Credentials

I think they are free to make whatever policy on this they see fit (regardless of how arbitrary it is). I also think you are free to seek employment elsewhere where the policies are more in line with your beliefs on this.

Just wondering what others think about this issue...My workplace has a policy on credentials required for management positions. Nurse managers must have a Master's degree or be enrolled in a Master's program. The organization does not care where the degree is from (could be an online joke school for all they care) or what the level of achievement was. There does not seem to be any rationale for this requirement. Thoughts?

The rationale is probably that it's a Magnet requirement (although technically, only the CNO must have a minimum of a Master's degree; managers must have a minimum of a BSN).

I don't understand what you mean by the bolded. What does "level of achievement" mean?

Most facilities have this requirement. I see nothing wrong with it.

Ah, is that what "level of achievement" means? Well, of course they will care about it in that one would need to get passing grades in order to get their degree.

But I've never had an employer care about my "level of achievement" in school, in that nobody has ever asked me what my GPA was in school. As long as I passed and got the degree, that's all they care about.

There is a distinct difference between a BSN and MSN. During your undergraduate career, the focus is on knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, and in some cases synthesis. In a graduate program, the focus is synthesis and evaluation, both of which are higher levels of learning. A graduate degree has prepared the nurse as an advance practice nurse- in other words, the training has prepared the individual to become a leader in research, theory, and practice. More importantly, it has trained the person to synthesis and evaluates data. My comment should not suggest that BSN nurses cannot perform these functions. But rather than testing to see if the BSN nurse can, a requirement such as having a master's degree insures the person has learned those skills (although I have met MSN prepared nurses who couldn't).

The same question holds true in business, why do companies require mid-level managers to have MBA's?

I think they are free to make whatever policy on this they see fit (regardless of how arbitrary it is). I also think you are free to seek employment elsewhere where the policies are more in line with your beliefs on this.

Yes, I am free to seek employment where there is some clear statement as to the real value of education. Thanks.

Many employers require a Masters for certain positions. Usually, if you've completed a Masters program, you have achieved a certain level of clinical competence.

Where I live, the majority of Masters programs stipulate that the applicant has worked full time for at least 2 years prior to their application.

I know that a lot of facilities are trying to achieve Magnate status and that requires a certain percentage of Nurse Managers to have their masters or be enrolled in a masters program. But these facilities also have to have a certain percentage of their nurses have their BSN...or be enrolled in a BSN program. This obviously causes controversy with the seasoned nurses who are being pushed to go back to school or find other employment.

I know that a lot of facilities are trying to achieve Magnate status and that requires a certain percentage of Nurse Managers to have their masters or be enrolled in a masters program. But these facilities also have to have a certain percentage of their nurses have their BSN...or be enrolled in a BSN program..

This is not true. Magnet requires that the CNO have at least a MSN; nurse managers must have at least a BSN. There is no mandate regarding educational requirements for floor nurses.