Nursing is one of the oldest professions that is constantly changing and improving. Nursing used to be a career that did not require an education, to being one that is very respected and demands a higher education. There is the ADN program and the BSN program which will be compared and contrasted.
I will also discuss the significance of evidence-based practice. Although the ADN and BSN both have the NCLEX at the end of the program, they are very different. They are similar in the sense that they both want what is best for their patients, but the education is very different and the BSN is that much more intense.
There are many different professional members in the Health Care system, who each have a specific specialty and responsibility to the patient. HealthCare teams need to come together to communicate effectively, and to be open to new ideas and viewpoints for successful patient outcomes (Guasvik, 2017). The team includes, but is not limited to: Nursing, social workers, physicians, physical therapy, and many more.
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The ability to work with a team is a key element to being a stronger nurse (Guasvik, 2017). Collaboration is important because there is no single profession that can meet all of a patient’s needs. Nurses need others that they can go to and lean on for help if needed, at any time.
Nursing roles and responsibilities change as the world changes; from uniforms to salaries, job demand, technology, documentation (Selvi, 2017).
Documentation has increased a lot in just the last 10 years, due to the society we live in where someone has to blames someone (Selvi, 2017). Like my nursing instructor Dr. Tyne would always tell us, “If you didn’t chart it, it didn’t happen.” Meaning always cover yourself, protect the license that one has worked so hard to get and keep (Dr. Tyne, 2016). Documentation is a bigger part of nursing now; then it was more about the patient, spending more time with them, but now because there is so much charting one tries to get in and out as fast as possible (Selvi, 2017).
There are 2 pathways to becoming a registered nurse: ADN or BSN. Both degrees are an exceptional path, but the BSN degree has opportunities for advancement that are bigger and graduates are well prepared (Fisher,2014). Community colleges, nursing schools, or technical schools offer the ADN program, which is a 2 year program (Fisher, 2014).
Universities, private schools and also community schools offer the BSN programs, which is a 4 year programs (Fisher, 2014). The ADN program focuses more on technical and clinical skills rather than nursing theory, whereas the BSN focuses on extensive training in components that include: quality and patient safety, information management, evidence based practice, clinical prevention/population health, and professional values, all of which are essential as nursing care becomes more complex (Fisher, 2014).
Because of the shortage of nursing post World War II, the ADN program was created, and as it alleviated the shortage it was not suppose to replace the professional level of the nursing education (Haskins, 2016). The BSN program contains much more than the ADN; more science, community health, nursing theory and research, leadership and management, which also enhances the nurses’ professional development and prepare the nurse for a broader scope of practice (Haskins, 2016). BSN graduates get more analytical and creative capacities, and can eventually demonstrate stronger nursing skills, and can apply for a higher position, an ADN graduate cannot (Haskins, 2016).
Evidence based practice involves: formulating a clear question based on the clinical situation, for the best evidence search literature review, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of that evidence, analyzing that evidence, implementing the findings, and evaluating (Thiel, 2017).
