Baccalaureate vs. Associate, Essay Example

Introduction

The degree to which a nurse has been educated has a great effect on the nurse provides care. ADN nurses have reduced the shortage of nurses in the health care field, but are the patient’s health and well-being in jeopardy due to this fact. This has become a great issue in the health care profession. As a result, many employers encourage ADN nurses to continue their education. The main focus of the health care field is patient safety. To most patients, a nurse is a nurse and they are blindly unaware of the differences in the degrees. Proper education and adequate experience is the key to quality nurses. For example, According to Lindeman, the creation of the associate degree was done in a hasty manner in order to meet workforce needs. However, the associate degree nurses were intended to have limited duties; the problem occurred when hospital administrators expected and encouraged ADN’s to perform the same duties as BSN’s (Lords, 1999).

Associate Degree

A person who has an associate degree in nursing usually means he/she has had two to three years of training. Most of them have received this training at a community college. Any person who has met the requirements of this program is eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). After successfully completing the test, the person will be a certified registered nurse (RN). The shortened nursing degree program was brought about due to a shortage in nursing staff during the 1950s. The program was considered successful due to the fact that so many nursing students were able to pass the NCLEX. Students who chose the ADN program were typically nontraditional students. Some were older, married, and had families to provide for. One of the main reasons ADN programs were choosing was because they required shorter training time and they were less expensive (Chitty, 1997).

Baccalaureate Degree

A person who has a baccalaureate degree in nursing usually means that he/she has had four of five years of training. Most candidates have attended a two year general education program and a three year nursing program. Candidates who have successfully met those requirements are eligible to take the NCLEX to become a registered nurse. Students who obtain the BSN have more job opportunities. They have many opportunities for advancement when they take on leadership roles due to the wide variety of course work they completed during college. Chitty say, “The BSN has the greatest career mobility of all basic graduates due to the vast array of course work history” (Chitty, 1997).

Associate vs. Baccalaureate

There is very little difference in the courses taught for an associate or baccalaureate programs; however, the baccalaureate courses are more detailed.  One major disadvantage of the ADN program is the limited amount of nursing concepts (Graham, 1994). With the BSN program nurses are taught physical, social, sciences, nursing management and humanities. When students take these courses it helps to improve the candidate’s professionalism and prepare him/her for the wider variety of patients they will encounter in the practice. They will learn more about how socio-cultural, political, economic, and emotional aspects can affect the health and well-being of the patients they care for.

Patient Scenario

A female patient with diagnosed hypertension on the medical floor has been reported to have elevated blood pressure levels after visiting with a family member. This situation occurred for three days consecutively. The ADN nurse repeated the blood pressure reading several times and raised the dose of medication for the patient. While, the BSN nurse asked questions and assessed the patient’s charts. She came to the conclusion that the patient blood pressure was only elevated after visiting with her daughter. Upon talking with the client, the BSN found that the daughter has been discussing with the patient the possibility that she may need to be placed in a nursing facility.

The ADN programs concentrate more on the technical aspects of nursing. As a result, the ADN was unaware of other aspects that could cause her patient to have elevated blood pressure levels. While the BSN was able to use her social and cultural training to assess the outside cause of her patient’s elevated blood pressure level. The ADN is not intentionally wrongly diagnosis the problem, but due to her lack of experience and educational preparedness, she is unable to see the scenario from another perspective.

About two weeks later, it was reported that this same patient was having problems with drastically low blood sugar level readings. The ADN reported that the patient was still eating the same diet and nothing had changed in her medical conditions. The patient had type II diabetes that was controlled by medication rather than insulin replacement. Each day the ADN would give the patient her medication about 20 minutes prior to her meal. The patient would take the medication and drink from her water cup.  The patient had become very weak in a matter of days. She had to be assisted to the bathroom and helped to get back in bed. Finally, the ADN reported these issues to her supervisor, who was a BSN. The BSN asked if she could administer the medication to the patient herself. About 15 minutes prior to the patient’s meal, the BSN took the patient her medications. The patient immediately asked what happened to her other nurse. The BSN quickly explained the ADN was busy helping another patient. The patient took the medication and poured them from the cup into her mouth. She then proceeded to drink from her water cup. The BSN left the room and re-entered to find that the patient was removing the medications from her mouth and placing them in a paper towel.

Upon finding this, the BSN spoke with the patient again. She asked why she was refusing to take her medicine. The patient explained that she would rather die than be placed in a nursing facility. The BSN explained to the patient that if she made enough progress and the doctors deemed she was capable of taking care of herself, she would be released on her own behalf, not to the care of her daughter. The patient was excited to know this. The patient worked very hard to recover from her broken hip. She took all medications on time. She pushed herself beyond what had been seen for a person her age. Within a week, the patient was walking nearly un -assisted. Eventually, the patient made a full recovery and was discharged.

Conclusion

There has been controversy over which type of program best prepares nurses for the work force for years. The search for more qualified nurses is still on the forefront of the healthcare field. Evidence from the NCLEX should be adequate proof that a nurse is adequately qualified to meet the high demands of nursing. If a nurse is able to successfully pass the NCLEX, it should not matter if he/she was educated for 2 years or 4 years. The test is not altered based upon what type of education the nurse has received. One study conducted even found that a higher number of nursing students who were educated under the associate’s degree passed the NCLEX than those educated in a four year program (Nelson, 2002).

References

Chitty, K. (1997). Professional nursing: Concepts and challenges (2^nd ed). Philadelphia: Saunders

Graham, M.E. (1994) New york state baccalaureate performance on nclex: Implications for faculty. Journal of the New York State Nurses Association, 25(1).

Lords, E. (1999). Two years of four? The question splits nursing education. The Chronicle of Higher Education, A55-A56.

Nelson, M.A. (2002). Education for professional nursing practice: Looking backward into the future. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 7, (3)