Nursing is a career that attracts individuals who are genuinely compassionate about helping other people. It is a profession that can be differentiated from the other sectors of health specialist as it covers different fields ranging from the care of individuals, families, and communities. Various methods that are used to pursue the nursing career. However, there are two which remain familiar to many. These paths include the associate degree in nursing or a bachelor’s degree programme at recognized universities. However, both of these paths will ensure that the person ends up as a registered nurse and this creates a significant confusion on which is the better route than the other.
The difference between the two paths starts on the learning incorporation of the two ways. The curriculum that the two tracks offers eventually leads to a difference in the quality of care that is given to the patients finally В (Scott, Sochalski & Aiken, 1999). The associate degree nursing curriculum provides a two years programme for prepare the personnel primarily in the technical and clinical skills while the baccalaureate degree nursing curriculum is a four-year program that builds upon those technical and clinical skills and further on addition incorporate the psychosocial, ethical, legal and evidence-based nursing. The first BSN started in the twentieth century which was way past the beginning of the practice of the associate degree in nursing. In this current time, the practice BSN programs take away the mentality of the AND degree of making use of technical and clinical skills only and introduced other relative variables (Chamings & Teevan, 1979).
It cannot be solidly stated that the ADN nurses offer fewer services regarding care for patients, but it is for sure that the BSN nurses are better trained and equipped to tackle more care jobs than the AND due to their educational experience. Especially for the first time nurses, it is apparent that BSN nurses remained highly trained and equipped to attend to patients care generally В (Johnston, D. Antuono & Wolinski, 1995). This will involve the patients nursing needs and deliver safe, efficient services on patients care. A study done recently October 2014 by the Medical care Olga Yakusheva researchers at the University of Michigan indicated that he was a 10.9% observable decrease in patients mortality with a 10% increase in the proportion of baccalaureate-trained nurses research indicate that higher nursing education is reflected in the quality of clinical practice.
A friend applied was applying recently for a job vacancy as a nurse-family partnership nurse. She remained confident on his high probability of getting the job due to her solid years of experience. The job description indicated that the position would involve doing home visits to the beginner mothers and offering substantial lessons on how to take care of the infants. It would also include connecting the first time mothers with the support services such as food stamps and living skills specialists that would end up empowering the mothers on the task. Due to the record set in a place, she was not able to get the job as she lacked BSN degree qualification.BSN degree nurses had indicated a positive difference in the quality of the services that they offered to the first time mothers and their infants В (O’Connor, 2012). This happened to be an alarming call on how institutions especially the hospitals are becoming more specific in the highering staff of baccalaureate degree nurses due to the solid evidence that has been collected over the period of studies.
A study done in the 1999 by Aiken,Clarke,Sloane,Lake and Chaney on the health care performance in hospitals indicate that when there is patient ratio of four patients to one nurse and an average of sixty percent staffing of BSN nurses then there is a significant reduction in the mortality rates at the institutions analyzed. Furthermore this study has been backed up solidly with other relative studies such as the one done by Estabrooks, Midodzi, Cummings, Ricker, and Giovanetti in March 2005 indicated that hospitals that hold a higher ratio of baccalaureate degrees resulted in a lower thirty day morality rate of the patients as a result of good understanding of the type of care that should be administered to the patients (Estabrooks, Midodzi, Cummings, Ricker, and Giovanetti. 2005).
In conclusion, nursing is a field that is critical as is strict in stipulating that the whole person and all the parts of the whole person be taken into adequate consideration so that the nurse involved can be in a position to give competent care to an individual. Therefore it is essential for the AND nurses to continue practicing as they advance on their nursing education to be able to deliver a better quality of care to the patients that they are entrusted В (Scott, Sochalski & Aiken, 1999). Eventually, they become viable to operate in the positions that are broadly assigned to the leadership of individuals with baccalaureate nurses. Moreover, the BSN degree nurses tend to earn more due to their proven better patient outcomes as a result of their proficient diagnoses and quality nursing interventions.
References
Chamings, P., & Teevan, J. (1979). Comparison of Expected Competencies of Baccalaureate- and Associate-Degree Graduates in Nursing. Image, 11(1), 16-21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1547-5069.1979.tb01423.
Johnston, S., DAntuono, A., & Wolinski, N. (1995). Introducing Nursing Research at the Associate-Degree Level. Nurse Educator, 20(5), 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00006223-199509000-00004
O’Connor, B. (2012). New American Association of Colleges of Nursing Data Show Enrollment Surge in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs Amid Calls for More Highly Educated Nurses.В Journal Of Professional Nursing, 28(3), 137-138. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2012.04.001
Scott, J., Sochalski, J., & Aiken, L. (1999). Review of Magnet Hospital Research. JONA: The Journal Of Nursing Administration, 29(1), 9-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00005110-199901000-00003