Creating our future
Nurses need to collaborate to solve the conflict surrounding education

By Carol Bradley, MSN, RN, California Editor
July 16, 2001

If you want to create some excitement in a room full of nurses, raise the issue of educational level and watch the fireworks begin. The nursing community is quickly divided and therefore effectively paralyzed by raising the bachelor’s vs. associate degree debate.

It is a frustrating argument for me because so much of the important work that our profession needs to tend to right now seems to get caught up in this important and emotionally charged subject. Most unfortunately, it can serve as a real deal-breaker for colleagues who need to be working together right now.

Regardless of degrees, the educational experience of nurses today is not the same as that of nurses 20 years ago, and is probably significantly different than that of nurses educated even five years ago. The nursing student of today is not the same either. Most definitely, and perhaps even more importantly, the practice environment is not the same either.

The ways to practice nursing have expanded exponentially. No curriculum today can encompass all of nursing’s potential. So what is the core of knowledge central to the basic practice of nursing? What is our simplest common denominator for entry into the practice of nursing? Could it be possible to agree on that point?

Please try to remember that the issue of how to educate nurses for tomorrow has little or nothing to do with how any of us were educated in the past or how good a nurse each of us is today. No one should take this issue personally, or worse, take it as a judgment on our perceived value within the profession today. Nor is the debate an attack on the quality or value of our educational resources. It is, however, an important indicator of the uncertain fate that nursing likely is to face unless we get on with creating our own future.

To me, there is no question that the future will require nurses who are prepared differently than they are today. It also is a sure bet that the nursing care roles we see today will evolve to be quite different in the future. It seems to make sense that we put our collective heads together and sort these issues out with a mind to the future, not the past.

To tackle this thorny question, it is relevant to examine the forces that are influencing the health professions, the changing role of nurses within the context of the other professions and the changes in the health care delivery system in which nurses practice. The question of education should be answered while considering the long-term interests of the profession and the context in which nursing practice will exist in the future.

If one looks only at the evolution of the other professions, I think it is fair to say that our profession has not kept up with the Joneses. Almost all health professions have raised their professional practice entry educational level, and many have worked to clearly delineate between technical and assistive roles and professional ones. In all cases, each profession made its own decision and implemented a transition plan that left no one behind and set a goal for the future that all could embrace.

If nursing becomes organized, we might be able to simplify the myriad of roles, titles and scopes of practice that confound the public and blur the recognition of professional nurses’ real contributions to society.

Last but not least, I would point out that there are some employers who already have publicly stated their intent to set a standard, albeit at some future point, to pursue bachelor’s educated nursing staff. Now, regardless of whether you agree with their decision, can you agree that it’s time for us to get out in front of this issue and deal with it?

It’s time for us, as nurses, to put our personal issues aside and prepare the profession for its bright future. The only sure thing is that this is far from the last we’ll hear on this subject.

©NurseWeek Publishing