Comparing Nurse: The Caring Nurse Vs ADN

The Caring Nurse: ADN versus BSN

The Caring Nurse: ADN versus BSN Caring is the heart of nursing. Most nurses have a quality about them that harbors caring. Caring is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as, “effort made to do something correctly, safely, or without causing damage,” or “things that are done to keep someone healthy, safe, etc.” Nurses, whether they are an associate degree educated or baccalaureate educated, want to do a good job. They don’t come to work to intentionally or unintentionally harm their patients. For example, Aiken, Clarke, Sloan, Lake, Cheney (2008) estimate that 40,000 patient deaths a year could be avoided with better staffing and higher educated nurses. Because of the looming nursing
According to Aiken, Cheung, and Olds (2009) 40,000 candidates could not enter a baccalaureate or graduate degree program because there was not enough educational capacity. If there is not room for nursing applicants in advanced level degree programs there will not be an adequate amount of instructors later on to teach the baccalaureate programs and then not enough nurses to be in the workforce. Nurses in the baby boomer generation are retiring and that leaves even more jobs available which should be filled with baccalaureate degree nurses. Nurses with a baccalaureate degree have a higher tendency to go on to get graduate degrees and less associate degree nurses get an education past a BSN. For example, Aiken, Cheung, and Olds (2009) calculated that 3 times as many associate degree nurses would be needed to equal the amount baccalaureate degree nurses that go on to get graduate degrees. Those nurses that start off with a BSN and go on to graduate programs could fill faculty positions to educate more BSN nursing students. With more baccalaureate educated nurses the hospitals could be staffed higher and as a side effect of having more BSN nurses their hospitals would have better patient
Getting a higher education gives the nurse more skills when caring for their patients. For instance, Fagin (2001) reveals that seventy-two percent of nursing directors notice a difference in the performance of BSN nurses and associate degree nurses, mentioning critical thinking skills and leadership abilities. Enhanced skills give the BSN nurse a greater advantage when caring for their patients. The BSN nurse understands the reasons behind the interventions so that they can make a more informed decision, quicker decision, and accurate decision. The BSN nurse may hold a medication where an associate degree nurse may not. A BSN nurse might also notice a patient decline and intervene sooner than an associate educated nurse. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing fact sheet (2012) nurses with baccalaureate education and higher have lower incidences of medication errors, they have lower mortality rates, and greater patient outcomes. BSN nurses are also more likely to be in a leadership role and help implement new policies for better patient to nurse ratios. They are also able to be mentors for associate educated nurses and can give advice or be a person to get advice from for a problematic patient. Aiken, Clarke, Sloane, Lake, and Cheney (2008) concluded that nurse staffing ratios and higher educated nurses attained an advanced quality of care for