Nursing education levels and career progression

Nursing Education

Education is an important quality that can be very beneficial to any given profession. The specialization of education in today's world serves purposes and offers new challenges. This is most evident when comparing the differences in competencies between nurses prepared at the associate-degree level (AND)versus the baccalaureate degree level (BSN). The purpose of this essay is to describe these differences and compare their varying tendencies and qualities. Additionally, this essay will address a patient care situation that highlights how nursing care may differ upon the educational level of the nursing professional.

ADN

The associates degree earned in a nursing education allows that individual to contribute to the medical profession and minimize the educational requirements to do so. While some may consider this a short cut and not going the full distance, there are good reasons that these programs are offered and thousands of people participate in them.

There are many good reasons associate degree nursing education programs have flourished in the past years. The educational system itself has evolved where junior colleges are largely attended throughout the nation. This social evolution coupled with the high demand of health care workers due to demographic issues surrounding the baby boom generation has created a useful environment where the nursing profession could expand and be more impactful in the medical world.

The federal government has used its political power to create this environment where ADN has become so necessary. Mahaffey (2002) suggested this power was instrumental in building the foundation of nursing education today. She wrote "numerous characteristics of associate degree nursing programs attract prospective students: lower tuition rates, geographic locations, completion time, reputation of graduates, dynamic curricula, and effective faculties."

BSN

While achieving an ADN is quite an important accomplishment and necessary for the medical community to operate successfully, there is still a need to have more educated and trained professionals within this group. Earning a BSN demonstrates a more intellectual approach to the nursing profession, and the curriculum within these programs are much more research based. Clinical skills are also taught at a more advanced level and in many cases with more formality.

The past few decades have demonstrated that the level of education does in fact make a difference in several areas of the nursing profession. The levels of depth that are offered at the baccalaureate nursing programs include a wider array of subjects in the areas of nursing leadership, public health and the natural sciences. The simple fact that this program takes more time to earn than an ADN also suggests that a deeper level of understanding is ultimately earned in these types of nursing programs.

Nursing education is correlated to patient care and the higher healing rates in many instances. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), the national voice for baccalaureate and graduate education suggested that "in the senior college and university setting, every academic discipline is grounded in discrete inquiry-based applications that are distinctive to that discipline. Scientific advances, changing demographics of patient populations, new care technologies, and patient access to healthcare information call for new ways of thinking and doing in the provision off health care. Baccalaureate prepared nurses provide patient-centered care that identifies, respects and addresses patients' differences, values, preferences, and expressed needs."

Patient Care Situation

The basic idea in nursing, and the medical field in general, is healing. Patients attempt to receive health care to receive some sort of healing power or technique. Nursing skills are all centered around the ability to bring high quality healing in the safest and quickest means available. When this simple premise is understood and adopted as primary, levels of education within the nursing profession are not quite as valuable as the individual's ability to practice what they know. In other words, quality is more important than quantity when it comes to healing and caring.