BSN and Associate Nurses Are Neck and Neck. Will This Change?

[allnurses]

AACN published The Impact of Education on Nursing Practice in 2015 which discussed multiple studies about ADN and BSN education. One of the more important statements is about Magnet status. Hospitals that have attained Magnet status, are recognized for nursing excellence and superior patient outcomes, have moved to require all nurse managers and nurse leaders to hold a baccalaureate or graduate degree. Hospitals in the process of applying for Magnet status must show plans to achieve the goal of having an 80% baccalaureate prepared RN workforce by 2020.

Then there are the studies that show that hospitals staffed with more BSN prepared nurses have better patient outcomes. This has been a hotly debated topic on AN. Here is one references:

In an article published in the March 2013 issue of Health Affairs, nurse researcher Ann Kutney-Lee and colleagues found that a 10-point increase in the percentage of nurses holding a BSN within a hospital was associated with an average reduction of 2.12 deaths for every 1,000 patients-and for a subset of patients with complications, an average reduction of 7.47 deaths per 1,000 patients. The study is titled "An Increase in the Number of Nurses with Baccalaureate Degrees is Linked to Lower Rates of Post-surgery Mortality."

One of the more prolific threads on AN was titled the difference between ADN and BSN nurses that was started in December 2014.

Many individual healthcare facilities have created policies that will affect the increasing number of nurses earning a BSN. Due to internal policies, the management at many hospitals across the US have been requiring currently employed LPNs and RNs with diplomas and ADNs to earn BSN degrees within a specified time frame. Many non-BSN nurses are being given an ultimatum. Is this right?

It is still being debated

So...what's your opinion? Is getting a BSN on your agenda?

How is the comparison between the number of ADN and BSN RNs at your place of work?

[Buyer beware, BSN]

emtb2rn said:

Diploma rn here, went through rn-bsn program. Also have bs in another field.

My question (which has been brought up by others recently and is also your question) remains: do any of these studies delineate diploma/asn to bsn nurses vs initial degree bsn nurses?

Diploma trained nurses are the BEST. I think those that know, know that.

[Dogen]

Here.I.Stand said:

Let's see...I took ear training. Give me a piece of staff paper and I can notate all the gadgets' alarm songs! My Arthurian lit class taught me all about courtly love, which can be applicable to family dynamics! Granted I took those classes before I got my ADN. Let's see...

Geography taught me about urban heat islands...heat is definitely a bad thing for TBI pts. Oh wait, I could already run the Alsius. Oh, wait!! I know all about Qi and the hospital room!!! Does that mean less of my patients die now? No?

(Sorry...slept 3 hrs last night. Feeling a bit punchy.)

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[CKPM2RN, ASN, EMT-P]

Aromatic said:

this shortage myth is just a term used for hospitals to stay short staffed, thus increasing profit margins. And also for coercing more people to go into nursing, thus increasing profit margins for colleges.

The shortage myth was used at a hospital I worked for. First they did a "voluntary layoff" of a lot of the more senior staff. Then, three months later the hospital declared a nursing shortage emergency and hired a bunch of foreign staff. It was obvious ******** to clear out the higher paid nursing staff to bring in lower paid work-visa staff.

[benharold1, BSN]

No quite sure if Magnet desire for BSN and above really improves pt care.

I have worked with many, many ADN's who are great nurses.

Some hospitals encouraging RN's to get Master degrees

Will a nurse with a Master's degree put pt's on bedpans?

Who will care for the patient's. Just silly for Magnet that really is working in cahoots with the Education Industry.

[Boomer MS, RN]

Will a nurse with a Master's degree put pt's on bedpans?

Yes.

[Julius Seizure]

2mint said:

I posted this before, but just want to break down the math portion:

Math: 8 divided by 6 = 1.333

Translation: Nurse BSN taking on 33.3% less patient load (6 vs. ? has a 30% lower mortality rate outcome.

hmmm...what happens to that other 3.3%....

