isn't dedicated to advancing the nursing profession. Per their website, "The mission of the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) is to promote excellence in nursing and health care globally through credentialing programs." Their mission is exclusively credentialing programs.

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