Texas: Methodist Hospital Moves To Hire Only RNS' with BS degree

[DoGoodThenGo]

New nurses at Methodist will need bachelor's degrees

By CINDY GEORGE

The Methodist Hospital has joined the movement toward requiring their registered nurses to have bachelor's degrees.

Since December, the Texas Medical Center institution has required all newly hired experienced nurses to have a four-year degree. This helps the hospital create a nursing work force equipped to treat patients with more complicated conditions such as transplants while handling expanding technology and an ever-increasing knowledge base, said Ann Scanlon McGinity, Methodist's chief nursing executive and senior vice president for operations.

"At the patient's bedside, the risk is high with very sick patients. The margin for error is very small. You have to have people who think and put together information very critically and very quickly. I don't think people with a two-year degree can do all that," said McGinity, who has a master's degree in nursing and a doctorate in developmental psychology. "The whole notion is creating an environment where education and lifelong learning is a requirement as opposed to getting a license or a degree and that's the end of it."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7017108.html

[UVA Grad Nursing]

Vicksburg:

Excellent point. There are two Magnet hospitals here in my town that are providing substantial benefits to RNs on staff seeking BSN degrees. Both hospitals provide more tuition support to those seeking a RN-BSN degree than to BSN-prepared RNs seeking a graduate degree. Having a BSN degree is also tied to promotion to the upper rungs in the clinical ladder.

[muesli]

"At the patient's bedside, the risk is high with very sick patients. The margin for error is very small. You have to have people who think and put together information very critically and very quickly. I don't think people with a two-year degree can do all that...The whole notion is creating an environment where education and lifelong learning is a requirement as opposed to getting a license or a degree and that's the end of it.""

This comment is inflammatory and anyone who's worked on floors with diploma and ADN nurses KNOWS that it's just plain wrong. Some of the best critical thinkers and skilled nurses I know happen to have their ADNs/diplomas. They don't "stop" at their degree - they continually educate themselves in the field, e.g. "lifelong learning." The woman who made this statement probably either a) is too busy climbing the corporate ladder and does not have much actual clinical experience or b) she's talking the talk and the real impetus behind this movement is achieving magnet status for the hospital.

I am an Associate's level educated nurse (what amounts to a three year program). I am pursuing my BSN in the spring for several reasons. One, is because of the career and financial opportunities it will bring, because the reality is BSNs in this area are considered superior candidates for positions. Two, is because while I feel the BSN will only minimally affect my bedside nursing skills if at all, I am hoping it may improve my leadership skills and (three) help me to understand how to find and use the latest medical and nursing research to better my practice. I've been fortunate to find a state school with an affordable online accredited program.