The educational structure of Nurses in the United States have always been marked by different pathways due to the historical deviations of scarcity and changing needs. Although having different roads to be a nurse is more of a benefit than a disadvantage, it has created an unintended effect of appearing fragmented, if not actually fragmented.
Among the different licenses and registrations within professional health care workers, nursing has the most options. With all these options, roles and functions come in with confused definitions and fragmented expectations. Unfortunately, it will not be fair nor just to dismantle the existence of any nursing designation (e.g. LPN, ADN, Hospital Nursing, et al) in favor of a centralized path (e.g. BSN as minimum) because that would force excellent nurses in their current condition to do unnecessary and costly acts of compliance which may or may not improve the delivery of health care. There is no guarantee that a health care environment will work better when there are no LPN's, ADN's or Hospital Nurses around in the same way that there is no truth in a belief that a hospital staffed only with BSN delivers a better health care system than those with a diversity of nurses.
Nonetheless, this current condition has created an unhealthy competition in certain environments rather than foster a spirit of collaboration. If nursing programs around the United States agreed to have a standardized process starting from the education of a CNA all the way to level of an ANP, then perhaps some day, there would be more cohesion rather than confusion, identity and function would be better established, and team work could truly be fostered. I believe that there is something like this being done in California. Those from other States, are you aware of any?
While inroads are being made in increasing the number of BSN prepared nurses at the bedside, the number will still fall far short of the recommendations in the 2010 IOM report on The Future of Nursing. Part of this lies in the still high numbers of ADN prepared nurses graduating each year. This latter course allows a quicker and less expensive entry into a job that can lift people into the middle class. The problem of attracting more students to BSN programs is multifaceted, but a couple of issues are glaringly obvious. First, getting your BSN is expensive and time consuming, especially if you're already trying to hold down a job and raise a family. Secondly employers, by and large, do not offer a wage differential for BSN nurses versus ADN nurses. This discrepancy is justified by the position that ADN and BSN nurses sit for the same NCLEX-RN exam. That exam, however, only test for those minimum competencies for providing safe patient care, and fails completely to address the research, collaborative, information systems and other skills BSN prepared nurses bring to the bedside. Until nursing, as a profession, demands a revision of this testing paradigm, employers can continue to get something for nothing.
Does this subject never end? I have been listening to this for 25 years now. There is a place for all of the various educational levels in nursing; the ADN was designed to get registered nurses into the workforce quicker, during a time of a critical RN shortage. That time will come again, as soon as we boomers retire.
This article does not argue that Hospital Staff should be a 100% BSN. That is precisely what my statement is saying. What I said, although an opinion, is still TRUE and is not in contradiction to the article you posted.
Please apply critical thinking before responding. Thank you so much!
Speaking of applying critical thinking, I just read through the entire IOM article from your link. The entire point of the article is that the RN workforce needs to be better educated to move forward into the future and provide good quality healthcare to the public. It talks repeatedly about BSN-prepared nurses and nurses with other levels of preparation getting BSNs. The article does not specifically address the studies that have been done that found higher levels of BSN-prepared nursing staff correlate with better client outcomes, but does propose that the US healthcare system should aim for an RN workforce that is at least 80% BSN-prepared. And you're submitting that article, and the fact that they (realistically) recommend an 80% BSN-prepared workforce rather than 100% BSN-prepared as evidence supporting your opinion that the results of the actual research done on this issue just aren't true?? That's quite a stretch.
Quote " there is no truth in a belief that a hospital staffed only with BSN delivers a better health care system than those with a diversity of nurses. "
Sorry - but you are mistaken. There is incontrovertible evidence that patient outcomes are significantly improved in hospitals with increased BSN staff. Here is a link to the IOM report which summarizes this information:
The Future of Nursing - Institute of Medicine
I support everyone's right to express their own opinions, but please check your facts.
dzadzey, MSN, RN
78 Posts
While inroads are being made in increasing the number of BSN prepared nurses at the bedside, the number will still fall far short of the recommendations in the 2010 IOM report on The Future of Nursing. Part of this lies in the still high numbers of ADN prepared nurses graduating each year. This latter course allows a quicker and less expensive entry into a job that can lift people into the middle class. The problem of attracting more students to BSN programs is multifaceted, but a couple of issues are glaringly obvious. First, getting your BSN is expensive and time consuming, especially if you're already trying to hold down a job and raise a family. Secondly employers, by and large, do not offer a wage differential for BSN nurses versus ADN nurses. This discrepancy is justified by the position that ADN and BSN nurses sit for the same NCLEX-RN exam. That exam, however, only test for those minimum competencies for providing safe patient care, and fails completely to address the research, collaborative, information systems and other skills BSN prepared nurses bring to the bedside. Until nursing, as a profession, demands a revision of this testing paradigm, employers can continue to get something for nothing.