BSNs at the VA
A big push for higher education
 
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Education: Present and Future

The VA already has a more educated nurse work force than the nation at large.

Forty-three percent of RNs at the VA have diplomas or associate degrees, 39 percent have bachelor’s degrees, 17 percent have master’s, and 1 percent have doctorates, said Audrey Drake, MSN, RN, acting chief consultant for the nursing strategic healthcare group for the VA.

According to the 1996 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, 58 percent of RNs have diplomas or associate degrees, 32 percent have bachelor’s, 9 percent have master’s, and 1 percent have doctorates.

Approximately 14 percent of RNs who began their careers with associate degrees have subsequently earned bachelor’s degrees, according to the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice. The council recommends setting a goal in which two-thirds of nurses will hold baccalaureate degrees or higher by 2010.
 

By Anne Federwisch, OTR
Photo: Photodisc
July 8, 1999

What’s the value of education for nurses? About $50 million, according to the Veterans Health Administration. That’s how much the VA has earmarked over the next five years to help its 36,000 registered nurses go back to school for baccalaureate or advanced degrees.

The VA initiated the program, dubbed the National Nursing Initiative (NNI), as part of the revamping of its nursing qualification standards, said Audrey Drake, MSN, RN, acting chief consultant for the nursing strategic healthcare group for the VA. The new standards will require nurses to have at least a baccalaureate degree to advance from the entry-level nurse 1 to the nurse 2 level. Positions at the nurse 3 through nurse 5 level will require a master’s degree.

Why they did it

The VA’s program reflects an effort to give nursing equal standing with other healthcare professions. "All the other healthcare professions have at least a baccalaureate degree," Drake said. "There was concern that if nursing really calls itself a profession, that we should come to the table with at least a baccalaureate degree like everybody else participating in [health] care."

She stressed that nurses with diplomas or associate degrees will not be fired and that new nurses with that education level could still be hired—but only for entry-level positions. To advance beyond nurse 1, they will need at least a bachelor’s degree.

The idea for the initiative came from a nurse task force that was part of the VA’s review of quality standards. VA officials say the push is part of the system’s efforts to focus more on outpatient care.

"The money was really to implement the standards so they would not have a negative impact on nurses who were already working for the VA," Drake said. Details of the program still need to be worked out, she said, but she’s hoping they’ll be complete by the end of September. Once that happens, a directive will be issued for new hires to comply with the education standards. Present staff will have until Sept. 30, 2005, to meet the requirements, Drake said.

Popular program

Even though the NNI hasn’t started yet, many VA nurses are expressing interest. "I’ve been getting two or three calls daily or e-mail messages or people walking into my office asking me about how the funding is going to be distributed," said Joan Demeny, MSN, RN, director of the nursing education program at the VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System.

Once the guidelines have been established, Demeny plans to talk with nursing programs in the area to work out several educational options for nurses at her facility, including distance learning models as well as traditional classes. Key to the success of any program will be easy accessibility, both geographically and academically. "You have to look at not only the different types of programs that would fit in with the nurses’ [schedules], you have to look at their learning styles, too," she said.

Far-reaching effects

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing will work with the VA at the national and local level to help nurses pursue baccalaureate or higher degrees, said the AACN’s director of education policy, Joan Stanley, PhD, NP, RN.

Stanley expects NNI’s effects to reach beyond the VA. She said that it’s likely that the push for bachelor’s degrees at the VA will boost BSN enrollment, which has been declining for the past four years. But she said she has also heard it’s stimulating other facilities to consider the baccalaureate degree as the entry-level education for nursing professionals they hire.

"We’ve been talking about this since 1965," she said. "If you look at the changes that are occurring in the healthcare systems and the roles that nurses are expected to fill, I believe and AACN believes that it’s extremely important that the professional role should be filled by someone with at least a baccalaureate degree."

Demeny agreed that today’s nursing role demands more education. "It’s a positive step for nursing to keep us at a professional level," she said. "If we want to be recognized continually as a profession, we have to get the education to go along with it."