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Essentials of Higher Education for Nurses

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Essentials of Higher Education for Nurses Marina Oliynyk
Grand Canyon University: NRS-430V-O500 August 14, 2015

Essentials of Higher Education for Nurses
The profession of nursing in its modern form exists for more than 200 years, and certainly it did experience a lot of changes. Over 150 years ago, Florence Nightingale defined nursing as “the act of utilizing the environment of the patient to assist him in his recovery,” and till this day this simple rule applies (Berman & Snyder, 2012, p. 13). Nowadays the demand for nurses is massive and every healthcare facility wants their nurses to be well educated, open-minded, and knowledgeable about current healthcare trends. Colleges and universities, as well as hospitals offer different programs for those who desire to pursue the career of nursing. Student options vary from a hospital diploma program to a doctorate degree in nursing science. After obtaining a degree, a new graduate nurse faces a great challenge of finding a perfect working environment. The amount of options is endless: doctor’s offices, clinics, surgery centers, urgent cares, hospitals, home visits, etc. In addition, most nurses have their desired specialty in mind such as, cardiology, emergency medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics, list can go on for many more. With this said, acuity of patients keeps increasing, and so does “the demand for new competencies, such as evidence-based practice, informatics, and outcomes management,” requiring education at more advanced level in order to enter the work field (Maneval, & Teeter, 2010).
All nursing programs offer a great clinical component and do create good professionals, however baccalaureate level programs do provide more in depth education about “physical and social sciences, nursing research, public and community health, nursing management, and the humanities[, as well as they also]

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