I can't tell if you are joking, or actually saying this is the way the math works.

Joking...right?

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

Boomer MS, RN said:

Will a nurse with a Master's degree put pt's on bedpans?

Yes.

As long as I have worked in this business, there have been MSNs who have HAPPILY placed pts on beds pans as a staff nurse.

[rzyzzy]

LadyFree28 said:

As long as I have worked in this business, there have been MSNs who have HAPPILY placed pts on beds pans as a staff nurse.

I don't doubt they were happy to do it, but it's a tremendous waste of a resource to have them at the bedside instead of teaching/precepting or managing the department.

You don't use a CPA to do 1040 EZ's, you don't ask a master chef to prepare rice-a-roni - or if you do, they use their knowledge, experience & training to delegate those tasks appropriately.

By allowing a very few educational elitists to control the narrative, they've been allowed to do some very bad things to the profession of nursing. Like running all the LPN's out of hospitals & attempting to do the same thing to ADN's. You don't need a bachelor's degree to hand out pepcid. In my state, an "elite" CNA (or "med tech") can do it.

[LAW1157]

This writer noted that earning additional levels of education only creates a debt and personal pride. The employment and pay is no different for RN with differing levels of education. Why? I earned my Masters in Nursing but I am lead by an LPN. There is something wrong here. The experience they have is that they been at the facility a long time. That is not what makes a leader, or, a good nurse. We continue to misinterpret the State board of nursing rules and pretend that all nurses are the same. The pay is controlled which keeps us unable to pay off the moneis borrowed to obtain additional education. OH, and certifications are your own. NO reward except a personal one. Sad

[RunnerNurse09, BSN, RN]

@law1157 you really need to approach your employer if u have a masters degree and are out paid by an lpn. That is not right, no matter how many years he/she had in. What field are u in may I ask?

[Boomer MS, RN]

BostonFNP said:

Kutney-Lee, A., Stimpfel, A. W., Sloane, D. M., Cimiotti, J. P., Quinn, L. W., & Aiken, L. H. (2015). Changes in patient and nurse outcomes associated with Magnet hospital recognition. Medical care, 53(6), 550-557.

Friese, C. R., Xia, R., Ghaferi, A., Birkmeyer, J. D., & Banerjee, M. (2015). Hospitals in ‘Magnet'program show better patient outcomes on mortality measures compared to non-‘Magnet'hospitals. Health Affairs, 34(6), 986-992.

McHugh, M. D., Kelly, L. A., Smith, H. L., Wu, E. S., Vanak, J. M., & Aiken, L. H. (2013). Lower mortality in magnet hospitals. Medical care, 51(5), 382.

Thank you for some citations.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

rzyzzy said:

I don't doubt they were happy to do it, but it's a tremendous waste of a resource to have them at the bedside instead of teaching/precepting or managing the department.

You don't use a CPA to do 1040 EZ's, you don't ask a master chef to prepare rice-a-roni - or if you do, they use their knowledge, experience & training to delegate those tasks appropriately.

By allowing a very few educational elitists to control the narrative, they've been allowed to do some very bad things to the profession of nursing. Like running all the LPN's out of hospitals & attempting to do the same thing to ADN's. You don't need a bachelor's degree to hand out pepcid. In my state, an "elite" CNA (or "med tech") can do it.

I have no skin in the game otherwise, but having MY BSN in terms of MY education is to eventually be flexible to move forward in this profession if I need to; many MSNs stayed at the bedside that I worked with were to keep up their practice while they worked as educators in order for them to maximize this know dye for future generations-do you may seem to think its a "waste", but for students coming in to the business, I think it's a wise move on the MSN's part.

Call me elitist, but as s former CNA, I wouldn't want to give it meds not be a med tech, especially with the amount of side effects and complications that can arise, I believe that is a LICENSED nurses' job and stay clear of settings that allow med techs.