Associates VS. Baccalaureate Nursing

Candace Flynn
Grand Canyon University

August 3,

It should be mandatory for nurses to practice with a baccalaureate degree .For decades there has been a long standing argument about way nursing is practiced among the different entry level positions . .I have always had the attitude the four year degree was unnecessary .My mind has changed .

To understand the present we must always examine the past . I graduated nursing school in 2003 It was the midst of the nursing shortage .I had every prestigious hospital in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas just about begging for my employment . It was a great time in nursing history for new grads . I had one hospital offer me 25,000 dollars upfront if I agreed to stay employed with them for three years .I had another hospital offer me 10,000 dollars , pay my tuition ,and my paid college for my future children { I was single and had no children at the time .}There were so many incentive programs thrown at our graduating class. Our heads were spinning .
It was graduation day .May 2003 the majority of the students and I decided to be employed at Northeastern Hospital . It was the hospital that our nursing school was apart of . We all felt very comfortable , our clinicals were done there , we knew the majority of the staff . It was tradition for the newly graduated nurses that attended at Northeastern school Of Nursing to be employed at Northeastern Hospital .
In 2003 the demand was so high for nurses. as new grads we had the choice of department we wanted . I choose the Emergency Room .I was on top of the world !

This is where I met my preceptor .Her name was Bev . She was a diploma nurse,and practiced nursing for over forty years .She was smart ,competent ,well respected among the doctors ,staff and patients ,above all she was mean . She yelled at everyone .She