Why get your RN to BSN

The Need for Highly-Educated Nurses In the 21st century, the health challenges facing the nation have shifted dramatically. The American population is older†Americans 65 and older will be nearly 20 percent of the population by 2030†as well as more diverse with respect not only to race and ethnicity but also other cultural and socioeconomic factors. In addition to shifts in the nation's demographics, there also have been shifts in that nation's health care needs.Most health care today relates to chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, rthritis, cardiovascular disease, and mental health conditions, due in part to the nation's aging population and compounded by increasing obesity levels. While chronic conditions account for most of the care needed today, the U. S. health care system was primarily built around treating acute illnesses and injuries, the predominant health challenges of the early 20th century. The ways in which nurses were educated during the 20th c entury are no longer adequate for dealing with the realities of health care in the 21st century.As patient needs and care environments have become more complex, nurses need to attain equisite competencies to deliver high-quality care. These competencies include leadership, health policy, system improvement, research and evidence-based practice, and teamwork and collaboration, as well as competency in specific content areas such as community and public health and geriatrics. Nurses also are being called upon to fill expanding roles and to master technological tools and information management systems while collaborating and coordinating care across teams of health professionals.To respond to these increasing demands, the 10M committee alls for nurses to achieve higher levels of education and suggests that they be educated in new ways that better prepare them to meet the needs of the population. An Improved Education System Much of nursing education revolves around acute care rather th an community settings that include aspects of primary care, public health, and long-term care. The qualifications and level of education required for entry into the nursing profession have been widely debated by nurses and nursing organizations..Although a BSN education is not a panacea for all that is expected of nurses in the future, it does, elative to other educational pathways, introduce students to a wider range of competencies in such arenas as health policy and health care financing, community and public health, leadership, quality improvement, and systems thinking. Care within the hospital continues to grow more complex, with nurses having to make critical decisions associated with care for sicker, frailer patients and having to use more sophisticated, life-saving technology coupled with information management systems that require skills in analysis and synthesis.Care outside the hospital is ecoming more complex as well. Nurses are being called on to coordinate care among a variety of clinicians and community agencies; to help patients manage chronic illnesses, thereby preventing acute care episodes and disease progression; and to use a variety of technological tools to improve the quality and effectiveness of care. A more educated nursing workforce would be better equipped to meet the demands of an evolving health care system, and this need could be met by increasing the percentage of nurses with a BSN.An increase in the proportion of urses with a BSN also would create a workforce poised to achieve higher levels of education at the master's and doctoral levels, required for nurses to serve as primary care providers, nurse researchers, and nurse faculty† positions currently in great demand across the profession and within the health care system. The committee recommends that the proportion of nurses with baccalaureate degrees be increased to 80 percent by 2020.While it anticipates that it will take a few years to build the educational capacity n eeded to achieve this goal, the committee maintains that it is old, achievable, and necessary to move the nursing workforce to an expanded set of competencies, especially in the domains of community and public health, leadership, systems improvement and change, research, and health policy.Improving the education system and achieving a more educated workforce† specifically increasing the number of nurses with baccalaureate degrees†can be accomplished through a number of different programs and educational models, including: traditional RN-to-BSN programs; traditional 4-year BSN programs at both universities and some community colleges.