Differences in Competencies Between Adn and Bsn

There are three routes to entry level nursing, and two of these routes are at a collegiate level. Both of these collegiate level programs provide enough information for the graduate to take and pass the NCLEX-RN exam. However, there are critical differences between both programs that researchers have discovered eventually affect nursing care and outcomes of patients.

Nurse staffing and how it relates to the quality of patient care has been an important issue in the field of nursing for quite some time. This topic has been particularly popular recently due to the fact that there is an increasing age among those who make up the Baby Boomer era in the United States. There will be a greater need for nurse staffing to increase to help accommodate the higher demand of care. Although nursing is “the top occupation in terms of job growth,” there are still nursing shortages among various hospitals across America today. The shortage in nurses heavily weighs on the overall quality of care that each individual patient receives during their hospital stay (Rosseter, 2014).

“Programs provide a solid liberal education and substantive upper division nursing major. Both components are combined in ways that prepare a nurse generalist who is able to provide professional nursing services in beginning leadership positions in a variety of settings” (Friberg, 2011, p. 87-88). Obtaining a BSN can open up more job opportunities for a person and in most cases makes you more desirable to employers. Many nurses get burnt out from being floor nurses so if you have your BSN you have the option to move into management or many other areas like insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, research jobs or even a clinical instructor. “Research shows they use evidence based practice for better patient outcomes.” (Moore, n.d.) “ As also stated in the same article “numerous research studies have demonstrated that the ADN and BSN nurses are not different in skill competency when they graduate, but within a year, the BSN nurses show greater critical thinking skills better problem solving, and the development of clinical judgment; three skills of increasing importance for the increase in acuity of patients in hospitals and other health care settings.” (Moore, n.d.)

In addition, a DNP degree will help me better serve my community by advocating for quality and safety healthcare system. Once attained, I would seek employment at either a school or university with the mission of educating nursing students to practice the highest quality of patient care. One of the major issues facing the nursing profession today is the lack of advance nursing practices. The medical field is in crisis. Doctors are stretched to the limits, and patients are demanding more advanced care. To alleviate some of the concerns facing medicine in the 21st century, advance nursing practices is a vital area in the contribution of understanding and working within the bounds of a team structure, and the promotion of communication between the interdisciplinary health team. The mission of the advance nursing practice is to help individual patients, and their families, determine and achieve optimum physical, mental and social potential, and to do so within the challenging context of the environment in which they live and work Nurses are among the largest professional care group within the healthcare service industry. We are responsible for providing quality care and assisting patients towards independent and healthy living. Considering the changing working environment, health care practitioners like nurses are

In the article “What Do Nurses Really Do?”, Suzanne Gordon explores what nurses truly do. She concludes that nurses “save lives, prevent complications, prevent suffering, and save money” (Gordon 2006). Nurses provide care for their patients in the physical and emotional sense. Emotionally caring for a patient and being sensitive to his or her needs result from interacting with patients while performing the skills and using the knowledge that nurses learned in school. Nurses grow in their skills, knowledge, and attitudes through practice. Quality and safety education for nursing incorporates competencies that all nurses must use in their practice. These nursing competencies include evidence-based nursing practice, quality improvement, safety, teamwork and collaboration, patient-centered care, and informatics.

There has been a lot of debate regarding whether it is profitable for all nurses to attain at least a BSN to work as a Nurse. This paper addresses the differences in competences between BSN RN 's and ADN RN 's. It exposes the advantages to the patient population treated under the care of BSN RN 's as opposed to ADN RN 's. The purpose is also to describe how nursing care approaches to decision-making may differ based upon the educational preparation of the nurse (BSN vs. a diploma or ADN degree).

Significantly more medication errors and procedural violations are committed by nurses prepared at the associate degree and diploma levels than at the baccalaureate level” ("Ensuring An Educated," 2005, p. 12). The BSN nurse has stronger communication skills, problem solving skills and is more likely to use evidenced-base practice in their daily nursing routine. Being more alert a doctor. Having strong skills can help prevent a devastating accident by knowing when to question a doctors order, and looking for signs and symptoms of patient decomposition. A BSN nurse can make nursing diagnoses and evaluate nursing interventions better than a nurse who holds an ADN.

Over the past few decades, many drastic changes occurred in U.S health care delivery.   Our current healthcare trends demand nurses to take more active role in the health care decisions in hospital setting, long term care setting and in community healthcare setting. Since “nursing is based upon a body of knowledge that is always changing with new discoveries and innovation” Potter and Perry (2005), nursing profession is compelled to grow from being just a traditional bedside nurse. IOM’s future of nursing report which is released in 2010 calls nurses to be “more highly educated, diverse nursing workforce”.

Moreover, I realized my future as an RN was not guaranteed to be there, unless I pursued an advanced degree in nursing. Of course, this is not the only reason for continuing my nursing education, it will also enable me to provide more competent care, which leads to better patient outcomes, as well as, quality and safety of patient care (Mason, Leavitt, & Chaffee, 2014, p. 386).

As the shortage of physicians grows, so does the demand for care. Patients and organizations will rely on nurses to close this gap in primary care. This will require nurses to provide a higher level of care and a broader range of services. They will be expected to be more independent, accountable, professional, and highly educated. Baccalaureate programs provide advanced training in critical thinking, leadership, education and patient safety (Cresaia & Friberg, 2010). Associate degrees are more focused on the technical aspects of nursing care and teach only the basics of leadership (Moore, 2009). Nurses that obtain a BSN degree are more prepared to face today’s challenges in health care and

Aiken, L.H., Clarke, S.P., Sloane, D.M., Lake, E.T. & Cheney, T. (2008, May). Effects of hospital care environment on patient mortality and nurse outcomes. Journal of Nursing Administration, 38(5), 223-229.

Patients want and expect to receive high quality care. Nurses want to provide the best care possible to their patients and like everybody else; want a pleasing job environment. Hospitals, on the other hand, are expected to provide a safe environment to patients, have enough nursing staff and remain profitable (Keller, Dulle, Kwiecinski, Altimier & Owens, 2013). The ultimate goal is to improve quality of care and patient safety across the United States; therefore, all the different interests of these major stakeholders should be taken into

Most of the avoidable conditions that are identified by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are nurse sensitive, and what nurses do, or do not do, based on scientific evidence, will influence patient care outcomes. Furthermore, research that was published over 10-years ago, correlated a decrease in patient morbidity and mortality proportionate to the number of Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), or higher educated bedside Registered Nurses (RN) (Edwards, 2013).

Attaining a high level of education will improve the healthcare system only if nurses are fully utilizing their knowledge and abilities. Many times nurses face challenges in exercising their abilities and knowledge due to institutional policies or government regulations,

As a competent registered nurse, my career goal is to become a healthcare quality improvement leader, a position that would enhance my commitment in promoting patient safety. I not only believe in enhancing the capacity of other care providers, but also in improving the quality of the healing environment for the benefit of both patients and their care providers. This means not only promoting collaboration with the multidisciplinary teams, but also building the necessary healing partnerships with our patients. To enhance the quality of the healing environment, I aspire to continue analyzing researches for evidence based practices and advocating for their actualization. I will continue focusing my time and energy in encouraging other nurses to improve their skills through formal education, so they can empower themselves as advocates of quality improvement for the benefit of their patients and coworkers.