Education Requirements in the Field of Nursing

Higher education is a highly encouraged aspect in today’s society. The higher degree a person has, the more knowledgeable they are said to be. The education and degree that a registered nurse acquires affects not only the nurse, but their patients and their fellow coworkers as well. It is crucial to consider how different education levels of registered nurses will impact the patients, the nurse, the medical field, and the view on nurses as a whole. A nurse with a BSN rather than an ADN could perhaps provide more knowledgeable care that is consistent with the advances of today’s society. With our society and technologies always advancing and changing, it is safe to assume that a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree should be the required level of education for a registered nurse.

Our society and every aspect of it, including the health field, has never been stagnant and it will certainly continue to grow and evolve. A nurse educator by the name of Mildred Montag suggested the idea of an associate degree in nursing in the year 1951 (Jacobs, DiMattio, Bishop, & Fields, 1998). It was then thought that the technical nurses that were being educated in the community colleges would soon replace the nurses coming out of diploma school (Jacobs et al., 1998). This is important to consider because even sixty years ago, the medical field was a vastly changing field, just like any other field. Mildred Montag, along with others, had to of gotten the impression that the diploma nurses’ education was not allowing them to keep up with the advances in medical care and nurses with an increased education were needed. Mildred Montag must have noticed that by suggesting an ADN program, nurses would be more likely to succeed as nurses in th...

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...eld. The decision to attend a BSN program rather than an ADN program, like anything else, will most likely require a great deal of thought on the perspective student’s end. One must take into account whether the BSN or ADN program will be most beneficial years down the road, which program will help them to do their job better, and which program will provide a better outlook and view on the overall nursing profession.

Works Cited

Hess, J. (1996). Education for Entry Into Practice: An Ethical Perspective. Journal of Professional Nursing, 12, 289-296.

Fields, S., Bishop, T., DiMattio, M., & Jacobs, L. (1998). The Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing As an Entry-Level Requirement for Professional Nursing Practice. Journal of Professional Nursing, 14, 225-233.

Taylor III, D. (2008). Should the Entry Into Nursing Practice Be the Baccalaureate Degree?. AORN, 87, 611-620