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Associates vs Bachelors

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Associate’s Degree versus Bachelor’s Degree

There are several differences regarding competencies between nurses that have been educationally prepared at the associate degree level versus nurses that have been prepared at the baccalaureate degree level including a difference in learning leadership skills, a difference in teaching how a nurse utilizes critical thinking, and also, determines how autonomous a nurse will be while practicing. While these differences show certain distinctions in each level of education, there are other things that factor in, such as each individual nurses experience in the field and any previous experience in leadership roles. There are many other differences that distinguish each degree level also.
Leadership skills are one of the variations in education that determine whether a nurse is studying in an associate’s program or a bachelor’s program. A bachelor’s program prepares a student for “beginning leadership positions in a variety of settings” (Creasia, J., & Friberg, E., 2011). An associate’s degree program may cover the basics of leadership skills, but a bachelor’s program will teach and prepare the student to begin an entry level leadership position as soon as they become a registered nurse. One example of a situation in which a nurse with a bachelor’s degree might differ when in a patient care situation is that, because of the additional leadership training, they may be able to advance to a charge nurse position quicker than a nurse who has an associate’s degree education. This is a huge advantage of having a bachelor’s degree in the nursing field.
A second distinction between the degree levels is how each degree level teaches a student how to critically think. A nurse with an associate’s level education is taught the basics of critical thinking where a nurse with a bachelor’s degree has a more advanced capacity for

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