The decision on the part of my employer, and many other healthcare providers, to begin requiring BSN degrees for new hires to the acute care setting does not affect me. It does however, affect more than a few of my co-workers. They have voiced their concerns over this new requirement, and those concerns are expressed in the following themes.
1. Returning to school is too expensive.
2. Family and personal commitments make returning to school impractical at this time.
3. OhioHealth does not offer a salary differential for BSN prepared nurses over ADN prepared nurses.
With tuition costs running to $300-$500 per credit hour for BSN completion programs and more than $700 per credit hour for graduate school, my employers's tuition reimbursement program is woefully inadequate in assisting those who seek to further their education. In my case, it covers less that half the cost of a semester's tuition for the MSN program I am enrolled in.
In most other career fields where Associates prepared employees and Baccalaureate prepared employees fill the same jobs, there is a wage differential of $2,000 to $4,000 per year, but not so with nursing. I realize this is standard practice throughout much of the healthcare industry, but if my employer wishes to keep its best and brightest at the bedside, a thorough re-examination of pay structure is in order.
As to the second theme, my employer could assist employees, particularly single parents, with expanded day-care options, especially for those working night shift when it can be most difficult to secure child care.
I have found, from my own personal experience, that patient care and outcomes improve with an increased presence of baccalaureate and master's prepared nurses. However, the healthcare industry, in general, and my employer, in particular, should not seek to achieve this at little to no cost on their part. In other words they need to stop trying to get something for nothing. In this regard my employer should not seek to be penny-wise and pound-foolish.
I know the nay-sayers here will say"It's never going to change because this is the way its always been." But unless we, as nurses, stop being door-mats to healthcare and hospital administration, the nay-sayers will be right, no matter what educational and professional achievements we accrue.
