Online Undergraduate Course
NURS 410 - Health Care Delivery Systems & Informatics
Module 3: Major Reports Influencing the Healthcare Delivery System
The American Nurses Association
In 1965, the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) delivered a statement on the education of nurses. Noting the many changes in the delivery of healthcare and how nurses were trained it questioned whether contemporary nursing practices were adequate to prepare nurses to meet the needs of patients. Based on much research into practice and what was and would be needed to meet the needs of patients the ANA published the First Position on Education for Nursing, in December 1965 (ANA, 1965). This document took a stand on the level of education which the nurse should attain before entering practice. And, the ANA explained that "Education for those who work in nursing should take place in institutions of learning within the general system of education" (Committee on Nursing Education, 1965, p. 107) which meant a university.
A very strong reason was recognizing that nursing education in the future would focus on technical and professional degrees; as such it was necessary to further define how they fit. The position was that nurses wishing to focus on technical practice would enroll in community colleges earning associate degrees in nursing (ADN) (two-year programs). However, nurses interested in professional nursing practice would enroll in four-year programs in colleges or universities earning a baccalaureate degree in nursing (BSN) (Committee, 1965, p. 107). With how we were educating nurses according to Donley and Flaherty (2002) there needed to be less emphasis on doing and more emphasis on thinking, solving, assessing, and evaluating large amounts of information.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in 1996 and again in 2000, reiterated the call to have the BSN as the professional degree and the degree that nurses attained prior to practicing as an RN (AACN, 2000). The AACN continues to promote what the ANA initiated (in 1965), that BSN prepared nurses are better able to care for complex patient’s needs, view healthcare from a populations-based perspective, and have acquired knowledge and skills that the ADN students do not acquire (e.g., leadership, informatics, public health).
“If you view the ANA 1965 Position Paper as a call to close hospital schools of nursing and to move all nursing education inside the walls of colleges or universities, then the ANA was successful in implementing its vision. If, however, you view the 1965 Position Paper as a mandate for a more educated nurse force to enhance patient care, the goal has not been achieved” (Donley & Flaherty, 2008 Conclusion section para. 2). What do you think?
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