Essay Sample on Differences in Associate Degree and Baccalaureate Degree Nurses

The nursing occupation has been evolving continuously in all directions of the health care field. At the start of the profession, different frames and models of education were used in training and developing nurses. All professions who had qualified as nurses were considered equally competent in their nursing fields of profession. However, in the recent years, there have been an ongoing disagreements between associate degree nurses (ADN) and Baccalaureate degree nurses (BSN). These disagreements have adversely affected the healthcare sector. The arguments centers on academic discipline, which also affect the private and public health sector in terms of performance. The differences in ADN and BSN qualifications are the level of care and quality offered by nurses of the two academic disciplines.

One of the differences is associated with the training offered to the nurses. BSN nurses attend better training programs than AND making the nurses better placed to handle more care jobs because of their education experience. BSN training has an elaborate curriculum reinforced by clinical hours necessary for the academic criteria for highly qualified workforce. This qualification makes BSN nurses ensures that their training qualifies them to meet the countrys nursing requirements. BSN nurses deliver effective and safer patient care when compared against the AND nurses. A study published in the Medical Care journal revealed that an increase of 10% increase in BSN nurses has the effect of proportionally decreasing patient mortality (Mathias & Kim-Godwin, 2016).

Another important difference is associated with the education difference between the two qualifications. There is a big difference between the two programs because of the length required to complete each and the number of credits needed for graduation. A typical ADN program goes for approximately two years while the BSN program requires four years. A registered nurses who needs to improve their outcome can advance to BSN status through bridging programs that take about an year or three semesters in the event that the needed General Education courses are yet to be completed. The discrepancy in the length of the program is derived from the fact that a BSN program has all the coursework of ADN program with additional diploma programs and more training in leadership, community and public health, research, management, and social sciences (Auberach et al., 2015). This extra training for BSN programs ensures that the nurses have a broader scope of the field. The BSN program also opportunities for career developments.

One of the nursing care situations that can be used in the identification of how the two programs can have different outcomes is care offered to victims of a disaster. In such a situation, the ADN program will equip nurses with the technical ability of offering basic care such as dressing wounds and control breeding. However, a BSN nurse is well equipped with more social and cultural programs that enables them to offer a more conclusive patient care. The fact that BSN nurses have a broader scope of their profession indicates that they are well place to understand the social, economic, and cultural issues of the patients. This understanding enables nurses to offer higher quality care, necessary in restoring the affected population back to their normal positions before the disaster. A BSN nurse will also have an added advantage because of the management and leadership skills attained during their training program (Brady, 2015). This implies that BSN nurses are more proficient than the ADN counterparts are although they share the same characteristic of having the willingness to help people.

References

Auerbach, D. I., Buerhaus, P. I., & Staiger, D. O. (2015). Do associate degree registered nurses fare differently in the nurse labor market compared to baccalaureate-prepared RNs?. Nursing Economics, 33(1), 8.Brady, M. (2015). Academic Progression for Associate Degree Nursing Students: Evolution, Not Revolution. Journal of Nursing Education, 54(7), 359-360.

Matthias, A. D., & Kim-Godwin, Y. S. (2016). RN-BSN Students Perceptions of the Differences in Practice of the ADN-and BSN-Prepared RN. Nurse educator, 41(4), 208-211.