Difference in Nursing Competencies - Essay Example

Although there are arguments regarding the competencies of nurses today, focusing on the differences of their educational backgrounds, such as preparation from either ADN or baccalaureate programs, would provide a demarcation of their capabilities.

ADN and BSN

 ADN programs can be completed in approximately two years, with students completing general education in arts and sciences before continuing to nursing subjects. Mildred Montag, who published The Education of Nursing Technicians in 1951, proposed that there is a need for a “nurse technician, whose role would be broader than that of a practical nurse but narrower than that of the professional nurse,” (as cited in Zerwekh & Claborn, 2006, p. 144) and his or her duties includes providing supervised care, assisting in the plan of care, and assisting evaluation of patient outcomes in the care received. On the other hand, baccalaureate degree nursing programs usually take four years to accomplish, and students receive a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) upon completing the course. The first two years involve minor subjects in arts and sciences while the remaining years inculcate nursing knowledge, which focuses on critical-thinking enhancement, independent nursing judgment abilities, and research conduction.

Nursing practice has been differentiated in terms of the nurse’s educational background, work experience and expertise. Albeit health care institutions do not necessarily look into a nurse’s basic nursing education because they have passed the same licensure exams, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) together with the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) and the National Organization for Associate Degree Nursing (N-OADN) published a report that describes the roles of a BSN and ADN graduate: the BSN provides direct care based on the nursing process and focuses on clients with complex interactions of nursing diagnosis, where clients include structured and unstructured communities, the latter which may not have established policies and protocols that would require independent nursing decisions; whereas the ADN provides direct care to individual clients with common and well-defined nursing diagnosis, and functions only in structured communities with founded policies and procedures, with the aid of the more expert nurses (as cited in Finkelman & Kenner, 2010, p. 133). With these delineated roles, we sense that health care organizations have better confidence in the capabilities of a BSN nurse. In congruence to the longer length of education, it is implied that baccalaureate nursing degrees deeply emphasize molding their students’ minds in a more crafty manner in order to put the most minimal, or possibly absent, risks in providing the client’s needs.

Conclusion

Because nurses with baccalaureate degrees have a broader scope of study in the field, they are most probably better trained in theories and rationales compared to ADN graduates who focus on technical or hands-on care. Although health care institutions do not specifically look at the basic nursing education of nurses, there are distinguished roles that each can perform. By setting these scope and limitations, there are better chances of providing optimum care to the patients and lesser instances of jeopardizing their conditions.