RESOLUTION SEEKING LEGISLATION TO REQUIRE A 10-YEAR BSN PASSES AT 2006 ANNUAL MEETING PRESERVING ENTRY

New Jersey Nurse, May/Jun 2006 by Aughenbaugh, Andrea W

Proposal preserves nursings traditional entry level

At the March 31, 2006 Annual Voting Business Meeting of NJSNA, held at the Tropicana Resort & Casino Hotel in Atlantic City NJ, a majority of members voted to adopt the amended resolution to acknowledge the importance of nursing's entry requirements, but, in addition, support legislation to require new RNs (those licensed after passage of a new law) to earn their BSN within 10 years.

Citing research on patient outcomes related to nursing education, many speakers at the microphones supported what has become an intriguing compromise to nursing's complicated entry system. Conceived by Barbara Zittel, Executive Secretary of the New York Board of Nursing, the concept has generated many discussions throughout the country.

President Linda Parry Carney, herself a diploma graduate and now an educator, led the NJSNA Board of Directors in deciding to bring this to the members at the annual meeting. Outreach by the board members to the nursing community resulted in mixed support with vigorous debates in many groups. The Organization of Nurse Executives (ONE/NJ) and the NJ Association of Deans and Directors of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs supported the concept. The Association of Diploma Schools of Professional Nursing and the NJ League for Nursing opposed the proposal.

At issue in some of the pre-meeting debate was the implication that the resolution questioned the competence of RNs without a BSN. Because the NCLEX exam is the measure of competency in the nursing profession, members were adamant that the resolution should speak with respect about all RNs. During the debates it was acknowledged by many members that all health care knowledge is expanding with the tremendous explosion of scientific information that has been made available in the past 50 years. With that comes the need for RNs not only to know more information but to make larger numbers of more complex decisions.

Another issue broadly discussed were the barriers to BSN education for working RNs. Citing financial burdens, time constraints, and location issues, some members felt that those issues were insurmountable for many RNs. Others countered that the NJ Collaborating Center's articulation agreements had helped smooth out many of the course credit issues, on-line courses were making time and location issues more workable, and workplaces were often sources of tuition monies.

Some members pointed out that what seems to be a compromise may be simply a new look at an old system that has many advantages. They asked "How else could our profession produce the numbers of graduates that the health care system demands, given the expensive science based curriculum that is required?" RN numbers, compared to physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, and dentists, are so much higher that the state would have to spend vast sums to begin to educate every nurse at the BSN entry level. Instead nursing has what many workforce leaders would consider the perfect career ladder, allowing virtually any ambitious, smart, hardworking person to enter nursing with an RN from a diploma or AD program and then progress to the BSN. It allows nursing to recruit from all segments of society, a crucial piece when nurses play such an intimate part of another person's life.

After the vote, the NJSNA Board of Directors and staff agreed that there is much work to be done before presenting the concept to a legislative sponsor. But according to President Linda Carney, "the first stage of this process has gone well".

Postscript: Since the vote, discussion at several post-convention meetings have raised questions about the 10-year limit, the need to account for other pre-nursing school degrees and the need for more studies to replicate a recent one that looked at outcomes based on educational level.

Some members complain that the proposal will "punish" nurses at the end of the 10 years and other members are urging a BSN entry immediately. The NJSNA Board of Directors intend to continue discussion of this proposal with all interested parties.

by Andrea W. Aughenbaugh, RN