How Does Having a BSN VS an ADN Degree Change The Outcome of Patient Care?
Teresa Mock
Grand Canyon University: NRS-430V
January 31st, 2016

When a person goes to the hospital, they expect to get the best care possible by all medical staff. When a nurse goes into a patient’s room, they do not ask the nurse what school they went to or if they received an ADN or BSN degree, they just expect that nurse to be competent in their job. The NCLEX-RN exam is based on minimal competency and does distinguish between graduate levels. Therefore, all nurses graduating from a nursing program and getting ready to take the exam are equal at that time. Regardless of whether a nurse graduates with their associates or bachelor’s degree, when they are hired at a hospital or health care facility, the extensive training gets them prepared to deliver safe effective patient care. Although receiving a BSN degree a person will achieve better assessment skills, critical thinking, communication, and leadership skills, graduating with an associates does not make a nurse less competent. All nursing programs teach how to assess, plan, implement, diagnose, teach, and evaluate, the skills it takes to be a nurse. In a hospital setting, acute care units have critically ill patient, which makes them unpredictable and challenging, therefore the nurses need have sharp critical thinking skills, perform quality patient care, and maintain positive outcomes. Patient load makes it difficult for any nurse to do her job well and efficient. Understaffing is a big problem in hospitals and it leaves the nurse to patient ratio significantly uneven which puts patient safety at risk. So the question is, are patients at risk because not enough nurses have their bachelor’s degree, or are they at risk because the facility they are in is not adequately staffed?