Differences in Nurse Competencies

GCU
Professional Dynamics
NRS 430V

September 6, 2013

Differences in Nurse Competencies Many organizations have assisted with the growth and evolution of the Nursing Profession. A commonality that is shared by these organizations is to promote a higher standard of professional education, thus increasing the quality of care and a broadening the range of nursing skills. Both Associate Degree level and Baccalaureate level degreed nurses sit for the same exam. Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) perform at a different skill set based on their educational differences. According to organizations such as The American Association of Colleges of Nursing, The Institute of Medicine (IOM), and The American Nurses Association (ANA), The National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, and The National League for Nursing Education (NLNE), Nurses with their Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing (BSN) perform at higher levels due to additional coursework required. Organizations such as these assist our profession to gain respect and acknowledgement in society. Theorists are essential to the advancement of the nursing profession, as they provide the framework, education and research to implement growth in practice (Gunther, 2011). Competencies shared by Diploma, ADN and BSN Nurses include professional behaviors expected in providing and managing care, implementing nursing process, making clinical decision, and communicating within and across care teams (Mathews, 2013, p. 20). Basically ADN’s are limited in bedside nursing, but are trained to encompass the core values of nursing and the nursing process. Additional competencies expected of the BSN include systems and critical thinking along with data management. Their expanded education and experience allows them to collaborative with other team members, apply research and skills in patient care informatics. They are educated in community and population-based care in social, political, finance and management settings as well as health care policy. Involvement in these additional areas result in the BSN providing care that promotes health across the continuum. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) sets forth the curriculum needed for the BSN and outline nine essentials or elements of competency. The nine elements comprise liberal arts and science foundation, leadership knowledge and skills to provide quality care, evidenced base practice, safe nursing practice, involvement in health care policy including finance and regulatory participation, high quality communication, collaborative group work, patient care informatics, the assessment of protective and predictive factors regarding health and illness, making decisions and implementing changes by the research they provide and expanding in several areas of health care, continued education and nursing core values, and describing the results and expectations after implementing the elements (Miner, n.d., p. 18, 19). The importance of growth is underlined by the IOM recommendation that the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80% by 2010 (Shalala, 2010, p. 1). There is belief among the community that ADN’s will be phased out and extremely limited in nursing opportunities and BSN’s will become the lowest level of the professional nurse (Miner, n.d., p. 18). Currently it is very difficult to attain a desirable job if you are a Licensed Practice Nurse (LPN) or an ADN. Complications and negative outcomes could arise in patient care when critical skills and the essential elements of the BSN program are not developed within the ADN. Theorists develop grand theories based on their ideas using metaparadigmal concepts of person, health, environment, and nursing. Grand theories provide middle range theories which then assist with the development of nursing research, evidence based practice and quality patient outcomes. Theories develop into