Educational Preparation Differences between Associate Degree Nurses and Baccalaureate Degree Nurses

Educational Preparation Differences between Associate Degree Nurses and Baccalaureate Degree Nurses

Introduction

Nursing as a profession has always been taken lightly. In reality it is something that requires professional qualification and training. The domain of nursing practice involves treatment, disease management and safety of patients as well as patient education (American Organization of Nurse Executives, 2005). Most nurses today are managing their career very well by participating in different inter-disciplinary teams. It is very common that we hear aspiring nurses ask why should they go for a baccalaureate degree in nursing commonly known as BSN when they can still participate in NCLEX and get the status of a registered nurse by doing their AND or associate degree in nursing (Peoria, 2009).

The paper describes the different between competency of nurses who have done their Associate Degree Nurses and those with Baccalaureate Degree Nurses background. The education that a nurse receives has an impact on nursing practice in that the decision making between the two nurses is different. The paper sheds a light on these differences.

Difference in Competencies

There is a stark difference between Baccalaureate Degree Nurses and Associate Degree Nurses. Not only is the curriculum for the two degrees different from one another but also there are different career openings for the two positions. To begin with, the number of credit hours that are taken by the two nurses are very different. While AND students take 72 credit hours, BSN students take 125 credit hours (Moore, 2009). This means that the curriculum for the latter is more extensive providing wider knowledge on more number of subjects. In addition, it must be stated that the focus of the two degrees is different. The curriculum of the baccalaureate program has been designed to focus on evidenced-based clinical practice. These nurses are leaders in the making and aspire to achieve leadership positions within their domain of work (Rosseter, 2002). Hence, these nurses are more competent in critical thinking, public healthcare services, research and development and recording and analyzing statistics.

The associate degree nurses, on the other hand, are more competent in the technical areas of the job. They are skilled in providing direct care. They are responsible for provision of quality care to patients as well as their families and are mostly required as per their skill area in the acute care setting (American Organization of Nurse Executives, 2005). The nursing care provided by them is relatively more restrictive. They are responsible for diseases management and also provide post restoration care. These nurses have limited learning in that they only learn from the hands-on experience with patients. The leadership areas that are covered in this degree program is very basic in that it covers the part to be played by the nursing supervisor and is not so much as focused on the clinical decision making (Peoria, 2009). In addition, these nurses are not prepared to pursue graduate studies.

When it comes to the career opportunities that are ...