Baccalaureate Nurse

Nursing is about providing the best possible holistic care for the patient and family. At the same time there’s an imbalance of patient care regarding education and knowledge being provided by nurses. As a nurse I believe we all owe it to ourselves, the profession, and the patient to provide the best possible care. According to American Nurses Association (ANA) online article “Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.” In order to better achieve the nursing ideals of the American Nurses Association we must improve patient care by requiring hospital nurses to become BSN nurses.

The purpose of this educational preparation is to discuss the differences in competencies between nurses prepared at the associate-degree level versus the baccalaureate-degree level nursing. Nursing is a dynamic and complex discipline that needs increase knowledge and skills. Now days a nurse is expecting to make critical decision sometimes than following doctors’ orders, which requires more education. There are some differences between associate-degree level nurse and baccalaureate nurse even though they carry the same RN position in

According to Amer (2013), “nursing as a profession accepted the position of deference to physicians” (pg. 151), this allowing for a lack of respect given to nurses or any other healthcare role that deems a similar hierarchal status. This archaic view of nurses as subordinate health professionals is not what IOM’s envisions as the role of nurses for the future of health care. Their expectation of advance nursing education will allow the nursing profession to obtain the status needed to help reform the current health system. Effort to increase the number of competent nurse is by raising the standard education to a baccalaureate degree. In a 2011, IOM report of “Future of Nursing”, the committee recommends that the number of baccalaureate degree nurses be increase to 80% by 2020 and the number of doctorate degree nurse be doubled by the same year (Amer, 2013, pg. 152). This movement for higher educated nurses, will help foster a stronger interdisciplinary team needed to care for a complex geriatric, acute and chronic care population. This approach will also help establish the mutual respect needed from not just physicians but from all healthcare disciplines and fostering a shared governance environment (equal

In the evolving health care environment, a guiding policy and personnel planning is required with respect to the numbers, types and mix of professionals. To overcome the challenges of the existing health care system and practice environment, “nurses need to be well educated, team oriented, adaptable and able to apply competencies relevant to leadership” (The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, 2011, p. 270). Health care system is complex and has conflicting interests. Nurse helps the patient and family to connect to their social support systems and help to coordinate care and improve patient outcomes. Evidence shows that high quality nursing care can reduce cost

The health care industry is in need of a strong nursing workforce that can provide quality care. The present nursing shortage is only predicted to worsen as the baby boomers retire and health care needs expand. The shortage is projected to reach more than one million nurses, and reform is needed to increase the interest in nursing therefore funding is needed for this transformation ((American Association of College of Nursing, n.d.). Prevention is essential to quality care therefore public health nurses need to be trained and have incentive to take these positions (American Association of College of Nursing, n.d.). There is also a growing need for advanced nurse practitioners to assist in running clinics to personalize patient care and improve relationships between health care providers and patients (American Association of College of Nursing, n.d.). With around 2.4 million providers, registered nurses make up the largest group of health care professionals ((American Association of College of Nursing, n.d.). They are involved in every aspect of patient care, and when there are not adequate nurses to care for patients, barriers to quality health are created. This makes it so vitally important that the nursing shortage be addressed focusing on education, practice, retention, and recruitment (American Association of College of Nursing, n.d.).

This shift in the setting for health care is moving health care back into the patient’s environment and also requiring people to take a greater role in their individual health management. Nurses can offer professional guidance in this trend as well. Proper diagnosis and treatment will be of paramount importance in the future so that health care funds can be better applied and the nursing experience and knowledge gleaned can be more widely disseminated in the field. (Saver, 2006)

“Quality patient care hinges on having a well-educated nursing workforce. Research has shown that lower mortality rates, fewer medication errors and positive outcomes are all

It has been recommended in the report that education of nurses should be wide in all aspects of patient and healthcare. This can help the nurses in having a great chance to explore all the major fields of nursing and healthcare thereby improving the quality of services that can be provided to the patients. The report has added that there is a need of well-educated nurses in the team of nurses (Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine, Institute of Medicine, 2011, p. 67). These days, a great diversity is seen in the American population, which increasingly demands better and more improved

In the nursing world today, the type of degree a nurse holds is usually not something others pay attention to. The main focus is teamwork and providing the safest, timeliest, and best quality care for the patients. It is becoming increasingly clear that maintaining and improving the health of the population requires team-based care (Landman, Aannestad, Smoldt, & Cortese 2014). While nurses provide care for patients, it is difficult to differentiate between an associate degree nurse and a baccalaureate degree nurse. I have always found it easier to tell the new, less experienced nurses from the more experienced nurse that has been practicing for years. After starting the RN-BSN, I have now been able to see the differences that will affect

Nurses role began to expand more and more in the 21st century. Nurses are expected to play an important role in the continuum of care coordination. Registered Nurses serve as an intermediary between other professionals for effective and improved health care delivery system centered on good quality patient care. To better achieve this, nurses are expected to educate themselves professionally in order to be able to manage the evolving changes in health care system with evidence-based practices using their critical thinking and decision making skills.

Beyond caring and compassion, a baccalaureate prepared nurse should also be knowledgeable, efficient, mentally strong, have excellent communication and interpersonal skills. First a nurse must be observant such as examining the patient mentally and physically before and after any procedure. Secondly, the nurse can apply his or her knowledge, in which they need to know exactly what, when, why and how to care for the patient. Since the nurses have numerous patients to care for, being efficient can prosper in delivering results with minimum errors. Being efficient does not mean that you accomplish more work in less time, but by communicating well with your unit, being organized, being a problem-solver, working in teams and learning to prioritize.

The Baccalaureate Nursing program (BSN) of the St. Petersburg College (SPC) is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) (St. Petersburg College [SPC], 2015). Evaluation of the revised curriculum for the baccalaureate and graduate nursing program at SPC is done based on the CCNE standards of accreditation.

In recent years, there has been a nationwide increase in agreeance that all practicing nurses must obtain a bachelor’s degree in nursing. This idea comes from the perspective that baccalaureate prepared registered nurses are more equip to manage the demand of the hospital patient population that is being seen today. A bachelor’s degree in registered nursing is now being considered as the entry level degree for all practicing nurses and those new nurses who are now entering the field. According to the American Nurses Association, “Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” (nursingworld.org). A baccalaureate prepared registered nurse is able to carry out these actions in addition to being educationally trained in a more advanced role of direct care nursing.

The professional nurse who possesses baccalaureate degree has attained academic and professional development consequential of further education and knowledge by attending school in depth and hands on knowledge in science of nursing. She or he has developed purposeful, self-regulatory judgment, which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and interference in planning, applying, and evaluating for safer better daily patient care. Patients rely on professional nurses for better judgment and their advices everyday and baccalaureate nurses have competencies and cognitive skills to fulfill patients needs and trust. She or he is well informed of recent evidence based practices based on which she can give trustful reasons for steps of care. She or he is open-minded because of being educated about multicultural and language, ethics, sociology, communication, and adversity of human nature and is flexible to listen and help. Based on critical thinking and leadership management skills learned in baccalaureate degree professional nurse is willing to reconsider and clear issues in complex matters, implementing change, and collaborate with health care team to build positive work environment and outcome. She or he is fair minded in evaluation of

Nurses are at the forefront of healthcare acting as the liaison between the doctors, patients, families, social work, etc. Their goal is patient centered care that includes “alleviating vulnerabilities, both physiologic and interpersonal; it also includes therapeutic engagement and developing a relationship in a manner that is reinforced by the information practices of a particular setting” (Hobbs, 2009). In order to provide quality care and promote successful consumer relationships, each nurse must take on the responsibility of service, advocacy, teaching, and leadership.