Currently, approximately 16% of associate degree nursing (ADN) graduates acquire baccalaureate or higher degrees. Human capital analysis demonstrated negative to minimal average returns on investment (ROI) in BSN education. Increasing the ROI may influence ADNs to pursue baccalaureate education and can be an effective strategy for meeting the projected need for BSN-prepared nurses.

The purpose of this study was to describe the differences between traditional-baccalaureate graduates (TBGs) who had a baccalaureate degree in nursing and no other academic degree or diploma and second-degree baccalaureate graduates (SDGs) who had both a baccalaureate degree in nursing and a baccalaureate or higher degree in a field other than nursing. Using a sample of 953 newly licensed regis...

The increasingly complex role of a nurse requires a much higher level of critical thinking and clinical judgment skills than in the past. Opportunities to provide critical thinking experiences in clinical settings are challenged by various factors, including limited clinical facilities and a shortage of nurse faculty. Alternative methods to provide critical thinking experiences in undergraduate...

BACKGROUND Educational disparities in U.S. adult mortality are large and have widened across birth cohorts. We consider three policy relevant scenarios and estimate the mortality attributable to: (1) individuals having less than a high school degree rather than a high school degree, (2) individuals having some college rather than a baccalaureate degree, and (3) individuals having anything less ...

To meet the increasing demand for a more educated nursing workforce, the Regionally Increasing Baccalaureate Nurses (RIBN) initiative provides an economically feasible educational pathway between community colleges and universities so that more North Carolina nursing students can achieve a baccalaureate degree at the beginning of their career.

To address the faculty shortage problem, schools of nursing are reexamining how they provide clinical education to undergraduate students to find ways to use faculty resources more efficiently and to maintain student enrollment. We describe a unique clinical teaching model implemented at the New York University College of Nursing. The new model currently being evaluated shifts from the traditio...

This article explores the use of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in undergraduate nursing education. The advantages and limitations of this assessment approach are discussed and various applications of the OSCE are described. Attention is given to the complexities of evaluating some psychosocial competency components. The issues are considered in an endeavour to delineate t...

PROBLEM.  Unlike other professional healthcare disciplines, the profession of nursing has multiple levels of entry. Recently, several states have proposed legislation to mandate completion of baccalaureate education after 10 years of nursing licensure. METHODS.  This article examines the proposals, statistics, strategies, and other relevant literature on baccalaureate education for nurses and t...