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...

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.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to examine the effects of registered nurse (RN) education by determining whether nurse-sensitive patient outcomes were better in hospitals with a higher proportion of RNs with baccalaureate degrees. BACKGROUND The Future of Nursing report recommends increasing the percentage of RNs with baccalaureate degrees from 50% to 80% by 2020. Research has linked RN ...

Traditionally, higher academic education has favored the acquisition of individualized conceptual knowledge over context-independent procedural knowledge. Applied degrees, on the other hand, favor procedural knowledge. We present a conceptual model for classifying a business curriculum. This classification could inform discussion around the difficulties associated with issues such as assessment...

Since the 1970s, a number of initiatives have attempted to increase the proportion of nursing graduates with a baccalaureate degree, but with little national effect. Now market forces, health reforms, and an Institute of Medicine report (2011) have combined to transform the educational composition of the nursing workforce. Today, there are considerably more graduates of baccalaureate nursing pr...