RI Nurse Economy

Honestly, I'm really not surprised by what I heard from that radio segment. I agree with the Dean of Nursing at CCRI that the ADN nurses from CCRI are adequately prepared to go out into the world and practice as RNs with a great deal of success. Unfortunately, its just the state of the economy and our country right now that nursing jobs are harder to come by and for the positions available they are looking for the best nurses that they can get. Keep in mind that when I say the "best" it is based upon multiple factors including education, experience, work ethic and potential for advancement. Just to clarify my position let me give a little example to avoid massive flaming from other users.

Let's say your a clinical nurse manager on an average unit (let's say it's a Med/Surg unit) and you have one position open for a new grad nurse and right now you have narrowed it down to two applicants. New nurse #1 has graduated from a four-year college with their BSN and an average GPA, their only experience comes from what they did in clinicals but this person seems like an able worker with a good personality. Then you have new nurse #2 who has graduated from the local community college with their AND and a slightly above average GPA, their only experience coming from what they did in clinicals but this person seems like a good worker with a good personality. Now these two are pretty typical in terms of new grad nurses so as a hiring manager how do you decide whom to hire? Well in terms of experience both nurses are pretty much equal, perhaps the community college grad. may have some more hands on clinical time, but overall they are equal in this category. Both applicants seem determined, capable workers with good personalities so again they are equal. In terms of education your new nurse #1 has a BSN and new nurse #2 has an ADN so new nurse #1 has a higher degree of education. The manager would be prudent in asking both nurses what their future educational plans are as part of the hiring process, perhaps the BSN nurse has no plans for educational advancement and the ADN nurse plans on getting their BSN and maybe moving on to their MSN, so its something to keep in mind. The final category is potential for advancement, now education isn't the only aspect of whether someone can advance in their career but I think as we go further into the 21st century you will see very few ADN clinical managers and most will require a BSN at minimum (many are being asked to earn their MSN actually.) So unless you hear some definitive plans from new nurse #2 that include going back for their BSN then mostly likely this person will not advance into a management tract position (again this is dependent on the area and situation by situation basis but this is a general statement.) So if all other things are equal then I would probably hire the BSN nurse for this position. Now maybe not all clinical nurse managers would agree with me but that is just what I think.

!Chris