The BSN Requirement -- A Legislative Sea Change

Do you believe that nurses should be required by the government to have a BSN? Well, the tide is turning and a massive sea change is inexorably underway since New York State Governor Andrew Cuomosigned such legislation into law on December 19th, 2017. It ' s called " BSN in 10 " , and the consequences will be widely felt by the nursing profession in the wake of this controversial move that was 14 years in the making.As most of us are already aware, the Institute of Medicine ' s Future of Nursing Report called for 80% of nurses to be Bachelor ' s-prepared by 2020. Multiple studies have demonstrated that infection rates and patient mortality decrease when the percentage of Bachelors-prepared nurses on any given unit is increased. While many argue that these findings are less than conclusive, they are used as an ongoing argument for an exponential increase in the number of BSN nurses being educated, sought after, and hired. In fact, for better or worse, many Magnet and non-Magnet hospitals no longer hire nurses with associate degrees.In light of the IOM ' s ongoing partnerships with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the AARP, as well as the full backing of the American Nurses Association for such initiatives, it was inevitable that one state would lead the way sooner than later in terms of mandating the BSN.Many of us are unaware of the fact that the ANA recommended a BSN as the entry-level degree for nurses back in 1964. The ongoing conversation has been dec...
Source: Digital Doorway - Category: Nursing Tags: BSN careers healthcare healthcare careers nurse nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs