Nursing Leaders Nationwide and The BSN-in-10 Bill

Nursing leaders nationwide believe that it is important for nurses with an Associate Degree to return to school to earn their Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) education within 10 years of graduation from an Associate Degree program to keep their licensure. The reason why this bill is passed is because of patient safety. Nurses with Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) have lower mortality rates in surgery department, less incidences, and better outcomes in the acute care settings which are heavily emphasized in the Affordable Care Act necessary for payment reimbursement (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014). This bill A01977/S02533A was introduced in January 27, 2012 in the state of New York. At the same time the state of New Jersey also introduced similar bill A553. This author will represent one of the registered nurses with an Associate Degree who is going back for their BSN education to see the effectiveness of the bill on the healthcare system and therefore supports the bill.
According to The American Nurse (2014), in the state of Philadelphia, one of their health care system known as the Main Line Health system initiated the recommendation of 80 percent of nurses with BSN by the year 2020 by the Institute of Medicine. The facility leaders recommended to new managers, nurse coordinators, educators, and staff to obtain their BSN within three years. In order to financially assist nurses, Main Line Health offers $6,000 a year in tuition reimbursement. Also, they offered BSN programs at the worksite. In Brigham and Women’s in Massachusetts, this hospital was also aiming for 80 percent by 2020. This facility only hires new grads with their BSN degree. Brigham and Women’s offers $2,600 a year for tuit...

... middle of paper ...

...is if there are any. Also, listening on resident’s needs is considered important. For example, this author administers pain medication on time when resident requested. While administering pain medication, it is important for this author to assess pain based on the pain scale of zero to ten, location of pain, and reassessing pain in 30 minutes after the medication was administered. Another situation that is important for the nurse to learn is to follow up on lab draws for medication that requires peak and trough levels in order to either administer or hold the next dose of the medication. Also, some of the residents thought that this author has the rehabilitation floor in control. These are some of the important reasons why this author recommends nurses to return to school for their BSN education in order to provide safety for the patients and or residents.